Sorry if there is already a topic about this bug, but I haven’t found it. I created a new engine, and tried to develop a sequel for one of my past games, but when i start developing, after few seconds everyone stops working right before the first slider selection screen - http://i.imgur.com/oX429Mf.jpg It is a medium fantasy RPG, but i tried other game sizes, genres, older engines etc. All my other saves are working fine. I’m using the version 1.3.9.
Thats because your workers are busy “animating”. Two of them are writing on a pad, the other is drinking coffee. The slider screen will not come up while they are doing this.
just for additional information
if you send your staff to vacation during development process
and he/she miss WHOLE development process (but manage to return a few weeks before development stage finished)
when all other staff has finished , that vacationed staff will work alone finishing his part
this will make the game take 2 or 3 weeks longer , this rarely happen though
@refraction: They’ve been doing this stuff for past 10 minutes 
I tried doing contracts, until employees needed a vacation. After they came back from vacation, everything was working like a charm Thanks
The only animation that affects the progress of development is the head scratching animation. This represents being stuck on a nasty bug and not being sure how to fix it. Taking a sip of coffee or making notes on a pad does not block game development.
If the game has somehow not fully registered that you’ve started a game, yet is showing the game dev progress at the top, then that is definitely a bug. Once you’ve started making a game, you should not be able to start a contract.