Game Dev Tycoon General Feedback & Suggestions Rolling Thread 1

I think this game is overall THE NEXT HIT GAME

I would like to have two Features:
1.A Scenario Mode, you will get no Achievements in this Mode.
You can select in which year, with which employees, with how many fans,cash,games etc. you start and you can save the Scenarios as a file to send other people.
2. Please add some Game Consoles, for example the Atari 2600, or even some flopped consoles like the Virtual Boy or the Atari Jaguar.
I would also like to have the Gameboy Color and Advance instead of only the Gameboy(Gameling)
Fliwatt

2 Likes

hi, i hope there will be a sequel to gdt, i love this game so much

some suggestions

  • competition between yours and other companies, maybe even in multiplayer like most other games of this genre do have (pizza syndicate, the guild, etc…)

  • more detail and complexity without overloading the interface, i like the way you basically only have one screen for all actions (except the 2 labs)

    • more actions including the fans, found a forum for the community to get feedback like "we want more rpg/action combies or we heavily want a sequel for this game, or we missing this feature in this game etc…

    • more actions for the labs, maybe develop your own controller’s for the console, like for the wii, each game has a different controller if you want xD

    • more random events, especially interviews, interviews on the conventions with a “choose option” like praise the new engine, or the sequel has more features, we improved the sound, etc… -> will result in additional hype, or not if you say e.g. we added immersive story telling to an action title -> hype goes down and losing fans

    • atm grid is kind of sad, you research it and all you get to see is monthly income, you could do events on this distribution platform and research better versions of grid, like improved interface responding on the community feedback, research greenlight to support indie dev studios =)
      releasing demos of the game you currently developing, etc…

    • once your company is big enough, other dev studios come to you and ask for publisher support, you’re helping other companies by publishing their games, do marketing and so on

    • i wish the time allocation sliders would save, so i made a game with slider … and it was good, next time make a game with the same genre/genre-combie the game uses the same sliders for each genre automatically or it could ask me if want to use the best result i had discovered for this genre so far,
      for the immerse you could make this feature researchable in one of the labs and call it “community feedback - genre’s in depth” for example, when you research it you have the ability, or make it an expensive training course for your main character (manager)

    • different game modes, like scenario 25,30,35 years, and freegame with start parameters like the time, money to start with, fans, which level and for scenario the events are scripted, like atm, and for the free game events are random, random platforms, good/bad topic/genre combies are random, so the game would show more replayability

    • more detail on the development costs, expansions and game consoles should show up in the game history or get an own history where we can look up what we’ve done so far, and series should fit together in a tooltip, (mouseover sequel 3 says in tooltip “2nd sequel, 1st was y8m5, original was y4m7”) something like this,
      i had the problem as my game history increases and i had several series i’m always forgetting which titles already had a sequel and how many of them…

    • more feedback on the review score especially for a bad review, like the sound was bad for this genre, etc…,
      so basically improving the gaming experience for newbees, not everyone want’s to use spreadsheets and hanging 6 hours on the wiki to understand how the game does work like i did

    • multi topic, and multiple development of games, i mean as soon as i’m going te be a big company, i should feel like one ,big publishers like ea have 2 or 3 projects at the same time, maybe you could add a 2nd layer for the developers under the main studio with 6 more employees, and maybe a line producer or a manager that keeps track of their progress, in level 2 and in level 3 maybe a 3rd above
      also multi platform releases, which increases the dev time depending on the game size after the debug phase, maybe a question “do you want to release to other platforms as well?”, you mark the platforms and the porting starts

    • some of the combies for platform/engine including features are stupid, e.g. 3d graphics, stereoscopic 3d, stereo/mono sound, etc… for gameboy (gameling) makes no sense, these options shouldn’t be available for gameling, and the same for the other platforms, in addition the release announcements could give more infos on this, e.g.
      "ninvendo announces his new handheld gameling with spectacular new improved 2d graphics and basic sounds. replying on the question why there is no support for mono sounds like on g64, the anwser is “the gaming community isn’t ready for this yet xD”
      (i love the the irony in the game like if you’re bankrupt it says ea bought your company and the licenses for all your successful games^^)

    • an online upload for your highscore in different categories, like scenario 25,30,35 and free game so we could try beat the score from other players

