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Game Dev Story
A game-studio management sim in which the player hires and trains staff, licenses consoles, and develops games from genre and type combinations that four critics score across a twenty-year span.
core loop
hire staff -> pick a licensed platform, a genre, and a type -> staff build fun, creativity, graphics, and sound points while bugs appear -> debug, release, and four critics score the game -> weekly sales and fans fund training, ads, licenses, and office moves -> tally at year 20
design notes
Game Dev Story turns a studio into a calendar of releases. Each game takes one genre and one type from lists that grow as staff gain experience, and each pairing is rated from poor to excellent, which strongly moves sales; the platform must be licensed unless it is PC. A development direction trades cost against speed, quality, and research data. Staff in four basic careers (coder, writer, designer, sound engineer) produce Fun, Creativity, Graphics, and Sound points plus bugs; debugging removes bugs and yields research data, and a game released early can be marked down for its bugs. Four critics score each release out of 10, and 32 of 40 enters the Hall of Fame and allows a sequel. Fictional consoles enter and leave the market on set dates with a three-month warning, and a studio with a hardware engineer in its third office can build its own console from a chosen type, CPU, and media. Calendar events recur yearly: a July convention where the studio buys a booth, a December awards show gated on review totals, and a salesman who sells the career change manual. Accomplishments are tallied at the 20-year mark, though play can continue.
relations
10 stored edgesAgent skills
Staff stats for program, scenario, graphics, and sound rise through paid training and levels gained in their current career.
Product development
Each game is a platform, genre, type, and direction choice; staff accumulate four point totals and bugs, and four critics turn the result into scores out of 40 and a weekly sales run.
Staff hiring and rosters
The player hires staff with differing stats and salaries through recruiting methods unlocked by office size, and assigns them to the proposal, graphics, and sound of each game.
Advertising and awareness
Paid advertising, from magazine ads up to far costlier campaigns unlocked with bigger offices, builds popularity and loses effect when the same type is repeated.
Treasury and budget
Salaries, licenses, training, and development costs draw on studio funds, and running out of money during development cancels the game.
Career ladder
Each of eight careers levels to 5; level 5 in two basic careers opens director or producer, those open hardware engineer, and that opens hacker, applied with a career change manual.
Contracts and orders
Between games the studio takes contract jobs with deadlines of several weeks that pay cash and research data, and failing one costs the fee and reputation.
Dated technology timeline
Fictional consoles become available and leave the market on fixed in-game dates, after which no new games can be made for them.
Milestone unlocks
Office upgrades become available after set years and cost large sums, adding seats and new training, advertising, and hiring methods.
Reputation
Popularity with each age group and gender rises or falls with reviews, fan letters, and convention booths, and a failed contract costs reputation.
claims
7 with sourcesGame Dev Story was first released for Windows in April 1997.
It was released for Windows in April 1997
lead
The player runs a start-up developer that makes games and consoles to earn money.
The player takes control of a start-up video game developer, with the goal of making hit titles and consoles in order to make money.
Gameplay
Four critics review each released game for up to 10 points each.
The critics can give you 10 points each, for a total of 40.
Reviews
A console removed from the market can no longer be targeted by new games.
Once a console is removed from the market, you may no longer create games for it.
Consoles
Building a custom console requires at least one hardware engineer.
To make a console, you must have at least one Hardware Engineer.
Custom consoles
The game tallies the player's accomplishments at the 20-year mark, and play can continue afterwards.
The game "stops" at the 20-year marker to tally your accomplishments
review body
The Steam edition describes hiring staff and training their skills.
Hire talented people and train them to develop their skills.
About This Game