So I got to the end of my 35 year game, but I have not unlocked AAA games. I have got 9.75 games before (but not sure if large games before I hit the 35 year mark). And while after year 35 I have got 9.75 large games several times. Why can’t I get it?
And does end of game mean I cannot unlock things or something?
Thanks
The end of the game means the story ends, no new consoles are released, except yours, no companies go under, etc. If you have the R&D lab, then AAA games are a research project you have to do and you need to get a large game with either 4 10’s or 3 10’s and 1 9 to unlock it.
Problem I’ve run in to once you hit the “End of the game” well the 30 year period I tend to play anyway… is that gradually regardless what you do, people start getting bored of your games and they’ll get lower and lower scores as there is little more you can do to keep them interested.
To be honest Triple A size games doesn’t help much past even a poorly reviewed game will pretty much always make money back as each size of game (with and w/o publishers) makes quite a difference in terms of the return value of each unit.
e.g. I think Small = 15 Cr, Medium 30 Cr, Large 45 Cr and AAA 60 Cr as the income per unit.
And you only get 15-20% of that if you can’t self-publish.
Which to me actually Self-Publishing being based on “Fans” is quite an odd mechanic, as it would make sense if THAT was a Research Project so that you could slowly turn yourself in to a Publisher, the that could lead to becoming a Hardware Manufacturer.
Then instead Small > Medium > Large > Triple AAA are unlocked by the number of Employees you have.
Still game mechanics aside, the trick here is to ONLY grow when you absolutely need to; and don’t be afraid to stay tied to publishing deals for a while. In-fact when you first grow your company it is almost essential to stick to publishing deals over small titles… although you can get away with it if you purchase a Gameboy License as those guys are quite each to please plus you can make Small - Young titles which score alright and still make massive profits; enough so that between publishing deals you can train your staff.
If you do this, in-fact you should be able to get some of your people up to 700 Technology / Design by Year 10 (1993)
What I would strongly suggest is when you initially hire people (as you’re guaranteed a hit even with awful games if you haven’t by Year 10, which tbh I don’t think is a good idea for the game to have that mechanic as failing at the Mid-game is far more brutal than any other time) make sure you give yourself a GOOD budget so you can have a choice of 3-4 people, then pick the highly specialised people. You want 1 Tech and 1 Design initially (top and bottom hiring options) carefully look through the applicants, it might take a few goes but make sure you get each with a minimum of 500; also make sure they have 250+ Speed (else it will bite you in the ass later)
Basically hiring good staff is just as important to unlocking the advanced features as actually getting some hits.
Still you only need 1 Hit to expand, the rest just need to cover your running costs; which as I said publishing deals generally are the best way of doing this. The rest of the time making relatively average (7-8) games will keep the money flowing in really nicely.
Also never put in your most advanced technology, as any games you don’t “improve” what you add in the audience will expect the better features. I’ve found swapping features about lets me use an engine longer while keeping decent scores until I’m ready for the next “Hit” title.
Another thing to note is Graphics Engines… for some reason this is a linear progression Tree which 3D is not > 2D.
3D V1 ~ 2D V2, annoyingly they level up separately so you have to make a very conscious decision which route you want to take.
Now note you do get more research points and level your characters quicker by creating new combinations a lot, but doing so actually is more difficult to get a successful game as sticking to a given genre (or small group of similar Genres… e.g Adventure - RPG or Strategy - Sim) will often allow you to refine them to get more hits.
Still this is where I wish the game had a bit more depth and Technology Tree that is gradually worked towards (Civilization-Style) instead of being a separate mechanic. While I understand that Mobile Apps are suppose to be “Short & Sweet” Casual Experiences, this game has the potential to be a far more deep and strategic game; especially as disappointingly the game is all too often over before you feel like you have been able to achieve much.
I seriously hope the Steam version the passage of time is reduced to 25% because right now part of the issue trying to unlock certain things before the end of the game comes down to the simple fact that you HAVE to chose to either be successful, profitable or rich technology-wise.
One of the biggest issues I have with the game is each year is only 3 minutes (without pausing) so everything blasts along at light speed. It is one of my biggest (but not my only 
) problems I have with the lack of depth.