In an ironic twist, software piracy may have actually saved a game, at least indirectly. After reading about the humorous trap that indie game developer Greenheart Games set for those attempting to pirate its first game, Game Dev Tycoon, I knew I had to try the game out. I had this desire to try the game not because I felt sorry for developer Patrick Klug, but because the game actually sounded entertaining, and I likely would have never heard of it had it not been for the rampant piracy that prompted the developer’s blog post.
A deeper discussion of piracy situation is already underway around the Web, but today I’m going to focus on the game itself.
Gameplay
Game Dev Tycoon gives gamers the chance to prove that they have what it takes to build an industry-leading game studio from scratch. Starting as a one-person operation in your garage, players must manage the research, training, and production necessary to create successful games.
Thankfully, no programming skill is required; the game presents a series of choices that allow the player to craft a custom game. First, you’ll select one of many unlockable topics for your game, such as “sports,” or “medieval” and a genre, such as “action” or “strategy.”
You’ll then need to choose the platform on which you’ll create your game. Game Dev Tycoon spans roughly 30 years, starting in the early 1980s. This means that your choice of platform is simple in the beginning: either a PC or a “G64” (the game uses humorous aliases for otherwise clearly identifiable real-world products), but becomes decidedly more complicated as the game progresses and the market becomes divided between dozens of different computers, consoles, and mobile devices.
With your topic, genre, and platform selected, your in-game character will begin to create the game. This process is measured by production “bubbles” that float up from your character’s computer to a progress meter at the top of the screen. These are divided into “Design,” “Technology,” and “Research.” Design and Technology points determine how successful your game will be (the more the better), while Research points allow you to discover new coding techniques, such as 3D graphics, or train your character. The more games your character creates, the faster he or she will produce production points, and your chance of creating a successful game will grow.
Also created during the game development phase are bugs. These accumulate as the game is created and then must be fixed once development is complete. Fixing bugs takes time at the end of each development phase, and since your character will be relying on the future income of the game, waiting to ship the game until the bugs are fixed is a painful process. Players are not restricted from shipping games with bugs, but a game with lots of bugs will likely be poorly received and cost the player money and reputation.
Throughout the development phase, players are asked to adjust the focus of their game with the use of sliders. These sliders allocate resources to specific areas, such as the game’s engine, the story elements, or graphics and sound. Like the challenges that real developers face, limited time and resources means that the player will have to make sacrifices to one area of the game in order to bolster another. Along with the design and technology points, the way that the player allocates resources will have a significant impact on the game’s success.
At the end of the development process, the player is awarded experience points that allow the character to level up in a variety of different areas that aid the creation of future games. The game is then shipped to determine its, and your company’s, fate.
Each game is “reviewed” by the virtual press after it has been shipped. Four reviewers score the game on a ten point basis and offer general feedback on the design choices. From there, the game is sent to stores, where the player can monitor its progress from a chart on the side of the screen. Ideally, a player’s game will sell enough units to cover the development costs, and the player can then use the money earned to start development of the next game.
The game follows this process while adding more depth as it progresses. New game platforms are introduced from time to time and new technologies become available that require the player to modify the engine on which they build their games. Once you’ve made enough money, you can move out of your garage and into a proper office where you have the option of hiring staff to help research technologies and develop games. New game types are introduced, such as MMOs, new business strategies can be researched, such as a Steam-like distribution platform, and you can even create your own console once you have enough money and a large enough fan base.
Further adding to the experience, players are asked throughout the game to handle various “events.” These can range from choosing whether to make an appearance at “G3,” a reference to the real gaming world’s E3 event, to deciding how much to invest in a new security system at the office to prevent theft or sabotage. The game ends at the 30-year-mark, although players can choose to continue their game after this point, albeit without future events.
Controls
The game plays very simply: aside from the Escape key, which is used to bring up the game’s menu, the entire game plays with just the left mouse button. A left-click anywhere in the office will bring up the action menu, where the player can choose to start development of a new game or engine. Left-clicking on your character or future staff gives you the option to start research on a new game technology or initiate a training session to improve the character’s skills. In short, it’s a beautifully simple control scheme that should translate well for those playing with a touchscreen device.
Graphics & Sound
Game Dev Tycoon follows the recent indie formula of simple, entertaining gameplay coupled with charming “lo-fi” graphics. The entire game takes place in three locations: your character’s garage, a small office, and a large office. There are very few animations other than the occasional wiggle or typing motion from the onscreen characters.
Perhaps the highlight of the game’s graphics is the list of platforms. Familiar computers, consoles, handhelds, and mobile devices are drawn in a satisfying way, with just enough difference from their actual counterparts to avoid copyright issues. As the game progresses and new consoles are introduced, longtime gamers will get a kick out of seeing their favorite devices beautifully reproduced.
Overall, the game won’t win awards for graphics, but what’s there is crisp and pleasing in a nostalgic way, and looks great even on our high resolution 2560×1600 30-inch monitor.
Audio is equally simple. A pleasing, upbeat song is offered as background music, and a variety of computer clicks and money “ca-chings” are present through the game. For those who prefer to choose their own soundtrack, the game thankfully allows both sound effects and music to be lowered or disabled in the settings.
Debugging
Like the games you create in Game Dev Tycoon, the game itself has some issues. Clicks don’t always register when selecting buttons in the game, and there are infrequent graphical glitches that cause interface elements to briefly flash. Other issues include the occasional failure of a character’s stats to actually progress when training and a black screen when loading some saved games (which we resolved by simply closing the game completely and then reopening). None of these bugs were serious, nor did they prevent us from enjoying the game.
Beyond bugs, there are a few areas where the game could be improved. First, the pace of the game seems too fast. On our first play-through, our little game studio was nowhere near as advanced as we thought it should be by the time the game ended at the 30-year-mark. True, we could keep playing, but the player’s final score is calculated at 30 years and, even after editing our game file to add millions of dollars to our bank account on the second play-through, we still hadn’t come close to reaching “AAA” developer status by the end of 30 years. Slowing the pace of the game down significantly would help players discover and master more features.
Another issue is the level of control a player has over their games. After a player releases a game, its sales progress is tracked via a graph, with total weekly revenues reported below it. However, the player has no control over how the game is priced or sold. It would add another interesting layer to let players set the price for their game, or determine how it’s sold (boxed retail, online, etc.).
Finally, due to the fast pace of the game and sheer number of platforms introduced, I felt like I was always be behind the ball when developing games. Each game can only be assigned to a single platform, limiting sales potential and risking changes in popularity and market share as the platforms jockey for position. The ability to publish a game on multiple platforms would not only resolve this feeling, it would also better mimic the actions of real developers.
Conclusions
Despite a few bugs and the absence of some of our desired features, Game Dev Tycoon is fun and addicting experience. Real developers may scoff at the relatively simplistic way that the process is conveyed, but lots of gamers will enjoy planning and managing the creation of their own virtual games.
Greenheart Games is also “doing it right” by offering the game DRM-free on Windows, OS X, and Linux with a single US$7.99 purchase. There’s also a separate purchase option on the Windows Store for those with Windows 8 devices. The game is currently pending in Steam’s Greenlight process. If approved, Greenheart Games will provide all customers with complimentary Steam activation keys.
Game Dev Tycoon is not a gaming classic that will be talked about for years to come, but it is an excellent first game for Greenheart Games and will provide players with hours of entertainment. Check out the demo or buy the game today!
