City Game Studio: a tycoon about game dev
City Game Studio
I joined the open beta for City Game Studio a little while ago. Ever since I have seen it grow substantially. The game has been improved so much in a short amount of time and I can only see it getting better and better from here on out. The developer is very active and takes all the feedback and criticism he gets very seriously. Many of my own suggestions have already made it into the game and whenever an issue arises he is quick to fix it.
The game takes place in a city where you can rent, buy and even build your own studios and exhibitor centers. When your company is doing good you obviously want to expand and get even larger teams working on even bigger titles. The result of that can be very satisfying.
– Real player with 198.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Management Economy Games.
Overview
First off, on advice from this author’s attorney Frankie “Fine Print” Lymann, copycat games are not a crime. (See Data East USA v. Epyx for proof that copycats do not constitute copyright infringement.) Remember Game Dev Tycoon? Take the awesomeness of the aforementioned game, add interior decorating, an outside world where buildings can be rented, bought, and even constructed, and then add in some nice new ideas (along with a bad idea) and you have City Game Studio. In case the reader doesn’t know, the game is a management sim in which the player starts a game company starting in the year of the player’s choosing, and goes from rags to riches through developing and publishing video games.
– Real player with 43.6 hrs in game
Mad Games Tycoon 2
Let me start this off by saying I love this game and I will continue to monitor the progress, and I will change my review along the way. I am a long fan of MGT series and I decided to support the developer by buying EA game which I usually NEVER do.
However… There are really really BIG issues for me. Before I do get into it I have to say one more thing, english isn’t my native language and I apologize in advance because I will have to write longer to make a point that I could have probably made in one sentence.
– Real player with 143.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Management Early Access Games.
TLDR
Pros: Good flow / pacing - Very minimal game breaking bugs - Nice relaxing game
Oks: Some amazing core concepts, but could be taken further - Art / Assets work well, but could use further refining - Each room has it’s own purpose, but some less ‘needed’ than others - Actual construction is well thought out, but the grid can feel too large in places and no ‘clone room’ feature - Random events happen, some of which are utterly pointless depending on the year / progress of the studio
– Real player with 133.0 hrs in game
Steamulator 2019
Disclosure: I’m friends with one of the conceptualizers of the game.
Enjoyable game for the price. Simplistic in nature but a generally addictive nature will make players want to keep coming back to the game. The game has you running your own Steam storefront where you have to monitor your stats to assure they aren’t too high or too low, otherwise its game over.
The game suffers from some bugs such as no matter what the event is, every time you swipe right on a card, your game count will increase by 1, even if the choice doesn’t involve publishing a game to Steam and the confusing stat adjustments made in correspondence with your decisions (how does accepting games have the same positive influence on developers as when you deny them?)
– Real player with 3.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Management 2D Games.
Well I originally wrote a long rant about why I hate these devs after they’re first success that was half-decent, but then I realized I would probably get deleted for it, so here’s my attempt at a reasonable and constructive review for this game.
Don’t buy it, Reigns is better. Long story short, it just seems like a cash grab to me, as was their last game after the initial lootbox simulator success that was alright but probably not worth the cost. It’s a half baked concept they put a price on to cash in on. Or perhaps an attempt at a game inspired by games like reign that they gave up on either out of boredom or inability to manage to work out kinks and bugs. I would suggest Game Dev Tycoon or other similar rip offs if you’re looking for the steam-esque simulators. I have a degree in computer game development that I haven’t used in 3 years because I wasn’t a fan of it, so I have a basic understanding of how to make a game. If I bothered to do research I could probably make this myself for free. Anyway, not worth a look if you ask me, if you’re looking for anything from these guys, the only good thing is I can’t believe it’s not Gambling, the first one, not the second.
– Real player with 1.0 hrs in game
DevLife
Game is still very raw and incomplete.. After 2hrs, there is not much new to do. It becomes mundane and just clicks before time expires kind of a game.. very little strategy to play. Once you hire all 6 employees most of the commissions are very easy to complete. And once a few own projects are successful, you have enough money to just sit and enjoy..
In the present stage I wouldn’t recommend the game but there is potential.
– Real player with 24.7 hrs in game
I really wanted to love this game, everything about it could’ve been done or handled way better than what it is now, and I wanted to give it a positive review, given that it’s in an early access, and made by a single developer, though I couldn’t.
The Game
DevLife is a game where you somehow end up in a locked time loop, you’ll be pausing the game a lot just so you don’t accidentally miss the “unfair” deadline.
You’re given commissions to complete based on your level, and unlocked components, eventually you’ll be able to do your own commercial projects that will profit you if you’re lucky with the RNG.
– Real player with 6.7 hrs in game
Game Dev Company
Pros:
-Make your own company
-Hire people
-Have different departments
Cons:
-No tutorial, hard to figure out how to do stuff but once you do it’s easy.
-No story
-No competition (would be cool if there was online leaderboards or offline at least.)
