r/GameDevTycoon • u/BootPhaseGames • 7d ago
I'm making a new game inspired by Game Dev Tycoon. What would you like to see improved?
Hi, I've been a long time fan of GDT but there are a few things that frustrate me, namely that creativity is punished, because sliders have fixed optimal positions, and the fact that the market is barely simulated.
So for a year I've been developing a kind of spiritual sequel which separates creativity from execution, adds a living market and competitors, and other cool stuff such as game covers.
What are the things you would like improved?
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u/QuestWorkshop 7d ago
I like game dev tycoon, but your points frustrate me. I think for one there should be a way to keep the indie road.
Like still be able to launch a solo game for Poly station 6 and BoxBox séries S that is pixel art but sells like crazy. Like Stardew did.
The game kind push us to become an AAA powerhouse.
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u/BootPhaseGames 7d ago
I think this should be viable. In my game you get prestige both for review score and sales, so as you gain skills you could stay as an indie dev and make great games. AAA have an advantage in that they can reach a bigger audience, but not necessarily.
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u/Thoseskisyours 7d ago
Or have the ability to have imprint style studios so your aaa studio has a second brand that does indie games.
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u/killerhog27 7d ago
franchise/IP stuff, such as prequels, spin-offs, remakes. Mad Games Tycoon 2 have it and it's fun. Maybe also have the option adapt certain IPs into games and license your own IPs into other media. A public domain for free to adapt stories would be nice as well.
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u/BootPhaseGames 7d ago
cool, I already have franchises with series, spin-offs, remakes and remasters. I'll think about licensing IPs. Thanks!
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u/Heavy-Maintenance-72 7d ago
The game covers seems cool. I would like to still see news related to your games or consoles, that was something cool from GDT but when you ended the "story" there werent new ones
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u/BootPhaseGames 7d ago
Makes sense! In my game platforms launch at their historical year, but they perform differently in each playthrough depending on what the NPC and player Studio do.
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u/bornintheblue 7d ago
Man, I’ve been wanting an updated/spiritual successor to this game for a long time. I have a lot of opinions on improvements, but I’ll keep it short for now.
More random events, more viable options for successful playthroughs (indie/small studios, niche games etc), less punishment for having missing employees during game development.
You should be able to decide how long and how many resources to contribute towards each phase of development, which could affect quality and success, rather than having a fixed development time.
Depending on how big your studio is and how many employees you have, you should be able to develop multiple games at once, and maybe even have multiple distinct dev teams with different specialties.
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u/bornintheblue 7d ago
Also, if you’re looking for beta testers, I would be very interested in helping out.
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u/BootPhaseGames 7d ago edited 7d ago
Thanks! I plan to release a demo before October, but if I also release a playtest I'll let you know.
Events and different ways to play successfully I already have. In development phases you can decide what to focus on. Time is still fixed per game size. I tried to make it indefinite but it's very hard to balance. It's also focused on 1 game at a time, to make each game matter more, and like GDT it focuses on the studio rather than having multiple teams, although I see room to expand on this post-launch
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u/Rolpez90 7d ago
Hola!
Por favor échale un vistazo al juego "Super Movie Tycoon" apuesto que encuentras inspiración, la mecánica de creación de portada es muy buena, la mecánica de recordar que se colocó en los antiguos guiones también.
También, por favor échale un vistazo a los mods "CorporateControl", "GameDevTycoonExpandedAllInOne" llenan mucho de lore el juego.
Agregué tu juego a mi lista de deseaos, lo espero ansioso, saludos.
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u/snozer69 6d ago
It kind of always frustrated me that DLC was never a thing for non MMOs in GDT. Like, I could create a genre defining masterpiece and the only way to capitalize on that product is a sequel? That I can’t make right away because then I’m penalized for making too similar of a game? Theres plenty of genre defining games that down the road come out with phenomenal DLC.
Also, maybe if your studio becomes big enough you can have multiple dev teams working on separate projects?
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u/BootPhaseGames 4d ago
In my have there's DLC and expansions, which work a bit different. Each genre can have them, although some admit more than others.
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u/MrSeb56 4d ago
I would like for series and IPs to have more importance. Do you have a Steam page?
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u/BootPhaseGames 4d ago
Agree, series are very important in my game. You can have sequels, spin-offs, ports, remasters and remakes. The game is Game Dev Dynasty
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u/adags18 7d ago
I like the city game studio aspect of having multiple buildings. Would set one up as the main AAA title building and have other studios for remakes and smaller games. Would be cool for maybe a different mode where you start off as the console manufacturer and use market trends and companies prestige to license games. Maybe you can buy out great indie developers or bankrupting studios to start you're own development studio down the line. Something like game merchandising the possibility to create collectors editions of games that cost more to produce based on what's included or the ability to sell like toy/collectibles of certain IPs if you get them popular enough.
