Things you would like to see in Game Dev Tycoon?

Hi

So, it has been 2 months since Game Dev Tycoon came out and into our lives.

There have been some pretty good updates to the game, but i personally think it would need some more new features.

The one new feature i keep going on about is could you be able to create your own mobile phone, tablet or PC.

What do you think.

Thanks Craig

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since folks still get angry over this post, even though it was made on March 4, before the influx of users, I will edit this and point to:

http://forum.greenheartgames.com/t/announcement-we-will-further-improve-the-game-and-listen-to-your-suggestions-but-please-be-patient/1937

old message (no longer true):
Just want to point out that we don’t have plans to add features to Game Dev Tycoon. We consider the game to be complete. Having said that we love to hear your ideas and wishes and we might use some of them for a possible sequel in the future.

Some things I’d like to see in a future iteration are:

-More options for hardware creation; Tablets, mobile phones, handhelds, pc’s, VR machines (I know you can unlock support as an option later in the game, but having a VR console would be snazzy for later/end game stuffs). Stuff like that.

-Also, hardware add-ons and peripherals would be nice. Stuff like the Kinect, a VR headset (as a new kind of display/controller, not what I mentioned previously which would be more of a dedicated VR system), or other forms of controllers would be snazzy.
I know that’s a bit detailed, bordering on nitpicky stuff that’s pretty pointless, but it’d be more realistic for dance games (after all, how can you make a dance game for a system that lacks a peripheral to detect you dancing?) and certain types of music games (if you wanted to try to recreate a Guitar Hero/Rock Band type game). Also, I can’t imagine it difficult to add either, it’d just be a duplicate of the headset thing you can research in the hardware lab, just with a different graphic and description.

-DLC/expansion packs for non MMO titles.

-Puzzle as a genre. Seriously, not trying to be rude, but it’s baffling that we can’t make puzzle games in this.

-More topics. You guys have just about every topic I can think of, though there are a few missing that I’d love to see. Namely; God, Survival, Steampunk, and Sandbox (would this be a topic, or more of an engine feature?).

-Make some of the story events dynamic/random, so they can occur after you’ve finished the first 25 years. I mean the things like “Fans were using the content of game X as an unauthorized mod” and stuff like that. Though they play differently, Music Wars Rebirth has a ton of things like this. I believe there’s just a pool of different things that can happen, and it kinda pulls them randomly, but it can add some depth to the game when playing for long periods of time.

-More dynamic stories. That probably isn’t the correct way to word it, but whatever.
I know the game says “replay the history of gaming in this business simulation game” on its store pages, but it’d add much more replayability if it was a bit more dynamic. If you know the industry’s history, or played through this a few times, you’ll know which systems to stick to in order to succeed, and there isn’t any real way to change that. Certain systems always seem to fail here, regardless of the games you release on them. With Gamebiz, you could pick a failing system, release some hit games for it, and allow that system to succeed, even if it had bombed in real life. It’d definitely be great to see our studios have that kind of strength in GDT.

-Licensed titles. I believe that cruddy Game Tycoon game had this (the only good feature of the game), but you could license out known brands to make games with. Some of the ones they used that I remember were Indiana Jones, 007, and so on (though titles were altered to avoid legal woes). If it were an option, a licensed title could give the game of bit of hype from the start, the amount being based on whatever the licensed title would be and its popularity?

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Ok, so there won’t be any new features added (alas, it’s great to see a game growing, although on that basis I guess you’d never get the next one done).

After trying GDT I realised there was something “similar” on the other platforms and tried that. Although I much prefer the graphics/sound/feel of what I’ve seen of GDT so far, one thing I thought was missing was that the employees/your toon are pretty inanimate. I would have liked to see them more animated (if you pardon the pun). Perhaps getting up to walk around the office instead of scratching their heads, or even talking to each other with little gamer jokes… but perhaps that does happen.

I’d also very much like to see new about what my “competitors” are doing; am I behind the tech race? Is the market saturated with pirate adventure games? etc. Playing the game I feel like I’m living in a cave in relation to the outside world with the exception of the console releases (and everyone knows real gamers only play on PCs… and tablets with windows on them :wink:

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I’d love to see more detailed hints and tips for creating successful games. Around the mid-game you get kind of lost because there is so much to do and the wrong decisions lead to failure.

