Hey.
So I’ve tried the demo yesterday and I really enjoyed the game so I decided to buy it right away 
Now it’s quite easy to get my company from the garrage to the office with about 2mln-5mln of cash but then … my god I can’t do anything to produce another hit game, it’s frustrating as hell.
Now before you say anything I managed to produce a hit game once during the office stage but it sold for about 1mln max and that’s it lol.
Now my question is :
- How do you make hit games during office stage
- How to adjust sliders during different game development stages
Besides after playing this game non-stop I think that these sliders are just a … bad game design element lol ? How can I tell how much of a slider do I need to move in order to create that perfect game ? It doesn’t make any sense at all, no matter how much I try and fiddle with it I can’t never hit the jackspot and I’m not even going to start on sequels oh ho ho ho…
SO, any tips and tricks ?
Because I’m not a magician and I can’t even tell how much of a “value” slider needs to have so replicating the expected high sale result of a hit game is basically impossible unless I don’t know … you make screenshots of every game you make at each one of development stages and compare that/use that as a guide?
Herp derp, get Game Dev Tycooon they said, it will be fun they said :x
@LyraHearstrings - The most important thing to remember is to pay attention to the game you are making and what it needs, not what you think it needs.
For example, don’t make a hit shooter that runs with a Steering Wheel.
Also, don’t invest too much time into Graphics on a Text-Based RPG.
However, I feel your pain. I spent millions on an MMO and expected it to be a hit. It flopped like a Magikarp.
Then, I proceeded to make a 45k Gameling “Pocket Soccer” which apparently wowed everyone in existence.
Just be sure your putting what your game needs, not what you want it to have. If that makes sense. 
I was in the same boat as you not too long ago. I was using the slider settings on the wiki and making sure I had good genre/type combinations. But one post I found on here really helped a ton: Do publishing contracts.
Publishing contracts are much more important than making your own games because they get you a lot of fans, and the more fans you have, the more sales you will get. Do publishing contracts until you hit 100,000 fans and then produce medium games on your own as you will have the fanbase to support it. Also, you only need two employees other than your main guy for this. Anything else will be overkill.
And one more thing: consider making two engines. I found it very helpful to have a RPG/Adventure/Casual engine for more design oriented games, and an Action/Simulation/Strategy engine for the technology oriented games. Make sure you put in these engines the upgrades that are under the categories appropriate for the genres of games you will be using the engine for. Consult this page: http://gamedevtycoon.wikia.com/wiki/Game_Development#Development_phase
For example, put Engine upgrades in your technology oriented engine but not your design oriented one. Hope this helped!
I get the basic idea like RPG - Dialogue, Story, World Design; Action - Engine, Gameplay, Graphics and so on but come on … 
And one more thing - I’m not sure if its only me but I’m seriously confused by game controllers such as gamepad, mouse and so on. Should I use the controllers for game categories or consoles ? Because sometimes I do publish a game for a Gameling handheld with lets say a gamepad … am I doing it right lol 
?
The things you throw in the game like gamepad, better dialogue, etc will not ever hurt you. Throwing them in when their category is given a high priority on sliders is always a good idea even when it seems ridiculous like racing wheel on the gameling.
The goal is to have a heavy tech over design ratio for strategy, simulation, and action, and to have higher design for adventure, casual, and rpg. The extras that you have hopefully built into your engine help contribute to getting a good ratio.
Yup, that’s what I thought.
So I just finished playing, I’ve hired 4 people - 2 for technology and the other two for design.
I was able to make some pretty good sequels selling even 5mln copies or more but eventually someone has hacked into our system&stolen some credit cards and boom! 2mln of cash was gone in a blink of an eye 
At least now I get the idea what to do in order to be more successful 
Along with what DerekJeter said, really focus on publishing contracts for the first half of the office stage. You’ve got an understanding on what makes a good game based on topic/genre, but think of it like a locomotive: each stage you’re gonna start slow then pick up pace. That means you’ll be losing a lot of cash trying to get a hit game within the first year on your own.
Think about the context, when you move out of the garage, on average the industry is beginning to take shape with console wars brewing and the development of stronger platforms. What was a hit game that got you millions in stage one was likely a few years old by now - the industry, and the audiences want bigger and better. What you need is a beastly engine that can cover your bases (DerekJeter summed these details up). This takes from your company time, money and research. The only way to get more of the latter two is publishing games that you know will do ‘decent’ in the market, while experimenting with a few small/medium of your own. By the end of a few years, you’ll develop a fanbase and the tech to please them. Put this factor and your knowledge of the game sliders together and you’ll be churning out more than a few huge successes.
My tip: School - RPG/Strategy(if you can dual) with a heavy focus on story, dialogue, gameplay, and world design aimed at kids on PlaySystem (1 or 2)/Gameling. Gets me 10s and a 9 every time.