GameDev Story is one of the only mobile games I find myself able to tolerate. There’s no real strategy and it’s pretty much impossible to lose, but there’s a sort of enjoyment in unlocking new genres and a bit of childish glee finding out that people are clamoring to play “Fart Simulator”. It’s mindless, yet fun, the type of game I play sitting on the Shinkansen or transcontinental flight. Therefore I was pleased to see this project crop up and eager to give it a round.
Initial impressions are certainly high. The inclusion of research and engine design is great, and fills out the stages of development. At a basic level, the game is fun and I enjoyed playing it—until I lost. My game ended one week before my next game released.
Why? Bankruptcy.
So it got me thinking, if I pay money to start a project, why do I pay my workers salary? What exactly is this money being used for? If they aren’t being paid to work on the project, I’m spending all this money to outsource it. Why do I have employees? And why when I spent money to develop controller support into my engine, I pay again for it to work in the game. Why? Because it would be impossible to lose otherwise. It’s poor game design (ironic!).
If you really want to dig into it, the game is riddled with design flaws–many inherited from the source inspiration–that come down to the money mechanic. It makes no sense; bankruptcy is a game of beat the clock. GameDev Story side-stepped this because you had to be in the red for an entire year to go bankrupt, and the only costs you incurred were employee yearly wages and development. I find it odd Greenheart would deviate from the source material at possibly the worst area.
I’d consider Game Dev Tycoon an average game. I wouldn’t really recommend it to anyone unless they were big Game Dev Story fans, but it’s fun enough to waste some time on. It stumbles because it doesn’t really do enough to surpass its genetic precursor, and in the case of bankruptcy, is inferior. Greenheart has quite a bit of growing to do if they don’t want to relegate themselves to making match-3 clones. But I do hope they’ll reflect on their successes and either strengthen this offering, or bring something a little more homegrown to the table for the next one.