When you are in the garage stage, it is important to make a variety of games of different genres. Or, if you are planning on focusing on one or two specific genres later in the game, make games of that genre in the garage. They will be important later.
The moment the “Sequels” research becomes available in stage 2, research it. It is, IMO,THE most powerful thing you can use in the game and can double the life of your engines.
Here is how you properly use sequels.
For demonstration purposes, I’m going to explain it assuming you have JUST researched a brand new engine and have included all the features researched thus far into it.
Using your new engine, create a brand new, non-sequel game. Ideally use a brand new category with a ‘good’ topic/genre combination, ideally with a genre your team is familiar with, and good at making. Make the ONLY new thing about your engine be the upgrade to the graphics. Leave ALL the other new bells and whistles of your engine unused (if you had features that were used by an older engine, keep using those).
If you did your sliders right, your new game should be a hit, if not at least a very well scored 8.0+ game.
Afterwards… make another game. This time make a sequel. Remember those games I told you to make back in the garage era? This is where they become important. They are sequel fodder. Using the EXACT same engine, with the EXACT same features as your last game, and the EXACT same slider positions and genre… make your sequel.
You’ll find that, despite the fact that you failed to innovate at all from your previous game, this game will do just as well. This is because of the ‘proper sequel’ bonus. Your score is boosted by 20% for sequels that are made from games that had an older engine and that were more than 40 weeks ago. Your garage-era PC and G64 titles are perfect for that.
Now…simply make another NEW non-sequel game, turning on a few more of your engine’s features this time. This game should be a hit too. After that, follow up with another sequel using the same features/sliders.
I’ve been able to chain 8 back to back 8.5+ games this way off a SINGLE engine before I ran out of new features to turn on and had to make a new engine.
Once you make a new engine, all those games you made previously (both the sequels and the originals) are now fodder for sequels for the new engine.