Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Highly addictive"

Just by chance I had managed to catch the remainder of the GDC Award Show and caught the Best Handheld Award presentation. The nominees showed a few PSP and DS games, but also a few iPhone/iTouch/iPad games. One of those was Game Dev Story.

[IMG]http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo128/YagrZero/images-1.jpg[/IMG]
****ing addicting it is.

Game Dev Story, as the picture above describes, is a simulation game where you get to run a game development company. Sounds difficult, right? This is where Game Dev Story really succeeds. It is simple as ****. Want to make a game? Just choose a console to make it for, choose the genre, and then choose what you want the game to be about. So if you want, you can make a game for the in-game console Super IES that's an RPG about the Fantasy Genre and you can title it "Final Fantasy," and watch it sell millions, and avoid all those copyright lawsuits. As easy as that sounds, there's a lot more to it.

[IMG]http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo128/YagrZero/Game_Dev_Story-mid-post.jpg[/IMG]
Employees you have.

Half of the business revolves around your staff. If they're not talented, then that Final Fantasy may indeed be the final fantasy. Your staff can be leveled up through the usage of research disks, which accumulate over time and can be nabbed from performing contract work. Another way to up each member's stats is by training them. A highly leveled, highly trained team has a greater chance of programming a hit, or in my case, a great installment of Ogre Battle (I have no imagination). What also helps with having a higher leveled, highly trained team is in finding new game types and genres. Your small upstart company, CircleSoft in my case (hah! I have some creativity), starts each game with a short list of games you can make, and as much as you want to create dozens of iterations of Puzzle Golf, your fan base won't grow. There's a need to find more types of games to make, as finding the right combination of type and genre will give a boost in sales, while conversely, finding a wrong combination will result in poor sales. But once you do find that smashing combo, i.e. Final Fantasy (yes I'm giving you a hint), you'll find your team will be working hard to make the game their best.

[IMG]http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo128/YagrZero/images-1-1.jpg[/IMG]
Work on fire for you they will.

Each game that is made has four stats: fun, creativity, graphics, and sound. Depending on how well your staff is trained and also on how motivated they are can make or break your game. Create a game with the wrong combo will show a slight decrease in the stat growth and vice versa. Surprisingly, this aspect of the game is frighteningly addictive. Who knew that dating sims were great and robot puzzles weren't? Who knew? Of course, when you think you're done with games, there's always the option of releasing a console (XCircle! No really. I have no imagination).

Overall, Game Dev Story is a simple yet addicting premise that does everything right. There are a large number of combinations that can be used and half of the fun is finding them all, as well as finding the best combinations to make that number one game. But to say that that's all to Game Dev Story wouldn't do it justice, there is a good sense of humor that's present in the game console names and various companies. So if you're looking for a game for your iphone/itouch/ipad, then I highly suggest giving Game Dev Story a look. Just don't be surprised when you find the time ticking away faster than you realize.