    • bigger difference between the sizes of the game, small 6-9months, medium 12-18m, large 18-24m and triple a up to 36 months maybe, i mean developing a triple a title with only 7 people in under a year, seems a bit weird, more employees working on the project could also increase the dev time

    • mmo’s need an overhaul, i don’t mean the bug which is already mentioned in other threads, the statistic should be more sophisticated, e.g. initial release -> 25 cash per license, and then monthly cost of 15 cash, the same when take an mmo off the market, it should say " 1,5m players are sad", not 150m cause of the expansions and the monthly cost for each player all added together

    • also releasing a title for a platform should depend on their market share, my own console is on top in about 18m after release, if i’m developing good games for this console with 20.5% market share the console should sell better and result in adding more fans, also more influence to the other platforms as well, i like the sega genesis, when i’m releasing top titles for this platform the nes should lose and has to say goodbye
      (this could also be part of the different modes, more impact in freegame mode and strict scripted history/events for scenario)

    • my own convention should also make PR for my console and for grid not only for the games i’m releasing

  • modding support would be awesome, it’s that one thing that keeps a game alive for over a decade, the community for games like thief/thief 2, aoe series and so on is still present after more then 10 years, maybe an editor for custom platforms, competetive companies and scenarios including events

    • i got another idea for especially newbees, there could be something like a cheat-mode where you can see an indicator for the D:T ratio for the genre during development, this would be optional, or it could only show the first time you try a new genre/genre-combie, so that we have an info what ratio is good for the genre, and if it’s not we decide to scrap the work , this could also be part of the tutorial or a locked feature which has to be unlocked per training course for the main character or as a research for one of the labs, also the idea for a notice on the sliders, that say “more or less important” for the genre is really good imo

so that are my suggestions so far, some of them are already posted by others, i know, but for the completeness i wanted to make a bigger post for the features i decided i want to have

1 Like

Platformers should be a game type available to the player from the beginning.

Starting with the Super TES and with every new platform released afterwards… offer the player the option into an exclusivity contract for that system. If the player accepts, they may ONLY create games for that system as long as the contract is in place.

Accepting would provide the player with several benefits:

  1. The license would be given to the player for free to develop on that system.
  2. A one time cash bonus would be given to the player (tied to the year, larger bonuses for later years)
  3. Free advertising on each game made for the platform
  4. ALL publisher deals offered would only be from the primary company (Vony, Ninvento etc) and would only be on the system you have your contract for. (The royalty %, desired game score, target audience, topics and genres would still be random as normal)

Players may also make self published games, but must make them on the platform on which they have a contract.

There are three ways to end an exclusivity contract.

  1. The player may terminate it early, but must pay a HEAVY penalty to do so. The penalty would be tied to the year and would always take a massive chunk out of a player’s finances.

  2. The player may remain on it until the console is taken off the market naturally. This will free them from the contract without any penalty at all.

  3. If the same company comes out with a newer platform they will offer the player a chance to upgrade. If they accept, they get another bonus and their old contract is cancelled and replaced with a new contract for the new platform. So if I had a contract with Vega for the Master V and the Oasis comes out, I could get my contract swapped over to the Oasis and start developing games on that.

The main benefits to exclusivity deals are the bonus payments (good to save yourself from bankruptcy) and the free hype. It also makes publisher contracts more predictable, as you know what system you’ll be developing them for.

The downsides are that it can lock you into a system after that system has lost significant market share but still sticks around for awhile before being taken off the market.

That would be kinda off annoying but i suppose i dont have to do it

Exactly, purely optional. You’d be offered the deals when new systems came out, but you are under no compulsion to accept them.

When you design your own console you only have so many models i was hoping for more. i would suggest DSI or Psvita models like that.

Nice idea, but I would think start with the basics, so about 4-5 different consoles before going to a new made game phone, or game boy look, etc.

Or ability to skilled players to make and share their own models.

First off I want to say that I really like this game I think it has a lot of ambition and literally from the second I saw it on steam greenlight I knew that I wanted to buy it. This is a series of suggestions from myself a fan from before release and the ideas for suggestions that I saw around the forum and thought were also good.

