How does the direction of a game during creation affect its success?

Question

This question has been bothering me for a while since I never managed to find a good answer for it. How exactly do all the direction choices when creating a new game affect its ratings, chances of winning an award, or how well it sells?

If I wanted to create a sumo puzzle game and put all my points into developing the game world, what will that affect, than say, focusing on a niche audience?

Asked by yx.

Answer

The direction seems to affect the success of the game very little. The conventional wisdom is that certain directions fit certain genres, much like certain genre combinations work well together. However,

• Unlike genre combinations, the game gives you no direct feedback on the quality of your direction/genre decisions.
• I have been unable to find any actual empirical evidence that specific direction/genre combos improve game rating or sales.
• The nature of the production system makes every game's development unique, and randomization is thrown in for good measure. This makes it almost impossible to effectively test.

Conclusion: the amount of points does seem to make a notable difference. The allocation of them may or may not. If it does make a difference, it's subtle enough that nobody has been able to effectively quantify it.

Answered by sjohnston

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How do you hire a Hacker in Game Dev Story?

Question

I'm on my second playthrough of this gaming, choosing the Hire option at least twice per game year, and varying between "Word of Mouth", "Magazine Ad", and "Online Ad" - never seen a Hacker available for hire. Is there something special I have to do?

Asked by paradigm72

Answer

If you train a regular person into being a hacker, their salary will be 10 times (at least) what a "hired" hackers will be. Once you're in the big office, if you do a hollywood talent search, you usually get a hacker or two, and their salaries are much more reasonable. Doesn't really matter in the late game, but I wrecked myself trying to get hackers a few times before I could hire them.

Answered by Satanicpuppy

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Boost Items in Game Dev Story

Question

I've been playing Game Dev Story a bit lately, and have gotten to the point where I own all the boost items, have a fair bit of tech, and are consistently selling really well with my games - though I haven't yet gotten a GOTY award.

My theory is that if I want that award, I need to pump up the stats of the game during development (makes sense). It stands to reason that the Boost Items help with this.

However, I am a little confused as to who I should select to use the Boost items, when to use them, and how often I should. Can anyone help me here? :P

Answer

The boost items act fairly similarly to when one of your employees asks you if they can attempt to improve the current game. You spend the research points that it tells you (you can't increase the amount of points you spend) and the game allows you to select which employee should use the boost. However, the main difference is that the boost doesn't fail. I'd if you have a project that's looking good, use the boost items as many times as your research points allow to patch of the weak points.

One thing to note - the items don't disappear after you use them.

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Is Mister X worth hiring, despite mediocre stats, in Game Dev Story?

Question

I can hire a Mister X, but his stats seem really low. Does he have any pleasant surprises, or is he just a dude with mediocre stats?

Answer

They get decent stats when their jobs are all 5's and had some training. You missed out on Kairobot as well, you can hire him when you have gotten a couple awards. Mister X is one of the earliest special characters you can hire, and his energy bar is usually way above any other employee at that time (meaning he rarely leave the office).

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What is the connection between the amount of research data used and the reward?

Question

Is there a connection between the amount of research data used and the reward?

I understand that the likelihood of success increases with research data, but after hitting the max cap, is there a point to giving it still more data? Thanks.

Answer

I don't think there's a relationship between the amount of research data used and the reward. In my experience, the reward seems to be linked to the skill level of the worker.

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Who is Mister X in game dev story

Question

I can hire a Mister X, but his stats seem really low. Does he have any pleasant surprises, or is he just a dude with mediocre stats?

Answer

They get decent stats when their jobs are all 5's and had some training. You missed out on Kairobot as well, you can hire him when you have gotten a couple awards. Mister X is one of the earliest special characters you can hire, and his energy bar is usually way above any other employee at that time (meaning he rarely leave the office).

Check more discussion of this question.