In the category of management games, Game Dev Story on iPhone and Android has met with immense success since its release a few years ago. It...
How to properly train your employees?
Throughout the game, your development studio will have to experiment with the development of different types of games to vary its production and meet with more success. However, in the beginning, you will not be able to develop multiple types of games. To unlock them, you must first hire and train employees in different trades.
The different professions are Coder, Writer, Designer, Sound Engineer, Director, Producer, Hacker, and Hardware Engineer (the game is in English only). Each employee can be assigned to an activity and thus earn points in a profession. It is possible to earn up to 5 points per trade.
Among the trades, there are some that are more advanced than others, that is to say, that it will take a combination of two levels in two different trades for the employee to master the third trade. Here are the four advanced trades:
Producer: Designer level 5 + Sound Engineer level 5
Director: Coder level 5 + Writer level 5
Hardware Engineer: Producer level 5 + Director level 5
Hacker (the most difficult): Coder level 5 + Writer level 5 + Designer level 5 + Sound Engineer level 5 + Producer level 5 + Director level 5 + Hardware Engineer level 5
You can also simply wait for an employee with the advanced skills to show up on your list of potential recruits if you don't want to waste time training an employee.
How to unlock new games?
As we told you a little earlier, your development studio will have to unlock new types of games to progress and increase your chances of success by varying your productions. For this, you will have to learn new trades and new skills, but which ones? Here is the complete list of unlockable games and the professional level required:
RPG: Writer level 5
Simulation: Coding level 4
Sim RPG: Director level 1
Action: Writer level 3
Shooter: Writer level 3
Action RPG: Producer level 3
Racing: Sound Engineer level 3
Online RPG: Producer level 5
Online Sim: Hacker Level 5
Life: Designer level 3
Board: Producer level 1
Music: Director level 5
Audio Novel: Director Level 2
Motion: Hardware Engineer level 4
Card Game: Hardware Engineer level 3
However, leveling up your employees will not be enough to automatically unlock the new type of game you want to produce. You will have to send your employees, after their leveling up in a specific area, to carry out certain activities. If you complete all available activities with level 5 employees in all professions, you will unlock all game types.
How do you produce a game that will sell well?
The future of your development studio depends mainly on the sales figures of your games. At the beginning, they will necessarily be below, but they will gradually climb. The number of sales depends on the quality of the game, itself linked to the skills of the employees who worked on it, but also to the mix of types and genres that you offer.
Indeed, in addition to the types of games, we have already told you about, there is also the question of genres. They are very numerous and determine the style of your game (cowboy, ninja, medieval, etc.). You still have to choose which genres and types your game will mix, but choose carefully because not all styles and genres make good combinations.
Here is the list of types and genres that will make the best games:
Action: Basketball, Historical, Horror, Ogre, Sumo, Ninja
Action RPG: Poncho, Hunting
Adventure: Cartoon, Cowboy, Detective, Mystery
Audio Novel: Cowboy, Cutie, Detective, Movies, Romance, Dating, Horror
Board: Chess
Life: Animals, Pop Star, Soccer, Town, Word, Comics, Dating, F1 Racing, Game Co., Mushroom
Motion: Dance, Drums, Fitness, Skiing, Snowboarding, Volleyball, Pinball, Pop Star, Slots
Music: Drums
Online RPG: Medieval
Online Sim: Architecture, Conv. Store, Cutie, Game Co., Pop Star, Stocks, Swimming, Virtual Pet, Mushroom
Puzzle: Checkers, Reversi
Racing: Motorsport, Snowboard, Swimsuit
RPG: Fantasy, Ogre, Mushroom
Shooter: Horseshoes, Robot
Simulation: Architecture, Bookstore, Cartoon, F1 Racing, Game Co., Motorsport, Movies, Pop Star, Romance, Soccer, Train, Comics, Cutie, Mushroom, Town
Table: Mahjong, Poncho
Trivia: Comedy, Cosplay, Sumo, Mini-skirt
A few bulk tips
The game integrates a temporal concept and shows you the number of days, months, and years that pass. A vendor comes by once a year in May and gives you the opportunity to buy three items. Once you buy these items or the month of May is over, it will go away.
Employees can be bored and should not be assigned to the same task for two games in a row, because they will do a less good job. It is therefore important to train them on at least two tasks to be able to alternate. Also, A consider focusing the best employees on the task they are best at on the same game in order to have huge success. Let them “rest” on the next game.
Finally, each year the GOTY (Game of the Year) award is given to one of the games. The podium includes five places and if you manage to climb on it, you will unlock special rewards:
First place: Employee Grizzly Bearington
Second place: Chipman Z-force employee
Third place: Kairobot employee
Fourth place: Jupiter 512 game console
Fifth place: Gamejohn games console
