Hello,
I am almost 40 years old. We got a Commodore 64 in somewhere in 1983/1984, don’t quite remember. Since then I’ve conquered every game from Civilization to Simcity and beyond. Game Dev Tycoon seems great, I love the graphics and I love the interface and I love the idea, but it is completely random to play.
It absolutely makes no sense, it has those three stupid sliders and nothing to learn from. According to Stem I’ve played something like 100 hours and still there are those three sliders and it doesn’t matter how I twist them the result is still absolutely random.
One time I make a young-sports-casual game for Gameling and it gets a 10, the next time it gets a 5. There is no learning curve, there is nothing to teach the player how to do things, no matter how many times one repeats the process.
I even looked at the wiki page and it’s full of algorithms like “You have to add X + Z2 + [1] - (mother’s maiden name) * Cookie Monster” then you know you’ll have a top game for sure.
Also, a successful AAA MMORPG should be the license to print money, but for the one time I got that far, my game cost me 600 millions in a few months. You assumed that all MMORPGs are free-to-play? The game sold 20 million copies, if half of them kept on playing, paying 10 dollars a month, it should’ve brought me 100 millions a month but it ended up costing me thrice that much.
Making games is not random, but it might appear that way if you have trouble understanding what is actually going on.
I suggest reading the Game Dev Guidance to help you get a better understanding of the mechanics.
This is the same as saying “Make sure your computer is turned on” or “Make sure your computer is connected to the internet”. Games should be intuitive and not about checking boxes.
I am just trying to help out 
There are quite a lot of tutorial messages in the game that explains what is going on, as well as the Game Reports, which are very useful to get a better understanding what works or what does not work in making games.
I am grateful for your answers despite how ready-made they seem to be. The message I am trying to put through is that I’ve been playing computer games for 30 years and this is the most counter-intuitive game I have ever encountered.
I am willing to embrace a challenge but if a game seems to go beyond reason even after 100 hours of play time, something is definitely off.
Also, do the MMO’s charge the players or not?
Well thanks…
The game might not take players by the hand and explains every single thing, so there is nothing left for the players discover on their own.
Take the time to start a new game ( with tutorial ) and read them thoroughly.
I also wonder why you think it is counter intuitive?
With counter-intuitive I mean that best games are actually learnt without the use of tutorials and in this case forums, wiki pages, or as you suggested in your first post, “Game Dev Guidance”. I am once again repeating what I’ve said, with my 30 years of computer game experience, the best times I’ve had are when the game itself teaches me how to play. Do you think SimCity for Commodore 64 had space for much tutorials? No, but I still had the time of my life playing it.
Also, you didn’t answer my sort of off-topic question, are MMO’s in Game Dev Tycoon free to play or is there a monthly subscription and if there is, where is the option to set how much it should be?
I will agree with you that MMO’s in the game are hard to conquer in this game and there’s not a lot of insight on how to control the sales for them.
From what I can figure, it’s primarily through sales and not by monthly subscription since you lose money rather quickly with MMO’s.
Now with the game itself, it’s not random to make a good game. There is a formula behind each topic/genre and I’ve found a bunch of them.
I did lose a few times at first but I eventually found 3 or 4 combinations that I could use to bail me out while I experiment with other combinations without having to use a wiki or guide.
Are you researching your games after you make them? I actually forget what the feature is called (despite just playing Game Dev Tycoon 5 minutes ago) The more games you develop, and the more you experiment, the more you learn combos. There are an insane amount of them. What genres work on which platforms, what age groups for which systems, etc. The best thing is that whatever you research can be used in subsequent playthroughs of the game.
About MMO: I suppose they are a “pay once, play forever” (like guild wars for instance) so you get the money from player buying it but no monthly fee.
About the counter-intuitive gaming: I disagree on that, I think you are missing the right approach to this game. The main fun of the gameplay is to “discover”, so a tutorial/hint too much and it will start to kill your fun.
The Simulation Engine behind this game is quite realistic also if simple (and it’s simplicity is because if too realistic, it would be too frustrating to play).
Just to take your example: it’s not a wise market choice to release two identical games in a row (the game shows you also some hints about that) since you may incur in what is called “sales cannibalization” and discourage players to spend money for something they already have.
Long story short: the fun of this game is to learn how to master the development and the market in the gaming industry, so less help, more fun! (IHMO)
Don’t think. PLAY!!! And have FUUUN!!
No…we play and don t have fun >.< mister Obvious 
Just Kidding xd