I have played “Game Dev Tycoon” (GDT) for twenty-eight hours. Fourteen of those hours were played straight. You may be surprised that I have never exceeded level two! I always found myself going bankrupt or failed to pay back a loan. I just never seemed to develop good games. Strike that… I developed good games, but for some infuriating reason they always got horrible reviews! Aye! What a headache!
Then, after reading similarly frustrated posters and looking up the system on wiki, I was able to progress a bit further. But, still I had no fun! I mean, do I always want to keep referring to the wiki in order to play this game? No!
It has been two weeks now since I last played GDT and, to be honest…I really don’t have much of a desire to go back. The game is brutal and unforgiving. And not in a good way like “The Pit” or the HardCore mode of the new X-Com. I think the primary reason I am experiencing this “There’s No Way Out!” feeling in your game is that there is no feedback that explains what I did wrong or what I need to change.
I think that a lot of players, like me, approached this game as a Casual title, not a Simulation (as indicated in the game itself). Well it is expected of the player to know something of the topic in a simulation game, it’s seems you expect the player to completely understand the mechanics that are beneath the surface of this game, but we have no possible way of knowing except for referencing the Wiki. and I cannot imagine that that is how you wish your players to play this game. And if it is…then I think I made a mistake in purchasing your game…
So, as for some feedback, please make the game a more enjoyable experience. I love the graphics, the topic, the level design, the sounds, and the world design. But it feels as though your engine could use some tuning… I understand the concept you put behind the reviews, but it is just to tedious. there are far to many balls up in the air when developing a game. In fact, just removing that previous-game-rating part of the rating or reducing the effect could make the experience more enjoyable. It is not a bad thing to expect more from a new game than the previous. But I think you expect to much from the player.
I really want to return to your game, but for now it is just to much of a hassle to play. Maybe you don’t care since I bought it already…but the next time I see a game from Greenheart, the bittersweet memory of GDT will still be in mind.
We will try to do better. The current system just doesn’t work well for some play styles and this is our fault. The game isn’t meant to be played with wiki and calculator in hand and we will attempt to fix this in an update. More info on this will follow soon on our blog.
TY TY TY! I would really like to get past level two!
Level two is hard, but it only makes you fail when you get too ambitious. After failing so many times and trying so many tactic’s like only getting one new employee and release a steady stream of small games. but the one that got me the farthest is saving up to 3m in my garage then moving up, it worked perfect and I went through the game very easily because i never went under 2.5m again, its not hard if you have some strategy
Stay in your garage until you get your big mega-hit. When you move into the office, hire TWO employees. Aim to get at least level 2 employees. Then immediately research medium games and start taking publisher contracts.
Small games get a score penalty once you move into the office, but you NEED a minimum of 2 extra employees (3 in total) to successfully make a medium sized game. Having only 1 extra employee does nothing but cost you money.
Don’t self publish medium games until you reach at least 100k fans. Even if you nail everything perfectly and get a 9.75, you’ll have pitiful sales and not make the kind of profit you should and thus will be constantly struggling against bankrupcy.
Having a publisher do your first medium game (especially if you can get one with high score requirements and high royalty %) you will make a LOT more profit off your first medium game and gain a TON of fans.
Ah, thank you for your help! Maybe this kind of knowledge is self evident but I totally missed it!
It takes me 17years to pass the second office.
Why ? Because I only had 2 employees and I didn’t know how to hype my games. But I made it even without marketing (I started it around Y35)
I don’t think the game is flawed in any way, you just have to take it slowly at first.
(Btw it’s too bad there isn’t more options other than the three development stages or the ability to put 2 employees on 1 tasks)
I think it is a good idea, as it forces you to balance your workers and makes slider positioning more difficult unless you plan ahead. It also makes large and AAA games harder to get the worker balance right… as it should be, because you are dealing with larger and more complex games.
Hype is good, but not super critical. It’ll make that 9.75 mega hit sell more copies than it would have otherwise. But a well-hyped 6.0 game will still sell poorly. Hype can even be harmful if you release a bad game as it causes you to lose MORE fans than you would have with an un-hyped game.
I think the balance on this game is just fine. It took me going bankrupt twice before I was able to finish a 30 year game, and each bankruptcy taught me what I did wrong. If there is a flaw, it is that it doesn’t give you enough feedback.
The sequel option has a very real gameplay effect and can be VERY useful.
If you make a “proper Sequel” your game gets a 20% boost to its final review score. This can turn a hum-drum 7.5 game into a 9.0+ smash hit.
A “Proper Sequel” means that you are making the sequel at least 40 weeks later than the original, and the sequel is being made with a newer game engine than the original. If you fulfill those two conditions, you’re golden and get the bonus.
What I find a little silly is that you are still allowed to change everything about the game, and thus make it absolutely nothing like the original…yet still have it count as a sequel.
I knew about the 40-week rule and the new engine, but not the boost, that’s interesting, thanks (i always got the “Great sequel”)
Here is a huge tip that I use all the time in my games.
After year 6, when you get a 9.0+ hit, you need to increase your next game’s quality by 20% in order to get another 9.0+ hit.
The bonus for a sequel is exactly 20%.
So after getting a hit game, do a sequel (to an older game of the same genre but different topic). If you leave everything else alone (same sliders and employee assignments) you should get another 9.0+ hit.