Now, now, I bought the game yesterday and I am already hooked, for 100 MB this games looks awesome and it’s ton of fun, I have some suggestions though, in case the devs are taking them of course : )
Game History: While I don’t mind the current interface, after you made 10/20 games it become troublesome to look for a specific game detail, can’t we get an option to open a “spreadsheet” like list with all the games made so far? Also, it would be nice if we could get more details on the game we made such as % of how much graphic/sound/AI/World Design and so on we put into each game; this way it will be easier to improve the next game in the right respects.
Moddability: Could this game be made (at least partially) moddable? In particular, could some data, such as “names” be put in such a way (inside a .txt?) so that the user could modify them? While I understand for licensing reasons you had to change all the real names into fake names, for me it takes a lot away from realism to read “Vena” instead of “Sega” and personally I’d love to be able to modify them back to real names by myself; also, it would be cool if we could add our own “reviews one-liner” to make them less repetitive. Moreover, I’d love to be able to rename my “workers”, on my last game I ended up having a “three Oliver” team.
Stats on Hover: Would it be possible to get a quick read on stats while hovering over a character? Also, why can’t I read my own stats while being in the garage?
Clickable Shelves: I think it would be nice if we could get a shelf displaying (at least) the last five games released, for quick access.
I am very glad of (2) that was announced, as for (3) it could be made as an opt-in/opt-out option, so one could disable it eventually if he doesn’t like it.
Contracts are money worthless. The only advantage of taking them is to get research points, both the rewards and the penalties are too low to make any difference in my opinion. I mean, if I have 1.5 million I don’t really care if they pay me 17K or if I get a 5K fee. Perhaps they could be tuned?
Contracts are just there to fill time so you don’t have periods when nobody is doing anything. It helps with syncing up vacation schedules and training periods.
I often use them so time that some (but not all) staff are training or researching isn’t wasted, or to spin ahead losing as little money as possible until everyone needs a vacation, so I can start the next major project fresh.
It would be a good idea. Although, if the devs add that, I would like it if some of the info of the game would have to be unlocked by game report, but the base stuff you mentioned would be pretty good.
Aren’t the dev’s considering mod compatibility? Well, if your situation I guess that it could be okay. It really depends.
Hands on . I always have to keep checking my staff list.
Great Idea . Although It should show the last 3 games at least, and probably unlocked in the 2nd or 3rd office.
1 : That’s not a quick feature to add but yeah that would be great to have a spreadsheet for games history. And in fact I’d like have some more spreadsheet with filter and sort abilities for analyzing purposes and contemplating purposes. But also the game needs more spreadsheet like for employee and engines and certainly more.
2 : Yeah. I’d say that the GameBiz series which is also about developing games or consoles or even distributing games and more, is using real names, for computers, companies, and games. I don’t know this series and only checked the demo of the 3 which is a bit too dry to appeal me. I wonder why book would be allowed to use real names and not a game with an historical point of view. Well I suppose it’s just legal stuff but still I wonder why EA wouldn’t prefer be quoted for Electronic Art than the current fake ironic name. I also don’t see why EA would not like to have a mention in the game that they publish this or that game. Ha well.
3 : Yeah thought that too. Someone pinpointed it would be tedious to see it constantly when you are going to select an employee and I think it’s a valid counter argument. So I’d say right click to shows it and even an option to constantly show it.
4 : I don’t agree on this one because there’s already the game list history and the game isn’t designed around interactions with elements.
5 (another post) : I don’t agree that much, there’s already big contracts so just choose them only if for you the small don’t worth it, moreover small contracts can be handy for a smaller part of the team.
I think I’ll use this thread instead of adding one more for more basic suggestions but not yet.
Well some more very specific points to complete posts in this thread:
Real pause command: I’d like be able to pause to quietly check everything and not lost some weeks between the various menus open and close.
Time speed setup: I don’t mean the number of years, the current three choices are ok for me, well the 42Y setup is ok for me. I mean a 3 speed setup just to let player choose his favorite pace. The game is on purpose using a game management trick to constantly “harass” the player with events and stuff to do. It’s a design to increase the feeling of an action game and that there’s constantly something interesting that happens. The problem is the best pace is different for some players that’s why there’s speed setup in some games.
No click to close menus: It’s rather tedious to have to close a menu when you want open another menu.
Allows skip animations: Animations are Popup text drawing, menu drawing, G3 visitors counter, reviews drawing. I’d like an option to have none of them, all are tedious after a short time.
Better lists: OP already pinpointed the game would worth a spreadsheet for the games history. But I think it would be cool too for the staff list. And for the hire list and have the staff list too when you hire.
Option to constantly show dev stats: When a dev is trained the stats are shown, players should have an option to let this constantly visible. If there’s problems with some other mechanisms like during developing then the list of dev and their stats could be shown optionally on a border like left or bottom. Or perhaps OP suggestion for stats on hoover would fine and enough.
Bubbles produced is bubble counted: When you develop a contract there’s a strict time limit and that’s fine. But it’s irritating when a bubble is produced and the animation time don’t let it reach the top before the time limit, just change the rule in any bubbles produced before the time limit is bubble counted, it would be a little detail less irritating, the tension is still here, it’s a detail but it’s pointless to include this irritating thing.
Better deeper High score list: That list should allow see much more detail when you select an element, like top ten sells, top ten rates, top genre used, number of fans, and more, and even allow check games details for those in some top ten.
Show dev affectations during development: Before each phase of non small games you affect a developer to each task. I’d like this is shown after during the development of this phase.
I have other suggestions but they are more related to gameplay design and less concrete elements, and possibly many are more for a sequel, when OP points, and I tried stick to OP, are mainly related to interface design plus the mods thing which is also not a gameplay change.
They can be useful if you have a GOOD contract when you are almost getting bankrupt. They can save you to make one last game which can give you money (or not) and save you from bankruptcy.[quote=“Mafia, post:1, topic:7505”]
Moddability
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They are planning on making the ability to make mods. Read this for some more information:
You can use the ESC button on the up right corner of your keyboard to close a menu while you’re in it.
Real Years. Since this game’s based on history of videogames, it would be nice to see, next to Y10 something like 1994 which is more humanly comprehensible.
The more Info the better. What about a “Top Ten” of games sold of all times? Better if filled with info such as release date, platform, review score, graphic engine etc…
Game History: I wish you could blacklist some of your games that did terrible so when you have a lot of games in your history and want to make a sequel you don’t have to keep looking through the bad ones to find the good ones. A better idea than that would be to sort them by their rating or top sales rank, but it would probably be easier on them to code a blackout option.
I think that to get more insight on where you go wrong, you should be able to hire an “Advisor” or someone who will look at your review scores and suggest areas for improvement in a bit more detail.
Yes, the spreadsheet is much needed – both for game history and also for the staff list. It also needs functionality where you can launch a sequel or an expansion from the spreadsheet (or training, in case of the staff).
Below is how I have made my spreadsheet. It is a pain to have to record all this information, but it seems essential in order for me to enjoy the game. I must just be wired that way.
. I always have to keep checking my staff list.
. Although It should show the last 3 games at least, and probably unlocked in the 2nd or 3rd office.
But also the game needs more spreadsheet like for employee and engines and certainly more.