Game Dev Tycoon General Feedback & Suggestions Rolling Thread 1

Game Dev Tycoon ideas
#16

Exactly.

Same thing with MMO’s. The only money you are making are from “sales”, what about the monthly cost you could add to your MMO?

The only problem with the MMO idea is that, MMO’s sell indefinably I think. There is no limit as how many copy’s are sold. This needs to be fixed if a monthly plan is to be added.

9 million games sold at $35 is 315 million. That’s only if you can set your own price.
9 million at $15 a month is around 135 million. Minus the maintenance cost.

For this to also work, I think slower times needs to be added as well. Right now, the game is going way to fast. As well as the staff salary… Who gets 90k a month?

Maybe if the time was sped up when creating a game? That would make more seance. Or seeing games in development for at least a year. Not just a few months… =/

#17

Can you post back your idea here :
http://forum.greenheartgames.com/t/if-you-could-change-improve-add-one-thing-in-game-dev-tycoon-what-would-it-be/2654
(even if I think it has been already asked, but you explain and detail it quite better :slight_smile: )
I would add, you can’t set the price for publishing works.

2 Likes
#18

i think salary should be paid at the end of the year and office maintnace/upkeep should be monthly

#19

You got it =), I added it to the idea thread.

2 Likes
#20

I’ll start by saying that you managed to create a game that forced me back into the early years of tycoons when I would waste hours and hours at an end just to make that new office, railway or port.

First two times I played bankruptcy slowly creped on me and the level of ‘frustration’ was clearly over 9000. Your game is the first one in the last 6-7 years that actually forced me to burn through a night just to see it through and make those bucks. I literally played more than 9 hours straight into the night.

As I am now going for that 84th year, I came across a lot of issues, most of which have already been discussed on the forums and I will not go into bugs. I am sure you will eventually fix them all.

I want to focus on my ideas and hopefully help you improve this game beyond its current state. It is quite the diamond in the ruff but, as of now, the game has still a long way to go before saying that it is ‘complete’.

So, let’s do it!

  1. Fans – Working with them

1.1 Communities:

  • it would be nice if you could sponsor communities or even fund/create them yourself; at first, just general, large communities that will support your company as a whole
  • as time progresses, the communities will start to diversify based on your titles; you would gain more support per title/franchise and you will sell more games based on how large/well put together are your respective communities
  • the downside would be creating a poor game for the franchise that will take its toll on your fans number -> the respective community would lower

1.2 Several Types of Fans

  • this comes hand in hand with the communities
  • create 3 types of fans: casual, dedicated, hardcore
  • the hardcore fans are the hardest ones to get but bring in the most revenue (+++++ average) and help promoting your title/franchise – you could have general hardcore fans and franchise hardcore fans
  • the downside would be that they would also be the easiest type of fans to lose if you frack things up with a particular title/franchise – the threshold could be based on an average grade that you will receive per title + overall quality (see the Media section – we will discuss things there)
  • the dedicated fans bring in ++ average income per title/franchise, are not so picky about your work and will give you a slack from now on then; are a bit harder to lose than the hardcore ones
  • the casual fans bring in average income per title/franchise and they do not give a rat’s ass about you as a person/company; yes, they will be upset if you frack it up several times in a row but, usually, they will stick with you

1.3 Fan Grading

  • this would be a separate grading system that will discuss your overall game quality from the perspective of the player and not the media ‘whore’ system
  • from the point of view of the hardcore fans, this is the most important grade – they will usually ignore the media grades if your game is good enough
  • for the dedicated fans, there will be a certain balance between fan grading and media grading, with a strong emphasis on fan grading
  • for the casual fans, the media grading will be a bit more important than the fan grading

1.4 HR/PR and fans

  • make them important aspects of your business
  • HR -> some of your hardcore fans might actually have skills – see what you could do with them
  • PR -> extremely important – building communities

2, Media – Owning a piece of the ‘whore’