Also, I dislike how Genre/Type combinations are hard-coded. This basically says “screw innovation” and makes the combinations more a nuisance to remember. A Sports RPG can work, Mario Power Tennis Advance was a great game for example. Inazuma Eleven is one of my favourite games even. In a possible sequel, you should give this some thought.

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This would mainly be a QoL change, but to be able to have custom templates for the different development stages. So that way if I decide to make a “sequel” to a game, I don’t have to try to make the same dev settings from scratch again.

First of all I would like to say that the game is really good and I enjoy playing, but in my opinion there is one thing missing. I would love to see an improved “game history browser” with basic data charts (tycoons = charts :smile: ). By this I mean for example:

*Table layout of all games with sorting by variables like profit, genre, engine (easy overview of all your games)
*Grouping of sequels - the ability to see how the series is progressing (its kind of hard when you have to scroll through many games in order to compare profits of 2-3 games - not to mention 7 :smiley: )
*Yearly profit-loss chart
*Game release dates on a time scale

Minor things:
longer game names, game price per copy

Even though I have read that no features will likely be added please consider this as I feel that it would make the game better. Also that “piracy move” was GENIUS!

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I would really like for attributes such as speed to be explained somewhere in the help section. I have a general concept of what design/ technology/ research do, but not in detail. Does speed increase the rate/number of releasing bubbles, (or does design/tech do that?), or does it reduce the time spent in each stage of game development (in which case it may be an adverse trait).

I enjoy the game itself but some of the mechanics are a bit opaque to me.

I absolutely agree with some of the above suggestions, such as adding Puzzle games. Most of my suggestions are honestly minor at best:

  1. A much lower research price on the third tier 2D graphics technology. The fact that you have it and then a much. MUCH cheaper first tier 3D is very confusing.

  2. Clearer explanation on what the different sliders affect, especially in Medium and higher games where you assign certain team members to different sliders. I honestly don’t know how Designing or Technology affects the different tiers and therefore, the quality of the developing game. We should be able to see some of those outcomes before hitting next.

  3. Similarly, there should be hover-text on the sliders rather than needing to hit Escape to see what each category means or does.

  4. Faster animation on the review section or at the very least, the option to skip it faster. It’s the most arduous part of the game.

  5. For pop-up notices, just pop up without the scrolling text to save the players some time. It’s especially annoying to have to slog through pop-up notices that I’ve read a dozen times in previous play-throughs.

  6. The option for sequels should be much, much, MUCH sooner. I don’t get the option for sequels until the faux SNES or even Playstation starts showing up. Video game sequels have been around for much longer than that, dating back to the old Sierra games and earlier.

  7. We’re missing the Atari generation of games. It goes from the faux Commodore 64 and PC right to the NES.

  8. Ability to change engine names after they’ve been created or at least have a message warning that we haven’t given it a name (this goes for games, too). I’ve accidentally created one as generic Engine #3 or Game numerous times. We should also be able to click on said title and have it cleared to type our own. Right now, the only option is to highlight the text and delete it.

  9. Using hover-text again, being able to hover over current Engines to see what they offer.

  10. More details from reviews for what went well or badly.

Most of these are honestly just nitpicking, but I honestly think they’d make the game as a whole more accessible and enjoyable.

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Just a few QoL suggestions. I know it’s been stated that GDT is done but it might be worth releasing a patch for balance/gameplay changes.

  1. Tooltips! Please add tooltips so I can either learn what something is on the screen where it appears or remind myself what things are. The less players are forced to open a wiki or scour a help menu the more time they will spend playing your game.

  2. Puzzle should be one of the base game types. I know it technically could be Strategy but Puzzle is very well defined in of itself.

  3. Once you leave the Garage, Reviews should pop up faster as they are still important but don’t need to be the same drumroll they are at first. Also, reviews need to better indicate what went wrong to guide the players towards making better design choices. Right now I get 4s & 5s but the reviewer says stuff like “beautiful” or “needs work.”

  4. Ability to refine an engine, developers do this currently and make improvements to the existing engines. Creating an expensive engine only to finally be able to research Multiplayer or something else I wanted to add only makes me postpone new engines until I’m near bankruptcy because I don’t want to miss a crucial component and have to make another one.

  5. Sequels & Stereo Sound should be available for research as soon as the TES or slightly before it’s released.

  6. 2D v3 cost needs to be much lower. Also, perhaps describe the differences between versions? 2D v1: 8-bit, v2: 16-bit, v3: 32-bit?

