The review algorithm of GDT is quite voluminous. Not exactly complicated or difficult to understand, but it’s just very big and has a number of traps which make manual calculations of the review score extremely tedious and exhausting.
So, in order to remedy this outrageous (
) situation, I have decided to program an Excel spreadsheet dealing with this problem. You can download it here:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?dwl3glkd6ikgs11
WTF?
At a first glance, you may feel a little bit overwhelmed, but sadly, the sheer amount of data that is necessary to compute an accurate score is unsurprisingly mind-blowing. This calculator takes everything into account which can be taken into account for review score calculation. Fortunately, especially in the early and mid game, you can leave must values untouched, as they rarely change. Still, if you get an in-game result which lies outside the final review score range double-check your input before you report a bug.
So how do I use it?
Open the file with Microsoft Excel or LibreOffice Calc (no ODF for you, I’m afraid, a direct conversion would just blow everything to pieces). Now, start entering the values from your running game into the input sections 1, 2, 3 and, if instructions tell you to do so, 4. Unless you know for some reason your top score, this will only provide accurate results for you with an entirely new GDT game. Make sure that you re-enter the values for every game you release, if you miss even one, your top score may become corrupted and the calculation useless.
You should now get an accurate prediction of your actual in-game review score. This prediction may be a little bit off, but that’s okay, as the review score is, IMHO and contrary to statements of Patrick, considerably randomised.
I don’t get exact results with your calculator?
Yes and no. Take a look at my latest sample run:
Game #1: Predicted Score of 7 | Actual Score of 7.25
Game #2: Predicted Score of 6 | Actual Score of 6
Game #3: Predicted Score of 7 | Actual Score of 7.5
Game #4: Predicted Score of 8 | Actual Score of 7.75
Game #5: Predicted Score of 7 | Actual Score of 8
Game #6: Predicted Score of 9.75 | Actual Score of 9.75
Game #7: Predicted Score of 7 | Actual Score of 7.5
Game #8: Predicted Score of 8 | Actual Score of 8
Game #9: Predicted Score of 7 | Actual Score of 6.75
Game #10: Predicted Score of 8.88 | Actual Score of 8.25
Game #11: Predicted Score of 5 | Actual Score of 5.25
A little bit of luck is always involved, but you’ll always get results that are in a certain range, which is displayed to you as well.
I found a mistake!
If you report your bug in this thread together with the attached spreadsheet containing the input values that cause the bug, you’ll get a cookie, I promise.
Anything else?
You may wish to experiment a little bit. It is actually quite enlightening and shocking. For example, topic/genre combinations are largely irrelevant for your game score. As long as you’re not concerned with losing the other benefits which come from good combos, and as long as you aren’t developing a MMO, your Government Adventure or Dance Strategy games will get the same review score. Funnily enough, the Wiki is quite schizophrenic about this, first claiming that good combos are essential, then pointing out that it has no influence whatsoever on your review score. And the question if it’s sensible to fix bugs: It depends, as you should aim to reach a game score larger than your current top score, but still as close as possible to the top score. So if your game score gets too high, you might consider leaving some bugs unfixed.