2.1. Buying reviews

  • you should have the possibility of influencing the grades by investing money in the respective companies
  • this would influence your casual fans but will not be so important for the hardcore/dedicated fans as they do not care so much about the media reviews

2.2 Having your own media company

  • start small, with a site; from there, you could invest more and more money and eventually create a consortium that will promote other games (get money from other gaming companies for promoting their own games) and make a god out of you through the means of social brain-washing;
  • based on how much money you have, you could do a bunch of stuff (too many details – no point in wasting space) – depending on what you do, your hardcore fans and dedicated ones will not like it and you could trigger a chain reaction that will end up in you losing most of your hardcore and dedicated fan groups but you will win a lot of casual fans

2.3 Sabotaging the competition

  • you have a media empire at your disposal – as with 2.2, this could have serious repercussions with your fan base
  1. Actual Design

3.1 In-Depth Design

  • as of now, I do not feel that I am actually in control when designing my game; sure, you have a few options but you could do so much more with it
  • add a lot more options and steps – add more random events for the design process – people getting sick, social interactions between employees, ‘karma’, breakthroughs
  • add testing periods, feedback from the communities – see point 1 -> your hardcore fans and dedicated ones (to a certain degree) could actually help you more than your in-house testers

3.2 Psychologists

  • add them –they are an important part of the design process – making games addictive is important BUT this could have serious downsides with your hardcore/dedicated fans (to a certain degree) – it would bring in more casual fans
  1. Online World

4.1 Creating your company’s persona

  • as with 2, this would be an important part of your process
  • you must have a strong presence online as you eventually get to the online world and its birth

4.2 Make more with ‘GRID’

  • I feel that this is lacking -> you could invest/develop it into the strongest platform out there and this would help with your fan bases

I had much more ideas but some got lost on the way. I also need my coffee. Will add things as I remember them.

I really want for this game to grow and reach its potential. For now, it’s just sand that is waiting to become a pearl.

8 Likes
#21

You have a lot of good ideas.
But making a new thread is not.

http://forum.greenheartgames.com/t/suggestion-list-thread/1105

or

http://forum.greenheartgames.com/t/if-you-could-change-improve-add-one-thing-in-game-dev-tycoon-what-would-it-be/2654

#22

I am sorry if it got posted two times. It was not my intention.

I pressed dem buttons and it didn’t do anything. I apologize for any issues.

#23

No, I just mean, you have a great insight of the game even new ideas I didn’t read for now.

But just we’re trying to avoid having too much duplciate thread to help the dev to follow the new ideas. That why, if you could repost your idea (just hit edit, copy/paste as a reply of one of the 2 threads I gave you) that would be great :slight_smile:

#24

Done it. You can delete the post then.

#25

Dear Greenheart Games,

I am here today to suggest some ideas in a sequel game to the wonderful game you’ve previously made named “Game Dev Tycoon”. If you do make a second game (which I REALLY hope you do, as I bought this game the first moment I saw videos on youtube) I would love it if you could take any of the suggestions in this thread.
Before I begin, may I please ask for no flame wars in the replys, I love constructive criticism, as it helps me write better threads, but I beg for no “Lolz dis ideas suckz, get off dah interwebz” please. I would love “I wouldn’t reccomend this idea because…”

Right, now to the purpose of this thread, the suggestions!

I would like to start with the main screen, and work my way in.

The screen is mediocre for me, it’s simple, which I love, but it needs more than the “welcome”, and the logo. How about a settings button, maybe even (if possible) the possibility to have more than one game at a time? If so, that would be lovely!

Once you get the company name, the settings button on the top left corner needs more additions. I, to start with, would like a longer game, I understand that you can continue after you’ve finished, but I personally think it’s a bit too short for some players. How about these times:

1. 30 Years (Quick Game) - For those who want a challenge to get as far as possible in the least amount of time. *

2. 50 Years (Normal Game) - For the average player who doesn’t want to be rushed. *

3. 100 Years (Long Game) - For the slow player who likes to take the game slow and steady. *

Next, I would like to see a change in the tutorial, just a slight change, but it needs to be added - instead of being forced at the start, you can skip it. If the player needs help, they can still use the help given.

