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[bulvinykas]

Hi! I'm currently working on a game dev sim called "Game Dev Studio".
It's pretty much finished and already has a steam store page, check it out here!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/773580/Game_Dev_Studio/

I have a channel for progress update type videos on YouTube, and here is the gameplay video I've cooked up for it (which is also the same video you can find on the steam page):





And now, to quickly describe the game as it is on the Steam store page...

Welcome to your own Game Dev Studio!
How will you run your own offices & ascend to greatness in the gaming industry?

Non-linear progression. Fill out the empty space in your office with whatever objects you wish, and when you run out of space - buy a new office building to continue expanding!

Find the best employees for your studio. Employees have their skills, attributes, traits, interests & knowledge on topics.
Create multiple teams, work on multiple game projects at once, or reach for the stars by focusing all your workpower on one game.
Just don't forget that you won't get to keep your employees forever.

Rev up those engines. Make game engines, update them with new tech, and revamp them when the code gets too messy!

Make awesome games. Employees? Check. Game engine? Check. Now it's time to make great games!

Hype it up! Advertise your games through a multitude of ways: invite reviewers for an interview, start a mass advertisement campaign, contact online personalities to create early playthrough videos of your game, hire agencies to shill your game online and even bribe reviewers!

Show your rivals who's boss of this industry. Your rivals are on the lookout for talented developers just like you are, so get ready to fight off their attempts to lure your employees away with higher salaries, give them a taste of their own medicine & buy them out when they go under!

Sway the odds of platform manufacturers. By releasing games you affect the fate of platform manufacturers your game is made for.
Good games will make a platform more attractive to gamers and change its' market share for the better.

Never a dull moment. Story Mode, 3 extra campaigns, a freeplay mode and the ability to randomize various aspects of the game at the beginning of a playthrough make the replayability value great.

[Stonepunsh Studio]

Hello guy(s),
This looks really cool and interesting. I think the most important thing in simulators is details. How many people make this game? What about a shop wher you can buy things like PC. Or what bout events like E3.
Cryttexx

[bulvinykas]

Hello guy(s),
This looks really cool and interesting. I think the most important thing in simulators is details. How many people make this game? What about a shop wher you can buy things like PC. Or what bout events like E3.
Cryttexx

Hey!

It's just me working on the game, I'm no artist though, hence the placeholder sprites, haha.

As for buying computers, I was actually thinking about having the ability to select what CPU, GPU, etc. you wish to have in a computer, but in the end scrapped that idea because it would be too much micromanagement. As time goes you on still need to upgrade computers that your employees use, to have the ability to implement new engine tech.

In regards to game conventions - yes, they are present in the game. It works like this: you select what size your booth should be, what games you wish to present there and the employees that should go there. If you don't select employees for participation, then you'll have to pay for hiring staff that will be in charge of the booth, and the efficiency will not be as high as it could be. The efficiency of your presence there is determined by how outgoing/extraverted your employees. (determined by the Charisma attribute, Public Speaking knowledge and the Silver Tongue trait) Presenting games at a convention raises hype.

[bulvinykas]

Hey! Here's a quick devlog.

Today I've implemented a feature to the platform manufacturers system which makes it so that if you keep making a lot of good games for a platform, then the manufacturer will reach out to you and tell you that they're willing to lower the amount of money they take per each sale of the game, as long as the game is partially exclusive (meaning made for less than 3 other manufacturers) or fully exclusive to their platforms.





Since every manufacturer can go bankrupt when their market share gets too low, it's in the best interest of the manufacturer to make such deals, since every single game released on a platform increases it's attractiveness rating and due to that the sales of the platform increase as well.

So now aside from boosting the market share of a platform (and therefore increasing sales of future games), the player is given an additional incentive to keep his games exclusive to one manufacturer in the form of more money gained due to the benefits of a partnership between his studio and the manufacturer.

[bulvinykas]

Hey! I've made a quick "progress update" type video in which I talk about the things I've been working on for the game over the last 9 days.

For a quick overview of the video: I talk about the addition of a "lets play videos" advertisement type, and the expansion of the platform manufacturer system, that I also talked about in the post right above me.

[bulvinykas]

Hey there! To break the month-long radio silence I've made a progress update video:

[bulvinykas]

Hello! Another month has passed, so it's time for another progress update video.





Not all placeholder art assets have been replaced yet, but those that have been make the game look way better. The most obvious placeholders right now are the roofs and trees.

The addition of player-enabled playthrough randomization means the game won't get stale for much longer, with the rest of the changes being the usual fixes, polish, improvements and addition of missing features that would be mandatory for a game like this.

Overall I am very happy with how the game plays now and, for the first time in its' development, the biggest things on my to-do list are all the placeholder art assets that are in need of replacement.

[bulvinykas]

Hey there again! While I'm waiting on art assets & polishing up the game in every single aspect, I thought I'd share some of the most recent changes with you.

Visuals

One visual feature that I was thinking about adding for a long time, but was unsure about are shadows. So, without further ado, here are two screenshots with and without them:





Wow, that's quite the difference. These shadows turned out to be one of those features that you don't know are going to make a huge difference until you add them in the game. Better yet, they move together with the sun, so you're never treated with a static image, which makes the visuals that much more comfy.

Gameplay

In terms of gameplay mechanics, the most recent feature I was working on are microtransactions. You can now add them to your game projects, and they will generate you money independently from the game sales. Their longevity, as well as the amount of people spending money on them, depends on the total amount of people that buy your game, how good it is, whether it has multiplayer or not, and a few other factors.

However, if you push microtransactions too hard, you can piss off the userbases of platforms your game is made for, resulting in greatly decreased game sales and a loss in reputation.





The loss in sales will persist for all games with microtransactions until the userbase cools off, meaning that your rivals will be affected by the platform owners frustration as well.

[katastrophic88]

I love game dev sims. Already have Game Dev Story and Game Dev Tycoon, so I'm looking forward to checking this out!

[bulvinykas]

I love game dev sims. Already have Game Dev Story and Game Dev Tycoon, so I'm looking forward to checking this out!

Hey thanks for the kind words! I actually started making this game because I played Game Dev Tycoon and thought it was too superficial in it's gameplay, haha.

[bulvinykas]

Hello again, I've uploaded another progress update video, in which I talk about the addition of microtransactions (no, you can't buy lootboxes; I mean you can add microtransactions to your games) and some other stuff.

[bulvinykas]

Hello again!
The employee portrait sprites came in, and I got around to implementing them. There are a lot of various haircuts, face types, etc. to have enough variety.

[bulvinykas]

Hello again! This time I come bearing a Steam store page, in addition with a gameplay video:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/773580/Game_Dev_Studio/





It sure has been quite fun working on it, but my work doesn't stop here. There are still things I wish to add and improve even though the game is approaching its 1.0 release.