I love this game. So I decided to make my own review on it (this is actually my first time writing one of these out, so bear with me).
Summary:
Game Dev Tycoon is amazing! It’s simple, yet addictive. It’s a tycoon game that really lets you have control of what your company makes, what it’s called, and what you’re known for. The gameplay is simple to use, harder to master (up to a point).
Price Point:
$8 USD seems high at first glance for a game that seems to play from only one screen that seems to be on the level of facebook games. But once I saw what it was about and how it did it, I’m thinking of buying a second copy just to contribute more money. This game is a fun simulator of being your own gaming company and the thrill of making your own games and seeing them succeed exceeds that simple screen. It’s definitely worth the cost, though if you’re still uneasy about it, go watch some Let’s Play youtube videos to figure out if it’s your kind of game (or keep reading if this is helping).
Good Points/Praise:
There’s a lot to love in this game. A lot hiding under the guise of a simple tycoon game.
- “I built this company from nothing and now I am sitting on golden chairs!” – Start as a solo developer in your basement, releasing game after game before emerging into offices and gaming stardom.
- “I made Sega…seems legit.” – There are endless ways to go about naming your company, including just taking one from real life. There’s even an achievement for that (though I don’t know how many companies it recognizes).
- “They never made a Pokemon Yellow 2….now they have!” – With the game maker, you can make whatever game you like. Pokemon Purple, Rock em Sock em, or (gasp!) Half Life 3! There is one issue though, covered in my criticisms section.
- “Failing…failing…faili- I MADE A FINAL FANTASY! WOO!!” – That one point in the game where you’re on your last legs, begging for profit, your games just keep coming back with 3’s and 1’s. And then Eureka! 10’s and 9’s and that multi-million game that brings you back from near bankruptcy!
- “’My word, stunning graphics and music and quite a nice atmospheric feel to it.’-some generic critic.” – When you make a stunning game, often a message will pop up with a critic praising your game (that you picked out and named) as the best game ever. It gives a good feeling.
- “Hmm, the Vonny Playsystem. Sounds familiar.” – The game is based on real gaming history (even some events that actually happened between companies). Obviously the names are switched around, but it shouldn’t take you too long to figure out the connections. It’s not just the games either. The people you hire also reference real people in the gaming industry. Later on, your R&D department will allow you to make new innovations in the gaming industry. Hmm, that Codename:GRID logo seems familiar…
Criticisms/Wishlist:
I don’t have major problems with the game, so this is more like a list of features or changes I would like to see.
- “That title box is way too small!” – With games like Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, Hyperdimension Neptunia, and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn around in real life, you would think you could make your own titles nice and lengthy, especially for sequels. I had to keep my series names short so I could add more to them for later (Rose and Mia). So it would be nice if the character limit was bigger or not even restricted at all. A subtitle box would also be nice, so the main title could be “Disgaea” with the subtitle being “Afternoon of Darkness” and it would be displayed with a smaller font below the main title. Add to the aesthetic.
- “Unhelpful Critics.” – Official game reviewers usually do more than just go “bad” or “good” like the ones in this game, they go into more detail on what makes the game work and what doesn’t. Occasionally the critics in the game will throw out something like “Post Apocalyptic is a bad choice for youth games” or “I wish they worked on sound” but that’s pretty rare. The best help I got was when I made a GREAT game and the critics praised it and told me what they loved (which I then made sure the following games of the same type also excelled in).
- “What did I use/do in that old game?” – The Game History section is a great reference for checking when a particular combination of genre, style, budget, audience, and console worked and didn’t, but it doesn’t give much to tell you what you did with the sliders or even what game engine you used (which is important since one of the things critics look for in a sequel is if you used a better game engine).
- “Hey there’s a game feature missing here…something that a lot of gamers usually don’t like…” –DLC and Preorder bonuses! We hate them! They keep churning them out! Now I want the opportunity to be sadistic and return the favor! (or at least force it on a virtual public) There are expansions for MMOs, but I want DLC for normal games. And preorder bonuses to make people really groan (there could even be a whole ‘get more money, but lose fans’ thing).
- “How much are we actually selling these for?” – As far as I know, there’s no way to select how much games sell for. It seems to depend on the system (G64 games go for about $7 each, Gameling about $5-7, Modern PCs and next gen systems around $10-$15) and maybe how much you spent making it. It would be nice to have an additional slider for price so that I could release a full budget next gen game for $60, but release a smaller, lower res game for only $7.99.
Tips from Me:
For those who are looking for a few tips, here’s some things I picked up from my two playthroughs (one failed, one good). Note: Do not take these as the ultimate advice nor the most efficient, these are just what I have come up with from my plays.
