Questions & thoughts from a newbie

Game Dev Tycoon
#1

First, let me say thanks for the game – both for creating it and also for getting it onto Steam. I enjoy playing Game Dev Tycoon, but I never would have known about it if not for its Steam release.

In no particular order, here are my thoughts:

  1. Is there any way to replace the psuedo-names of consoles with real names? If there isn’t a mod for it, I’d be willing to get in there and tinker with at least my own person copy (if possible), but someone would really have to set me on the right track. This is a major irritant to me. It hurts realism and immersion. Plus, the names are so obviously an adaption of the copyrighted consoles for which they stand that if someone wanted to come after you for it they really still could. But I don’t think they will. Your work is historical revisionist fiction. The history is what makes it come alive, and the mangled names are working against it.

  2. There seem to be timeline issues in the recommended 35 year game. Also in the interests of realism, I would have liked it better if we had listed actual years and months (like starting the game on Jan 1981 rather than year 1, month 1). I would imagine the game probably starts then, because NES came out in 1983, and a Jan 1981 start seems to match with the year 3 release the way things work. But later the timeline unravels, especially MMO and things are happening way too late – after the PlayStation 4 and Xbox 1 consoles. I realize that based on how I play the game, things will differ from real life, but the consoles at least ought to be released at the correct time. Stuff is being released in (estimated) 2013 that doesn’t exist yet during actual, real-life 2013. Maybe this will be corrected if I try the 42 year game instead of the 35 though. I will try that next, but please consider my suggestions for a future release.

  3. The game seems to be going too fast. Despite my normal-range fine-motor abilities and years of experience operating a PC by using a mouse, I always lose weeks of time trying to individually select my workers to train them. Additionally I lose weeks trying to send them all on vacation. (I’ve been sending them away at the same time.) It would be nice to have a speed toggle so that you can crank it up when you’re in development, waiting for stuff to happen, but while you’re trying to give lots of orders all at once it could be slowed (or paused meaningfully, allowing you time to do your thing). Is there a better way to manage this, or am I missing something here?

  4. I am having trouble generating nearly enough research points to do the things that I want. Are other players finding that you can’t research everything (or basically much of anything) if you’re also going to train your staff? I’ve finished one game (had a blast, by the way), started over on several others, and have resulted to tinkering with my save files to artificially inject more research points into my company. Maybe this could be an adjustable setting in the beginning of the game – offering “meager” or “plentiful” accumulation of research points.

  5. Down the road, I would imagine that the next step would be actual AI game companies. They’d release a game every once in awhile and update their technology accordingly. It would be nice if you could see these companies and the games they are releasing. That way you could really know that there never before has been a werewolf game so far, or whatever, when you still are in the planning stages.

Good luck to you guys, and thanks for giving Game Dev Tycoon to the world.

Tim

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#2
  1. No mods allowed yet, due to some law or contract which prevents any mod for GDT from being published, and if any are, the owner is to be sued. But, I have not found a way to do so. Plus there is not need to do so, it won’t change the game in anyway, except the aesthetics of the game.
  2. Actual years has been requested by the community before. MMO’s are only researched once you get into the 3rd office and get a R&D lab to research MMO’s, so there is no, too late for MMOs. The game is also, a parody of our timeline of gaming consoles. So, the console releases don’t need to be exact.
  3. I agree, it does cost weeks to train employees, it would be nice for an alternate way of training them, without using the main screen. Maybe with the staff list, since it’s a useless screen.
  4. There is the need to balance your RP with training and research. But, cheating isn’t the answer. You just need to be very patient when getting more RP and use them appropriately.
  5. It’s been suggested before, an entire topic to be exact. If I can find the link, I’ll show you it. I think it’s the best idea request EVER.
#3

Thanks for your input. I disagree with you on #1 (obviously), but we are allowed to disagree.

Is the fan community active here?

#4

Hi, the community is decently active, but be warned that the fans make good suggestions much much faster than the developpers can add them. Plus, people usually just start their own thread to say what they would like or dislike, and there are like 50 posts with many many common or very similar ideas.
As I’m working on the translation, I have no time to make a real summary post that could be stickied. Maybe someone else could have time to do some archeology, and consolidate all these good ideas in a post that could be stickied.

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