-Constantly have to work
– Real player with 8.9 hrs in game
Gamedev Beatdown
The game is awesome. I had fun playing and making different decisions for my games and felt addicted at some stages. Non-game developers will definitely get an idea and insights into the game development process after playing this game.
– Real player with 81.2 hrs in game
Gamedev Beatdown is a turn based action rpg game with a quirky story depicting development of games in the gaming industry.
The game revolves around different playable characters from different departments of the gaming industry and gives the player a unique incite into the decision making that goes into making a game.
Even though you will end up making difficult choices that can impact your game in terms of sales or customer satisfaction, the game has a pun based humorous dialogue lines that will make you laugh and make the tough decisions look trivial.
– Real player with 17.0 hrs in game
Game Dev Masters
TLDR: Worth the price (even if I didn’t pay for it, I would’ve) and then some. Super cool Developer that has listened to feedback and implemented suggested changes.
So you’ll see from my account I rarely review games, mainly because I don’t feel that my opinion matters much when people are choosing games as I tend to play differently from most players so I just don’t bother. However, in this instance, I’ve had first hand experience of speaking 1 on 1 with a small games developer and I know the work they have put into this game deserves any help any player of their game could do to help boost its visibility and or sales.
– Real player with 56.9 hrs in game
This game is addicting. I know nothing about developing games and I’m honestly a little confused in this game BUT I am learning and having fun in the process! Played the Demo for free for a few hours and purchased the EA version a few nights ago. Making each game is, for me, a fun process.. learning how to “train” myself to make games, figuring out how to make a hit (not quite there yet at master level), trying not to bankrupt my own company… love the challenges! Failed my company a few times but starting over each time has taught me how to progress in this game farther, faster!
– Real player with 50.5 hrs in game
Game Tycoon 2
- First of all, this is not a Game Dev Tycoon! These two games may share similar topic, but the concepts are different. *
I’m recommending this game, because I enjoyed both first and second game in series, and there are only few games of this genre available. Sure, it has it’s pros and cons, but I think that true fans will find a way to enjoy it.
The game it self may be clunky, with not so sharp graphics, but underneath it is a true tycoon game. Tutorials may be better, but at the end it is us who needs to discover the whole game (yes, game developers wanted to be mysterious).
– Real player with 28.2 hrs in game
Not a bad game, but, frankly, it fails to reach the “standard” quality of the genre,
If you want to check, I own the majority of the “game development” games on Steam (and also some “small” non-Steam productions).
I have put this game at the end of the list and I’m really sorry to say this.
The main problems are:
- there is a good tutorial, but this doesn’t help to understand how a game… sell! There is a strange feedback system that helps very little (there is a quality rating and a “professional” rating: this could work, but, at the end, only makes you create the best games on the market and see them selling very little…)
– Real player with 13.2 hrs in game
Game Corp DX
Load of hours with fun for very cheap price.
Probably one of the best or maybe the best Economy-Management Game Dev Simulation ever so far. I used to play Game Dev Tycoon few months ago, it was the last good game dev simulation game.
After few months Game Corp DX came out. It was in early acces, I stayed away cuz of bugs and some negative reviews. Just added it to my wishlist and got it on my birthday as a gift. LOL, I am lucky cause this game is totally awesome.
There is three difficulty mode ; Hard, Normal and Easy. Easy is really easy. You can learn the game basics as like as it’s a tutorial. Then you can play normal or hard without getting bored easily.
– Real player with 12.3 hrs in game
I have a fondness for game dev sims, but I didn’t have high expectations for Game Corp Dx. After all, how good could a $2.99 Early Access title be? When I started playing I was pleasantly surprised by it. Rather than a short simplistic game, there appears to be real depth to this title. There’s enough going on this game that I’ve decided to just write the bulk of this review in + and - list form.
Game Corp Dx features;
- Simple and intuitive graphical interface. There aren’t dozens of menus to navigate here, and it’s pretty easy to figure out how to use the ones that are.
– Real player with 12.3 hrs in game
GamersGoMakers
There once was a time, a long long time ago, when simulation games on the PC meant something. They were large productions and sold well, creating such stars as Sid Meier among others. I bring that name up because, it seems to me, that that is the only franchise that has been able to survive to this day. A true simulation about the creation of your civilization. Your choices mattered and numbers behind the curtain were calculating the outcomes of various action or non actions. It gave you so many paths to victory or loss. Yes my friends, you could actually LOOSE a game back then. I know…hard to believe!
– Real player with 176.7 hrs in game
I was curious of the other Game Management games out there. I started out with Game Dev Tycoon (Throughly enjoyed that game with 200+ hours), then I tried Game Tycoon (Which is absolutely dreadful, don’t waste your time and money. You’re better off wiping your butt than spending it), I tried GameBiz 3 (Enjoyed it for its gameplay but hated it for its extremely poor UI and sales restrictions), and I played Game Dev Story on iOS (Which is great for on the go. I enjoyed it for its simulation, but not very much for its management and lack of interaction). So one day, I came upon this game and I decided to give this a shot.
– Real player with 39.9 hrs in game