What’s the best way to pass time at the office? If you answered, “managing my own game company” surprise, Kairosoft has just the game for you. Game Dev Story puts you in the shoes of a business entrepreneur, an entrepreneur of a start up game development company. Create your gaming empire in 20 years, developing for various fake consoles, with a nod and a wink to their real life counterparts, and even the ability to create your own console after training the right individual.
When you start a new game you find yourself with the dilemma or naming your brand new studio. Think of a good name that’s only 14 characters long. That’s right, only 14. In fact, any time you want to name anything in the game, the max is 14 characters. It does become a little bothersome when you want to create sequels with subtitles or games with longer names. It’s a great little addition to this game; it gives it a more personal sense of this is your company. Something overlooked is that you can’t re-name any of your employees or create your own starter employee. You’re stuck with the pre-set names and talents given to them. So no, you can’t have your uncle Bob be the best graphic designer he can be at “Ed’s Game Shak”. It’s a small blemish on an all around addictive game. But to say this game is addicting would be quite the understatement though. I find myself ready to play a quickie only to end up playing for hours.
The game plays like a mix of RPG, tycoon, and SIM games. You train and level up employees to raise their stats so they can churn out better games, win awards, and sell lots of copies. The key here is to sell lots of copies. Isn’t that the goal of any game developer? The more copies you sell the more money you make. Money isn’t just a number here either; you need the cash to develop new games, train your employees, hire new and unique ones, and to advertise your company. It’s quite impressive that you can write on the moon so many times to advertise and it’s only 9k worth of cash! Who knew lunar writing was so effective and cheap! The game gives you a fun stylized feeling of running a game development studio and will keep you hooked even past the 20 year mark. No worries though as you can start a new game and use all the unlocked points from your previous game; makes starting out much easier. Be prepared to part with your previous save though as Game Dev Story only lets you save one game at a time so you and your significant other can’t have competing developers.
Pick this guy up and be prepared to lose yourself to your phone, not like your eyes aren’t glued to it 24/7 anyway. Yeah I know, your girlfriend told me all about it and she doesn’t appreciate being your number two.