- “Watch your wallet.” – It is easy to gain a lot of money in this game and just as easy to lose it all. Bigger games start taking up a lot of funds for additional features and if the game tanks, you just lost it. Be sure to keep an eye how much money you have and try to remember that you have that monthly bill. If you fall into a certain deficit, the game allows you to take out a bailout, but you’ll have to pay double later.
- “Mr. Smith, I’m sorry to say this, but-” – When your company starts losing money rapidly and you’re slowly diving towards debt, fire people! I know that’s horrible game industry ethic, but if your company goes down, that helps no one! Go back to just yourself and make small games until you can get your money back. The only monthly bills you can control are your employees (and your R&D department, but if you got that far, you’re usually financially sound).
- “Training montage!” – This game has a stat system for your employees (and you) and while they may seem trivial, it’s an important part of the game. Regular training increases your employee’s efficiency and let’s them churn out better games, as well as unlocks the Boost and R&D options.
- “Research research research.” – You can’t make better games without better engines. And you can’t make better engines without researching upgrades and features. That said, in the 30 year span, it is unlikely you’ll be able to research every topic and still train everyone, so try to focus on certain elements. Do you want to have better story telling? Do you want to have better AI? Do you want to do 2D or 3D?
- “Don’t repeat yourself!” –NEVER do the exact same genre/style combo consecutively. Unless you do major differences like adding more features or using a different engine or changing the sliders around, the second game is considered boring and will usually tank.
- “Practice before performance.” – Publishing deals are risky. If the game fails, not only do you get less money from smaller sales, but you also have to pay a penalty. Before taking a publisher deal, think on if you’ve made a successful game of the same genre/style so you have something to go off of.
- “Have Fun” – Okay, that was cliché, but how fun this game is depends on you making it fun. Enjoy making your own titles. Enjoy seeing them succeed. This is about YOUR own game company!
Self-Inflicted Challenges:
You know those challenges that hardcore gamers like to do like ‘Play through entire story with only White Mages’ or ‘Play through with only pistols’? There’s several ones you can do in this game to. If you’ve done a playthrough and want a challenge, try these:
- “Name your company after a real game company and then only release games that they actually made (as much as you can)” – This would be hard in beginning stages since you have few of the platforms that are actually used today or because the company hasn’t released 40 games, but only 8, but go ahead and see how far you can get as Nintendo or Namco. Can you take THQ farther than they have?
- “Make PC only games.” – Okay, this one’s much easier than the first challenge, especially since PC is the cheapest option to make games on. But now you have to refuse the temptation to go with any of the Nintendo or Sony systems.
- “Make games for all the systems.” – Not especially hard, but pricy with all those license fees.
- “Make successful games on all the doomed systems.” – The Game Gear, the Dreamcast, the Saturn V, etc. Did anyone make games for those on their own? (okay, maybe yes for Dreamcast). But you know the others are going downhill. Try to give them a moment of glory.
- “I <3 my parents! Stay in the basement for all 30 years!” – Work entirely from your basement. This limits you to small games, no training, no R&D department, and no help. But hey, at least the monthly fee is low.
- “We only make ____ games!”- Develop games only belonging to one genre or topic. As long as you mix up the other option, you shouldn’t get penalized for repeated combo.
- “What Final Fantasy are we on again?” – Make all your games in the same series. Not really a challenge, but fun to do with challenge number 6.
If you read all the way down to this, thank you for your time. I hope this got across how much I love this game, and now I end with my company’s statistics and games.
Final Score: 38,359,946.27
Company: Nippon Ichi
CEO: Flonne Castilio
Most Profitable Game: Rose 5: Finale (51m) Note: I released this game in the last two weeks of the 30 year span, so that was only part of the sale. By the time it was done, it had made double that.)
Least Profitable Game: Grammer With Etna(-262.6k) (Apparently vocab games are hard to make right)
Highest Selling Game: Etna Goes to School (4.1m) (Really!? Etna Goes to School, a school RPG, beat Disgaea 1, 2, 3, my Rose line of games, and Phantom Brave…and it was a youth game. Rose 5 actually outsold it by double, but only after the 30 years were done)
List of Memorable Games:
Disgaea, Disgaea 2, Disgaea 3, Disgaea Racing, Disgaea Racing 2, Etna Goes to School, Etna’s Maiden Voyage, Grammer with Etna, BioPrinny
Rising Star Mia, Rising Star Mia 2, Mia 3: Stardom, Mia 4: Dark History
Clash Star Rose, Rose and Friends, Rose 2: Her Army, Rose 3: To the Coast, Rose 4: United Fronts, Rose 5: The Finale