My next suggestion is a request for multiplayer. If this was possible, just imagine the possibilities!

You, a friend try to battle it out in different garages, offices, ect… So the over player has to go bankrupt, or they try to get a game with all 10s, ect…
Basically, I am just saying multiplayer would be awesome.

I have some game mode ideas too:

1. Bankruptcy, an unlimited length match until one player goes bankrupt. *

2. The best game (easy version) An unlimited length match until one player creates a game that gets an average score of 9.75 - Good for a quick game as this can be achieved in the office. *

3. The best game (hard version) A timed trial of either the 30, 50, 100 year length or until a player gets the average score of 9.75 - Good for those who like being timed, and a bit of extra competition! *

4. The top selling game, just like the game modes “The Best Game” players try to make the best selling game in under 30, 50, 100 years, or until one player makes over 50 MILLION in 1 game! Seems impossible? My friend did it. *

5. The highest skyscraper. Again, like the “The Best Game”, players try to get to the skyscraper as quickly as possible in under 30, 50 or 100 years. If no player completes it, then the money at the given time of the two players is compared, and the player with the highest amount of money is the winner! :smile: *

( * - Of course, the longer the game length is, the more spread out researches and consoles are to be unlocked. For example, the first console available - TES, can only be unlocked after 5 - 10 years? The G64 Will go out after 12 years into the game, ect for the rest of the consoles…)

Overall, the TL;DR viewers, here’s a summary:

  1. We need multiplayer in the next game, it’s awesome.
  2. We could have different game modes.
  3. I feel like we need longer games.
  4. More detail on the opening screen.

That’s it.

Toodles!

2 Likes
#26

Part 2: Gameplay:

WARNING: I may sound harsh in this thread, everyone is saying all the good things, so I’ve decided to explain what needs to be done.

Overall, after a while, the game doesn’t really have much gameplay, you can’t repeat it, sure, you can make different games, but you know what will happen, and once you’re a billionaire at year 100, it justs gets boring. Thus, we need this to be fixed!

Idea 1: Multiplayer.

Multiplayer was explained in my first post, so read it there, but this adds a tonne of gameplay towards the game. Now you don’t get to accept that nigerian guys offer alone! Or convince your friend to take that dodgy deal. (I did that the first time my friend got it :3 )

Idea 2: Departments.

At the moment, you have 2 different departments, the “Technology” department, and the “Design” department - Not enough. We need more. So, what can we do?

After researching, I’ve came up with the idea:

Media department - Research different campaigns, from magazines, Billboards, youtube adverts, ect… Usage: Depending on what rating the game gets, can increase the amount of sales up to 25%. Also increases hype. To unlock this, you must research “Media Studies”, then get one of your workers to 500 research “skill points”.

Testing department - Research different types of ideas, gives you a “heads up” on what needs to be improved in the game before it’s released. Lower chance of people creating bugs, and requires a study from the Tech department called “Testing Department” - Think of a better name. Also requires a person with 250 research, and 500 tech skill points.

Idea 3: Pricing.

The idea on how at the end of research, you can choose a price of the game from 0$, to 250$.
This would work on if you make a game free, more people will get it, increasing fans, but gives you no money. While if you sell a game for 250$, less people will buy it, you’ll lose fans, but you’ll gain more money.

Idea 4: Different versions

So, going back on the “Pricing” idea, how about versions like the “Collectors edition” or the “Signed by the devs” version? These will work alongside the pricing.

Tier 1: Collectors edition: Good to add for games with a rating between 5 and 7. Recommended price of around 90$. This is good when you have alot of fans too.

Tier 2: Limited edition: Good for games with a rating between 7 - 8. Recommended price of around 130$ - 175$. This is good when you have around 20k fans, but if not many people buy it, it can cost you an awful lot.

Tier 3: Signed by the devs: Good for games rated between 9 - 10. Only limited to 100 people buying it, but recommended price is 250$. Only available to research with 50k fans in the Media department.