Obviously the game is a bit simplistic, but it still is vastly entertaining. Some things I think they should change/improve on:

  • Reviewers suggest what you could improve on/ what you did wrong
  • A more sophisticated system for calculating a games value; more
    depth/variables etc. since this is probably a common suggestion I
    won’t go into how since I’m pretty sure they have a good idea of what
    they want to do for this.
  • Earlier sequels, earlier access to MMO ability
  • Being able to have an R&D & hardware dept. at any point (obviously
    you risk bankruptcy by trying for it too early on, but that should
    be your decision).
  • R&D should be more vital to your company once it takes roots and gets
    staff (even though it would be small).
  • MMO’s should be nerfed a bit, even my lame ones gave me a shit ton of
    money and my good one profited me well over 1 billion in about eight
    years.
  • Multi-genre games.
  • More categories and Genres.
  • Descriptions for tech and what it does specifically (especially the graphics how do i know the diff between 3d v1 and 2).
  • Being able to see the details on older games (sliders, tech used, who did what,
    etc.)
  • Larger team sizes
  • Take loans from banks whenever.
  • Different difficulty settings
  • Certain techs don’t work with certain platforms, i.e. mouses with
    gamelings etc.
  • Game engine updates for smaller techs
  • Skill increases for staff as they work (training should still be
    relevant, but getting no skills after make 80 games is dumb).
  • Instead of just getting pop ups all the time you should have a
    mailbox you need to check.
  • Grey out employees who are on vacation/in training when in dev
    process.
  • More save slots.
  • Ability to change how fast the game runs.
  • Don’t take your console off the pay line the second you launch a new
    one.
  • Start whenever you want in either mode (see 18).
  • popular games should sell longer and you should be able to determine
    how much a game sells for.
  • Give games/engines longer names, if it’s a problem with how they line
    up on screen then just make it trail off like so “Super Amazing
    Ultimate Figh…”.

Some things I think they should add into the game:

  1. Showing how much you are competing with your dev/hardware
    counterparts and making it a challenge.
  2. Ability to develop DLC.
  3. Micro-transactions as a technology.
  4. Development kits as a technology.
  5. Employees don’t get auto raise, you decide what their paid and they
    have a happiness level that is affected by this and what games you
    make (related to 9)
  6. Buying and Selling of Licenses (maybe your studio is down and needs
    cash to stay afloat, so you sell a popular license and if your doing
    well perhaps you see another studio is struggling and want to buy
    theirs and negotiate with them. Alternatively there could be a
    market panel of licenses to buy and sell if the negotiation feature
    is too complex.)
  7. More depth into sales, tech, relations with publishers (being able
    to negotiate with them, however futile it may be), partnering with a
    publisher. More depth into Grid (aka your pc gaming network).
  8. The ability to have multiple teams in one company (and team leaders) and to have them
    work independently of each other (If you release an MMO you’ll
    probably need a dedicated team for that.)
  9. Your staff have favorites/opinions on games/tech and this can sway their
    opinion on certain features such as the following 2 suggestions.
  10. Staff suggest what is popular in the market and what to make for
    games/other company decisions.
  11. When you adjust sliders for different sections of the game you get
    opinions from your staff (and possibly self thoughts) which tell
    you what you’re losing or gaining by adjusting that slide.
  12. Multiple platforms for games.
  13. debugging as a skill and tester as a specialization.
  14. Fans suggest what games you should make.
  15. Dividing game development into Alpha and Beta stages.
  16. Beta testing (options for paid and unpaid) with effects such as
    more hype, bug improvement, but costing more money.
  17. DRM options with pro/con effects and piracy effects throughout the game that might push you into DRM.
  18. A historic mode (basically what they have now) and an Infinite mode which instead of trying to recreate gaming history, it makes up devs, publishers and tech into infinity (or for as long as feasibly possible) for the purposes of longer gameplay.
  19. More in depth into sales with options such as collectors edition (as a tech) that might include things like soundtrack (sales tech) and game art (tech)
  20. Aborting games whenever and pausing their production with associated effects like hype decrease/loss of fans.
  21. Putting a release date on a game and the ability to push it back with associated effects.
  22. New Custom Hardware like Toy Gun, Guitar, Fitness Gear (wii sports), Arcade
  23. More choices with campaign options.
  24. Ability to make other media based on your game (TV, comics, etc.)
  25. Instead of funding it yourself or from a publisher allow an option that lets you start it from something like kickstarter.
  26. Ability to have your own gaming magazine and merchandise.
  27. Ability to License your gaming engine for royalties.
  28. Ability to make games of pop culture franchises (star wars etc.)
  29. Ability to research languages as a tech and making multi-lingual games.
  30. Different Fan levels with different Fan levels (i.e. New Strategy fan, Dedicated Casual (the genre) fan, Harcore RPG fan)
  31. Having when you release a consoles and games matter in reference to the market and other releases.
  32. Have a PR dept.
  33. Ability to have your own site as a PR option.
  34. Motion sensor as a tech.
  35. Setting min and req specs for computer games (I’m not saying this has to be ultra detailed low end, mid, high end would be better than nothing).
  36. When you put tech into a slider type, have a slider for the amount of effort you put into that tech.
  37. Comedy as a tech for dialogues (I think most can agree borderlands 2 gets points for it’s funny story writing).

