Sometimes it seems like the game is too biased on the raw tech/design points and the relation of sliders to game genres. It would be more realistic (and more challenging) to perhaps make it a bit more complicated. Just a few ideas:
- Game topic should factor into slider accuracy. Exp: Music games should require better sound.
2a) Add-ons should also relate to both genre and topic. Exp: Most games on a PC without a mouse are a major fail in modern times.
2b) To expand on that - Tech requirements as years progress so that games without certain add-ons (i.e.: the mouse in above example) max out at a certain number.
- %s for add-ons should SERIOUSLY affect game if they fall below 100%. I’ve seen someone get a solid 10 with really bad percentages and this should not be possible.
- Add some odd-ball combos for sliders, perhaps based on existing games that break the standard rules and are still successful.
- Enable multi-topic! So much room for complexity there, especially if combined with suggestion #1.
- Playtesters - Should be able to hire on playtesters at the end of production to test the game (taking extra time, of course) and then have your team make small changes to try and improve it (again, taking time).
- Not sure if this one exists within the game (never checked), but Specialities should help with getting more add-ons into a game. It’s no fun to have to leave behind that extra thing you really want in your game.
- Not essential, but a little graphic of the cover of your game would be fun. Something to see when you scroll through game history. Maybe have one basic design for each topic or just a small selection to choose from?
- Scroll-over help - Many of the things I do to have a good game I’ve learned by watching other people. Without better information, the game consists of a lot of copying successful recipes. Teach people more about what they’re doing so that noobs can think their way to success.
Anyways, hope those help you guys. Keep up the good work, your game is fun as hell (and more addictive than crack).
3 Likes
I love all of these ideas, especially 5, 6, and 8 (5 and 6 of which I’ve actually thought of before).
As for 4, Greenheart said they wouldn’t majorly change the slider combos to something like that, but there is a trend that helps out for that need called “Strange combinations” (just got it for the first time in Y114 and it’s really useful).
- That is very agreed, for me, I usually make Racing Games using the majority of the bar as Gameplay and Sound instead of the rest, it makes sense and I usually get 9-10 ratings.
2A) Honestly, I never really got the things you researched so they should provide more detail about it.
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Agreed completely, this would be a huge addition to the game but they would need to tweak the other things such as ratings so you don’t always get 10/10.
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What you mean? I usually have my most upgraded engine jam packing everything? 
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That could work, such as a default art logo for each genre would be nice and when you sell it.
I also think that for more features, to grow upon the Consoles and improve that drastically.
7 - It’s just that your %s go down if you try to cram everything in. It would be nice if the specialities allowed you to put more into a game without getting those annoying % warnings during development. Again, I’m not sure if this already affects the game in some way, since I’ve never tracked everything from start to finish. And, as far as I’ve seen, the %s don’t actually affect the rating results, so it is a moot point unless that changes.
cokedragon - I was thinking of 4 more as an “easter egg” sort of addition. If you happen to get in a certain range with wacky slider combos, you get a good rating. Mainly for people that try to imitate one of their favorite games that happens to break the standard.
Actually, it has to be tweaked in my opinion, as Racing Games require a Joystick, Gamepad, etc. while a Fantasy Game requires more story (Quests, Dynamic World, etc.), you shouldn’t crack everything into one little game as you only need to implement what should be in there, just like I said above, this way, it makes more sense to have a Racing Game with Joystick instead of Quests, get me?
Agreed. There’s no need to put everything in everything, and some stuff should work better depending on genre/topic. I was thinking more along the lines of later game, when you really want to use that Virtual Reality addition but that means nothing else will fit. It wouldn’t really affect gameplay too much, but would be nice to have that leeway.
I don’t get, what is the Virtual Reality used for in genres? I don’t get it…such as Headsets as well in those features?