I’m asking what the parts like savegames and rich backstory actually do to effect the games you make.
When people work on a segment of a game, they generate bubbles. You can see which segment they are working on at any given time at the top bar.
When you have a segment with engine features… the part of the segment where they are implementing the feature will cause them to generate double the design/tech bubbles.
So say I’m making a small game and I’m working on the AI part. I’ll generate tech bubbles (mostly) at a normal rate.
Now lets say I have the “Better AI” component active. If I do, part of the time when I’m working on the AI, I’ll generate double sized bubbles.
The net effect is that I’ll have a game with a bit more tech points than I would if I didn’t have that feature. The more features you have enabled, the more parts of development will have this double-bubble bonus.
Now, there are limits. If you are spending a minimal amount on storylines and you try to implement both “Linear Story” and “Simple Cutscenes” You’ll notice a % number appear next to the storyline component. This is telling you that you aren’t spending enough time on storyline to fully implement the features you are adding, and thus some of their bonus is wasted. If you increase the slider for storylines, you’ll see that % number go up until it vanishes, indicating that you are getting 100% of the benefit of the features you have.
The more expensive the feature, the bigger the bonus it gives, but also the more development time you need to spend on that factor to fully implement it.
This is why your games get better and better when you make new engines and start adding new features; more and more of your development time is spent during the double-bubble bonus area granted by the various features you’ve unlocked and enabled.
In short: They are the lifeblood of your games.
Eventually you’ll get to a point where you can no longer fit all the features your engine has in a game. At this point, you need to move up to a larger game (which can implement more total features).
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Ahh thanks I thought the increases in the bubbles was from the skill of my staff, I still added them but didn’t know what they did. Thanks again
Oh your staff’s skill has a big impact on the bubbles. Their Design/Tech skill increases the size of the bubbles, and their speed increases the frequency. Features merely double the size of their bubbles when they are working on a segment of the game covered by a feature.