Including this with features already available:

Contracts: Ask you to include different versions into the game, bonus amounts of money for more people buy the better versions.

#27

Add three new options when starting up a new game “Random Combos” and “Random Consoles” and “Random Sliders”

If Random Combos is checked, the topics you start with and can research are all random. Not only that, the genre preferences within each topic will be random. Some previously versatile topics like Sci Fi might suddenly find themselves having only one good genre. Every topic will always have at LEAST one good and one bad genre, and the total number of good topics and bad will remain the same…just randomly distributed across all the possible topics.

The game would still TELL you when you’ve found a good combo after developing a game for it. This would remain consistent for the game. So once you’ve learned that, say, City + Action was a good combo, you can rely on it for future games. Each Topic would maintain its normal age guidelines (IE Virtual Pet would still only be good for young gamers)

Random Consoles would put the latent bonuses that each of the consoles have to certain genres and put them into a randomly selected genre. So the Playstation1, with its traditional big bonus to RPGs, might randomly find that bonus in strategy games instead. The audience age appeal would also be random. The NES, which normally gives a bonus to Young games, might have that bonus to Mature or Everyone instead. Unlike with combos, you would be told in the news release which genre/audience each new console would be popular with. (Otherwise everyone would just stick to the PC). You won’t know what genres are good before a console is released, but at least you won’t have to experiment once one is.

“Random Sliders” would randomly re-assign the preferred and non-preferred slider positions for each genre. Each stage would have one “preferred” slider, one “non preferred” and one “neutral” for each three design aspects. The final ‘ideal’ design/tech ratio would be modified based on which sliders end up being preferred. So if “Casual” winds up with Engine, AI and Sounds as the preferred sliders, the genre is going to want a tech/design ratio that heavily favors tech.

The main purpose for these options would be both to increase the replayability and difficulty of the game. Every time you venture into a new topic or a new genre, you will be taking a bigger risk. Certain consoles which might otherwise be ignored may suddenly be interesting if they happen to roll a bonus to the genre(s) you are good with.

#28

Just some idea that I just thought and wanted to share… when u make the MMO games there should be a section where you choose how the game will be and it can make a lot difference what do you put… do u put P2P like Blizzard did with WoW, or do you put it like F2P WITH in-game shop so that they pay for items in Item mall and that’s how you get money back for your company that also goes for P2W games… P2W games can be free but if it’s good they can upgrade their accounts and have more quests and so on… also when u make the MMO after people buy the game there will also be a chart on how much there are players playing the game, also shrinking like buying chart, and after time game can shut down, BUT if the game is good and they request patches with new things, game can still last then the chart will decrease slower or even go up… :smile:
it would be great if you had someone in the company that you can hire to play and stream games then people can donate money and that would be a great marketing move while creating game, you know in beta phase and when the actual game comes out… like a tutorial for the new games… Well that’s it from me, my well of ideas just went dry for a little bit… but typed a LOT, so I will understand if you don’t read it all… Thank you for those who read it… say GDT if u read it… :wink:

#29

I think that there should be some type of free play mode or game testing mode. You should not have to worry about money and you can just build your company.

What do you think?

#30

In my opinion…I don’t think so, the main focus should be building the actual original mode before creating more.

#31

That would be awesome :slight_smile:

#32

This game is strategy management and logical game building… so if you make no mistake than you should be fine… In my opinion, I rather prefer a loan from bank(s) to support me when I’m in the reds…

#33

You do get loans from the bank when you are in the red, you get up to $200K on like 2nd level I think, and then once you reach that, the bank offers you like $450K that you have to pay back in a year or so.

#34

I would like to have some option like when you finish 100% of the game or get to like 100 years. You get a special option for a creative gameplay where you can use all the consoles ( including the consoles which are off the market) you get trillions of money at the start and just replay the game the way you want to. If it’s a good idea reply.

#35

I always mess up and forget to name my games. I think you should be able to edit the name before you publish it out to the public. Not sure if this has been requested before, if it has, sorry.