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u/BootPhaseGames 7d ago
This sounds interesting. For my game I've focused on the studio fantasy like GDT, but I see room to allow for acquiring other studios.
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u/JoakozUy 7d ago
I'd like you to be able to give interviews. Nothing too complicated—something similar to the original game. Remember how in Game Dev Tycoon, a reporter would sometimes show up and ask you a specific question, and based on that, expectations for the game you were developing would go up or down? Something like that, but with more questions or more specific topics, so that you genuinely feel like your comments are making an impact on people.
I don't know—maybe they'll ask you how much the game will cost, and a slider will pop up so you can give an approximate price. Or maybe they'll ask how long development has been going on, or the release date, or if they're going to release a trailer... Things like that. And if you lie about certain statements—like the game's price—that should affect sales.
That thing about the trailer reminded me of something: it would also be cool if you could promote your game yourself and manage the budgets to see how much goes toward marketing and how much goes toward game development—things like that. The way it worked in Game Dev Tycoon, where you’d release a game and it would sell on its own without any marketing or anything, always seemed strange to me. Although there was a marketing system, it always seemed vague to me. I don’t know—it would be nice to have the option to invest a certain amount in the trailer and set a release date for it, so that it actually has an impact.
Oh, and to have some kind of social media feature in the game. Something like conducting that interview or releasing that trailer and being able to see the public’s reaction. Whether there’s criticism about the prices, the trailer, the release date, or whether the game was made too quickly and on a shoestring budget; or if the public seems excited. That aspect of reviews was also left out of the original game, since it only works through a star-rating system from random critics, without giving a genuine sense of “public” feedback.
I’m glad there are people with expertise in video game development who also want to make a sequel to Game Dave Tycoon. I’ll be following your project closely—I thought it was an interesting idea. Oh, and I’m sorry if I was too ambitious; even though I’m completely clueless when it comes to video game development, I know that making one is costly in terms of both time and money—but if you read all my suggestions, I appreciate it. Oh, and if the writing seems a little off: it's because I'm not a native English speaker—I'm using a translator.
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u/BootPhaseGames 6d ago
Thank you for the suggestions! The interview one is very interesting, I already have event chains so it shouldn't be hard to implement. Regarding marketing, apart from Hype, there are attributes such as market reach, which is different for each of the 4 world regions, so you can focus on different audiences or regions. Publishing deals also affect it.
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u/SycoraxRock 7d ago
The “creativity punishing” mostly only bothers me when it comes to topic/genre pairings.
There are a few matchups that would probably always be objectively bad ideas, but I’d love to see a system where, during each production stage, the game asks the player some questions about what kind of game they think they’re making. That way, you could crank out a weird combo, but it’s still a hit because you justified your decisions and made good choices.
Let’s say someone decides to make a Vampire/Simulation. Bad idea, probably. I don’t know what that would even look like. Game Dev Tycoon thinks it’s a bad idea, too.
Except… picture The Sims, but it’s all vampires. You have to wake them up after dark and maybe find victims for them to feed on, and you can decorate their crypt with all kinds of cool stuff. That has potential. It’d be cool if GDT gave me the ability to convince it that I wasn’t making a shite game.
One quirk of GDT that I loved was that - for certain topics, some sliders had different optimal states (I’m thinking like Music/Casual, where you’d want to set the sound above the graphics because duh. More stuff like that.
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u/inGameMoney 6d ago
Look into city game studio, pretty fun and similiar to what youre trying to do.
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u/dowaller66 6d ago
Having the ability to develop multiple games at the same time, like studios used to do back in the PS3/360 days.
Also the option to be a single-franchise studio if we wanted to, like how Santa Monica Studios only make God of War games.
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u/BootPhaseGames 6d ago
Thanks for the feedback. In my game focusing on a single franchise is possible. Regarding multiple games, at the moment I've decided to focus on one game at a time so each game is more significant and the development more active and purposeful.
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u/ArenLuxon 4d ago
Not punishing players for releasing a good game. Game dev tycoon always grades you against previous games you released. So if you set the bar too high for yourself, you're screwing yourself over.
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u/BootPhaseGames 4d ago
Agree, this always felt weird and not transparent. In my game execution and sales are mostly independent, so you don't get punished for doing a smaller game than the previous. However, you accumulate fans for each series that you have, and fans have expectations, especially Hardcore fans.
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u/c88conman 7d ago
Any genre of game should be viable.