  7. Platform logic. TES can’t handle 3D, so I shouldn’t be able to use a 3D engine on it. Gameling can’t handle color or stereo so perhaps limit it to 2D v1 engines and Mono-Sound? Consoles have static hardware, thus innovating the game engine isn’t as crucial as PC development until a newer console is released. Game Engines should indicate which platforms they will function on, maybe even during design so players can try to make one that works across multiple platforms.

Thank you for making a highly addictive game, I will be telling everyone I know to swing by your store and pick up a copy.

2 Likes

Proposal to change sequel mechanic.

First make sequels available more early, I don’t believe a person couldn’t normally think up how to make a sequel.

2nd make the sequel sell a minimum percentage of the old game like 25% then add the hype, review calculations and then add another calculation for sales to account for the new features added to the sequel.

3rd, sequels should remember the gameplay/ story percentages in addition to the genre.

I think doing those things will make the game for fun, you can try having established Ip’s to fall back on while making new Ip’s. But they aren’t gonna be guaranteed successes if you don’t add new features, if you constantly make sequels with less features the review scores will drop, people will stop buying, etc.

2 Likes

A lot of the things have already been mentioned that I would like to see to.

But why cant you pick more topics for your game? Like you can pick 2 genre, why not more topics?

Anyway good game, but thought it was a bit easy and “finished” the game in first try where you get to the high score screen.

Just wanted to link to my reply here, because it’s relevant:

http://forum.greenheartgames.com/t/the-game-is-not-finished/997/13

I know you guys are talking about balance and bugs, and that’s important, but one thing I really want to see in the game is the names of other games other players are working on. I get told that my game is wherever on the charts, but wouldn’t it be cool to see the names of competing titles? My favourite thing when reading about other people’s experiences are the game titles and genres they made.

Maybe a leaderboard or something could work? I know WarioWare DIY did something like that and while it didn’t set much of the world on fire, I checked that leaderboard a lot.

In my personal opinion, it’s a little arrogant to say that the game is finished when so many people are giving great ideas to add, as well as pointing out some things that don’t quite work.
I absolutely love this game and bought it as soon as I heard about it so please don’t take what I am saying as an insult, merely an observation that hubris is never an attractive quality in the eyes of customers.

I would personally like to see the actual percentage number (or very close estimate) on the sliders and perhaps a small online manual explaining some of the training modules as the names for them are slightly obscure. I’m not asking for my hand to be held, just more of an explanation about the way things work.

Maybe you could make a small add on pack if it’s a money issue, I’d be happy to pay a little more for extra features.

Well i would like to see the option to pick which controller and which system you use. Also i would like to see an actual color reel where you get to pick primary and secondary colors.

That is only if you make a sequel/add-on/expansion! I would list more but right now its 4 in the morning and i’m extremely tired.

I have to agree with Paul.

I would also be willing to pay for an add-on or DLCs or so.

God knows, id spend a few more bucks on this game, to support you and the game. And i bet a lot of others would do the same here.

There are many cool ideas above.
I played the game for hours yesterday, since I had some holiday.

I have the following ideas in mind:

  1. Annual reports: So I can see how games/consoles/R&D/etc did over the past year. I got way to many updates on the money frame in the end game, so it was barely readable (like what I made with selling my engine or the grid store)
  2. Be a Publisher: Maybe in the very late game it could be possible to publish other dev’s games, since I liked the idea of helping those students next to my second office very much.
  3. New Mode, which gives the player an alternate history with different target groups on consoles/genres then the core game. This would boost the replayability a lot. Players couldn’t just refine their strategies.
  4. dunno if this was written somewhere else: Extra Option for turning of the tutorials completely (not only at the start)

Love the game, instantly hooked however few ideas that I came up with once I reached year 50+

