Game Dev Story Review (iOS & Android)
One of the more popular games out there for iOS and Android has definitely been the cult-hit called Game Dev Story. Since the Android Marketplace now allows purchases in the Philippines, and Game Dev Story went on a sale recently, we picked up the game for about PHP 62.00. Yes, only 62 big pesos. Can’t even buy a burger for that amount of money. These days, its back to its slightly higher price of ¥230, which is about PHP 122. (Still at 40% off its original price.) That’s the Android Market price, while the iOS price is at the slightly less friendly PHP 173. ($3.99) Worth your money? Read on to find out!
Cute 8-bit characters are building your game. Work them to the bone!
Game Dev Story is a simulation game by a Japanese company named Kairosoft. (Link in Japanese) Its an 8-bit inspired, SIM-city like game that emulates the rise to fame (or not) of a startup game development company. You start off with a small office doing contractual jobs with a maximum of 4 employees – coders, artists, sound engineers, writers, and the like. Soon you’ll be developing your own games with various tweaks like genre, theme, quality, etc. The stats of your staff and/or your contractually hired temporary workers will influence the extent of the graphics, sound, creativity, and gameplay of the resulting game. Soon enough, you’ll also be investing in development kits for popular console systems that ape real-world ones like the IES and Super IES. (NES & Super NES) All along, you’ll also be spending money on advertising, booth conventions, and training for your employees. Your goal is to develop the perfect game, earn enough money, sell the most copies, and generally become a successful game development company. Two of the hardest things to do are to either get the the “Grand Prize” at the game awards, or make your own console/s and profit off them. (And make games for them.)
The “20 year” game campaign lasts for about about 5-6 hours of gameplay. You can play through longer than 20 years, but the high score system will only track 20. There’s plenty of ways to experiment as decisions are always showing up to make or break whatever you’re making. Mismanaging your resources is one thing, but there’s also a massive amount of customization to your style that you might just find a perfect balance with a radically new combination of parameters. This allows for at least a few extra replays of the career to experiment and see what you can do. After your interest has peaked and waned, it’s still not a terribly unusual idea to start up a new game and experiment with new choices – like building an online RPG swimsuit game.
This guy is an artist for hire. If you don’t have any creative guys
in your posse, then you need to pay up.
The graphics are decidedly cutesy and 8-bit inspired, which is great for the subject matter that it sits in. The sound also follows in the same way. Great addicting beeps and chirps and chimes go along with all your game development efforts. The game runs pretty well on an HTC Desire, with some pangs of slowdown during busy moments as there’s a healthy amount of sprites running around and numbers popping up. On iOS, GameCenter high scores are supported, while on Android the scores are local – which we aren’t complaining that much about.
Game Dev Story is an awesome game with a great premise that even tugs on our nostalgic video gaming strings. It promises a deep, SIM level amount of customizable strategy in a shrunk down, smartphone game. The gameplay is addictive to a disturbing amount and we found that it was really difficult to put down. Since we bought it at PHP 62, we definitely won’t regret picking it up. However, at PHP 122 or above, we might think otherwise. Still, it doesn’t make the game any less amazing.
We give Game Dev Story for iOS and Android 4.5/5 Stars