Well here’s something different which could have only come
from the indie scene. Game Dev Tycoon transports you back to the early eightes
via a Dolorean to just after the gaming crash. Your goal is to create the most successful
game development studio the world has ever seen using your knowledge of the
future.
And so you jump right in. Once you have your avatar’s snazzy
jumper and company name sorted, you’re ready to develop your first game. Unsurprisingly
the development process in the core gameplay. You pick from a selection of
topics, genres, platforms and game engines and then cross your fingers that
your game is going to be great, as for the most part, all the choices you make
will be absolute guess work.
Each game you create goes through a three stage development
process, where you have to decide how to allocate your time between key game
features such as level design and AI. You also have to choose the extra
features that are bolted on to your creation, each adding onto the cost of the development.
All through the process, your team generates little bubbles of technology and
design that give you some feedback on how your title will stack up against your
previous releases. They also have the annoying habit of generating bugs that have
to be patched out before release, costing you more precious time and funds.
Then you have to brace yourself, your new pride and joy is
ready for release. It could make the difference between wild success and
bankruptcy for your fledgling studio, and then the review scores come in. It’s
a 7! That’ll do, it’ll keep the studion going a few more months. Who knew a
Pirate simulation with a focus on dialogue combined with joystick, mouse and
steering wheel support for the Gameboy would do so well!
And that is core problem with Game Dev Tycoon, it is part
simulation and part rogue-like. All the calculations for review scores are
hidden and you’re not given any feedback on what made one game a success and
another a giant flop. Obviously, good genre topic combinations always seem to
do well such as sci-fi / RPG and racing / simulation. So there is some
consistency to the game, but as soon as you go into experimental territory, you
can easily create a terrible title that causes you to lose a lot of money and haemorrhage
fans. And fans become crucial to your success later in the game. Having a good
fan base allows you to self-publish with a great deal of hype behind every
release, guaranteeing reasonable sales.
In a way, that just reinforces the simulation side of the
game. Taking risks is risky. And the choice is stark; you can live on the edge,
trying to survive with a lean team aiming for indie success. Or expand with
more staff, developing for large publishing deals to get your name out there.
Taking no risks and becoming the mediocre developer that never surprises.
Between developing you have to carefully use your time
researching new technology and topics, training staff and sending them on
vacation. If you fall behind the curve, your games fall off the cutting edge
and garner more average reviews. Sales take a hit and you’re unable to keep up
with the increase in your staff salaries.
The ultimate goal is to succeed over thirty years, with the
upcoming Xbox and Playstation being the last platform releases. The game gives
you a heads up when you’re about to reach the end so you can push out one last
title to try and achieve a new high score. It only took me two attempts to
reach the end of the game, so the difficulty curve is low as long as you can
remember what has and hasn’t worked well. You also have the option to keep
playing past the end of the game for fun. In my second play-through I kept
going an extra ten years too unlock all the research possibilities such as
releasing your own digital distribution platform and console.
There’s a lot of charm in the presentation, however the
soundtrack is lacking any variety. There’s one long tune on loop and that’s it.
I’d highly recommend that you have a podcast or your own playlist to substitute
for the music.
The replay-ability of Game Dev Tycoon is entirely limited by
how much you enjoy uncertainty. The review scores are always a tense moment and
achieving perfect tens will take a few goes. It entertained me for a few hours
and as a small indie title, I wasn’t expecting much more. It would make a
perfect portable title and hopefully developer Greenheart Games will be able to
transition to those platforms in the future. For now, you can buy it direct
from their website for Windows, Mac and Linux. It’s a little on the pricey
side, so I’d recommend checking out the demo before buying.