  • Ability to sell off your engine for other companies to use
  • As above, able to use other engines, as after a few years moving into the office I found that my engine wouldn’t suffice and I didn’t want to create a new engine for a few new features, I was waiting to get a whole load of features to create a new engine. Being able to license a engine for one game, giving up a % of the earnings to the engine makers would help. I was staying away from publisher deals so this could be why I was struggling though.
  • Ability to make sequels should be introduced sooner or available at the start.
  • More specialization of games, Guitar Hero, FIFA
  • More specialization of consoles, tablets, mobile, handheld etc.
  • More uses for R&D and Hardware lab, they don’t have much uses and I feel the market research should unlock a higher tier of marketing.
  • Able to acquire a larger studio where you can designate your 6 team members to be leaders of 6 separate teams that focus/specialize in different areas of development.
  • With the above idea, maybe you could have a smaller second team which can develop their own small/medium games and create DLC for games you’ve already released. This could mean you could work on 2 or more projects at a time.
  • Loans? I found a few times where I was low at money, the amount publishers give you doesn’t seem enough considering what type of game they ask you to make.
  • Longer game mode, at times I felt it moved way too fast through the time, especially at the start.
  • Partnership with publishers after success maybe, after you’ve released a hit, they can contact you and ask you to develop sequels or other games for them as part of a contract.
  • More info about what everything does, consoles(target audience, age group) etc.
  • When creating a sequel or expansion, able to see where your sliders were for the time you created them, so you can tune them to make them better.
  • More research options, got to a point where there was no use in my research points other than training my team. Maybe use them with R&D?
  • Ability to update your current engine, pretty much every engine I built after I completed it I had enough research points and just unlocked the ability to research 2 important features for them which just feels annoying.
  • Challenge Modes? Scenario 1: Take over a company near bankruptcy and who have a bad reputation and make them one of the best respected companies.

All I can think off, I know that this was a small game and I really do enjoy it, just a few features I feel could enhance a future installment :smile:

1 Like

Some more “draft” (“diepgang” dutch) in the game.

1. It would be nice to see some more Controller options, like designing your own, with rumble feature or wireless feature, etc VS other controllers that eventually will appear on the market.

2. New Game +, For replayability, it would be nice to see something like “new game +” I had a succesive run, but by the time i was able to construct my own consoles, the PS4 and final Xbox where already released. The game doesnt really give you the oppertunity to engage in the console wars with your own console. Ofcource starting the game with a high budget or from an office right away should be a reward for finishing the game first.

3. Detailed Game History. The Overview of the Game History is very interresting, but really needs improvement.
If you have over 100 games released you have to browse through a lot and that navigation can use some improvement.
It would be nice if there where some caterories options or if you could sort games by series/franchise.

4 More Random Events
I would like to see some more random Events, and improvement in the excisting ones.
It would be nice if you could decide what you are showcasing on the E3/G3. This feature could really be expanded nicely with an New Game + Feature (#2) in Combination with #6 and #7 So that you would like sorta recieve pre-feedback/expetations on the projects you have in development.

5 AI. In Game Dev Tycoon, i sometimes have the feeling that i have no concurrents, no oposition and that there are no other game developers. There are 2 parts in the game where this actually happens, the E3/G3 booth Ranking and the game rank. But thats it. It would be nice if there would be more insight to the rankings. So that you can see what other titles/companies are ahead or below you and by how much (rating/number of ppl who visited booth). It would also be nice if other companies would try to buy your game engine license, or that you can buy game engine licenses from others.

6 Projects I want to be able to pauze or stop the development of a game at any time till its release.
It would also be nice if you could eventually move on to an even bigger office which allows you to higher more staff so you could run multiple game projects, meaning you could make 2 or more games at the same time.

7 Office Upgrades
The upgrades happen now when they are suggested to you, there could be more to that, Your company needs a website for marketing, maybe even a forum, for fans and support. It will need maintance and a domain/hosting fee.
The office could use more upgrades in general.

8 Streams and Charity
Nowadays these are very populair in gaming. The late game stage should try to implent streaming, it should be researchable. It would also be nice to see charity organisations who want to run a marathon on one of your games, contact you ingame for support/contribution/donation.

9 Reputation
Funny Enough the game’s focus seems to relay on making money. As i stated before it doesnt really feel like your competing with other companies (see #5) I could release 19 bad games and 2 good games and still be succesive. I would like to see an Reputation “stat” in the game, releasing a good game will improve it and vice versa, you get the point. Along with other decisions, like making a patch will increase the reputation.

10 Alter staff requitment
Finding good staff is more luck even if you invest the max ammount in it. I would like to see it changed. It would be nice if you could actually choose to do some of the interviews yourself so you would really feel like a boss and that some of the solicitants show up late or dont shake hands and that you can respond on that. Maybe consider internships aswell.