thanks for delivering a fun tycoon, but I personally have 3 major problems that have become hindrance to my experience, and I believe many other players would agree with my accessment.
problem 1. T/D ratio is much more important than the amount of T + D.
2000 Tech/ 1000 Design action game will receive positive review while 2000 tech / 4000 design action game will be called a trash by reviewers. It doesn’t make and sense and adds to my frustration because tech/design ratio is NOT hinted within the game and you will conclude that reviewers are drunk unless you check review algorithm in GDT wiki. And since every developmnet area has different tech/design contribution and there is some randomness it’s nigh impossible to figure out which ratio each genre should fullfil
Ratio can be used to define your company’s specialization, but it shouldn’t randomly knock off your AAA title just because the player doesn’t meet some vague requirement which the player will never figure out on their own. the sheer amount of T/D should be more relevant when determining the score for the game.
problem 2. successful games raise the expectation bar far too much that it is actually beneficial to produce B level games rather than megasuper titles because you simply can’t catch up.
past year 30 all yours games will be trash scores because there are limits to your employ’s ability and your previous successful titles set bar so high that it is impossbile to surpass that requirement.
in later years either employ skills cap should be unlocked or revierws should be more generous.
Plus this also causes making hit titles somewhat less desirable. When I produced 10/10/10/9 title in my garage I almost always went bankrupt after moving in contrast to my other playthroughs in which I was successful because I didn’t produce top games. it ahppened because my 10/10/10/0 titles raised expectation bar so much that my subsequent titles recieved horrible reivews.
it’s unrealistic because ONE game doesn’t riase industry standard by that much. It’s OTHER multiple games that try to copy the industry trend leader and then it’s when gamers exepct expect new games to be on par with that levell of tech and design. As of now one random hit title raises expectation bar so high that every other game will probably get trashed after that. it’s also associated with problem 3
problem 3. you are the only developer in the industry
simply put, the gmae feels alone and plays alone. In game dev story you have a feeling that you are competing with other companies but in tycoon you don’t have that feeling because of the aforementioned problem and lack of other companies appearance.
If you produce AAA title early on you are doomed because all of sudden every reviewer expect next games to be superior than that. In real life how many titles did it take for the average games to catch up with revolutionary trend leader? for ex, mnay games released in 2006-2007 never came close to the quality of the elder scrolls-oblivion. if I set oblivion’s T+D level to be let’s say 100, all subsequent games were probably around 60~70 for next 2 years but they still sold quiet well. It took years before gamers expect any average game to surpass 100 level, thus that’s why Fallout 3(which was technially only slight improvement of oblivon) was successful.
In game dev tycoon, however, if you release a hit game on par with oblivion(sum of T+D 100, just an assumption), ANY games that fall below 100 will get stupidly low reviews regardless of industry standard because there is none.
final verdict:
I find this game to be much deeper than game dev story and it has some great potentials.
But it’s those seemlingly little problems that really bothers gamers and hinders the play in many ways. Game deve story was never patched after it’s release but it’s stilla great game because while its mechanics are simple it is quiet flawless and every aspect of that game works.
the issues I wrote in his post are mostly about balance. I think they reall need developer’s attention because in tycoon games sesne of realism is everything. all 3 problems I listed takes away realisim from the game and hence the gmae leels less addictive.
I feel if these issues are somehow resolved the game has potential to be even MORE addictive than Game Dev Story.
Thanks all for reading this long wall of texts.
TL:DR
1.; Vague T/D ratio(in terms of in-game exposure) affecting the review score much more than T+D amount
2. Each successful title raises expectation bar too much that it feels unrealistic and makes situations where making semi-successful titles benefit you more than making mega-successful titles. In addtion, past year 30, most of your games are automatic failure due to raiesd expectation and capped skills of workers.
3. You are the only developer in the industry