Greenheart staff, I’m not expecting you to put all of this shit into your update obviously, but do take a look if you would I hope it gives you ideas and perhaps you can add more on in future updates if you feel it’s feasible and proficient. I wish you all the best in your endeavors.

P.S. I know the numbering is off IDKWTF happened.

P.P.S. No my name and avatar are not related to the company it’s been my tumblr name and icon for a while.

2 Likes

great ideas me thinks :smile:

Most of them are great ideas.

Most are good ideas except…

  1. More in depth into sales - you already have something like that with AAA games. Now I understand how you would want this to be applied to all the types of games, but in reality only major and triple-A games release that sort of stuff anyway, so I don’t think it should be implemented.
  2. Putting a release date - when you finish a game you can postpone its launch to fix all the bugs, and as a consequence your hype decreases severely. So long story short, a basic version of this idea is already in the game.
  3. Ability to make other media - IMO that is a stupid idea in real life, and it would be stupid in the game as well. Just look at Microsoft and their XBox One (tv shows, tv, tv movies, tv experience yadda-yadda). I don’t want to be Microsoft in-game :wink:
  4. Multi-lingual games - I don’t think that would make any difference. Now, in late-game, you resources are already spread out like hell (you have to implement a large number of things in your game) and if you add even more it would make the game development a lot more inefficient (those percentages you see on the right when you select too many features)
  5. Motion sensor - I may be wrong, but isn’t something like that implemented already? I mean you have to research it first in R&D and then you can put it in your console. Please tell me if I am imagining things or it is actually in the game since I don’t have a clue :smiley:
  6. Comedy as a tech for dialogues - that is redundant. Good writing is good writing no matter the genre, so adding a genre would be kind of useless.

But the rest of the ideas are great and have been suggested by me and a lot of other people before as well :smile:

1 Like

Hello! Don’t you sometimes want to add a cover image of your game? I want. So that’s my idea!

In my idea player can choose one of some cover image’s for his game. And that cover image will display next to sales window and reviews. I think this should be something that gonna attractive the game.

What you think about it?

1 Like

A brilliant idea :smiley: They could have different covers depending on the Topic and Genre

That would be good, and each genre can have about 2-3 default covers, it could be a really nice addition.

Ideas for game dev tycoon

  • Interactive interviews. Like you chose the answer.
  • Advertise Your games example, On a Tv advert, Bill bored, bus stop, Store windows
  • More offices With Special Stuff like, More room for staff, more air conditioning= Faster work stuff like that

ye more advertisement stuff would be good

At first, thank you for creating this game, i have enjoyed it greatly, but during play. i felt like something was missing. after puting the game down, and looking trough my own collection, i finaly noticed what it is. the ammounth of consoles to develop for.

The consoles/systems we can develop from are some of the more famous ones. but right from the start i was (Probarly) missing the atari 2600. as well as some of the less famous intelvision, collevision, Philips Videopac, Virtualboy. just to name a few.

now i know that adding more would take a lot of time(if not rebalancing a lot of thing) but for instance the atari 2600 (as well as its next consoles) got at least ‘some’ history (with the Atari Lyx being a handheld like the Sega’s Gamegear and the Nintendo Gameboy) while some of these others have faded into obscurity long ago.

My idea is basicaly. adding more consoles to the timeline. Even if many of them failed to even make a “lasting” impression. i could see people try to do a “failed/short term console only” runs. (i know i will try one ( :slight_smile: ) ) and secondly it adds a bit of a chalenge to newer players.

anyway, that’s the end of my idea. ideas, and constructive critisism are very welcome ( :slight_smile: )