Round Table: Game Dev Story

Game Dev Story, from Japanese developers Kairosoft, has taken the iPhone by storm both critically and commercially since its release on the 9th of October.  Ostensibly a resource management simulation, Game Dev Story is much, much more and its focus on the inner workings of a videogame development studio resonates heavily with anyone with as much as a passing interest in how the industry works.

“At its core,” says Peter, “Game Dev Story is a tight, solid little RPG. The game could just as easily be about making pies, running a bar or managing a farm (hey, there’s an idea!) – it’s the core principles of leveling, risk and reward and the tightly charted means of success and failure that make it all so compelling. Those are the principles that make almost any successful video game, no matter the subject.”

As I said in our review of the game, Game Dev Story plays out like a Douglas Coupland novel with the emphasis on the director of the company rather than the programmers, designers and engineers at the coal face. You’re in charge of everything from hiring and firing through to commissioning new projects and even deciding whether to ship a game that’s still on the wrong side of buggy.  Real life parallels couldn’t be easier to spot.

The bright, chunky pixel-art graphics match the subject perfectly, the character packed animation a delight as your workers flit from chair to chair engaging and feeding off one another before sitting down to some serious work.  It’s like watching a colour-filled ant colony, albeit one dedicated to producing first person shooters and demanding ever increasingly ridiculous salaries as their abilities continue to grow.

“I’ve become Activision!” jokes Lewis when I ask him how he’s doing with the game. “It’s all about the money, but, unfortunately, it’s not that easy to get right,” he says. “Game Dev Story has stolen hours from me due to its addictive, simple, yet in-depth gameplay.”  It’s a sentiment echoed around the table and all over the internet: Game Dev Story is powerfully addictive and immersive.

“So immersive,” continues Lewis, “that I curse everytime I have a power failure, I want to punch salesmen for interrupting my tightly-run operation and any employee who fails me is immediately let go.”  Peter agrees: “Game Dev Story hits the metaphorical nail squarely on the head where it counts, not with the polish but with the substance. We don’t keep going back because it’s about games; we keep going back because it is games.”

It’s true.  From the off, when you start up your own company with a small amount of capital and a big desire for success, Game Dev Story lets you play the game however you want to within a structured set of invisible but fair rules.  You must make money, but how you do that, and at what speed, is entirely up to you.  You can take it slow, outsourcing and reducing risk, or you can go all in with a major pitch that could make or break you.

The reviews for your game can be damning, your fans disloyal and, should you ship out something unfinished and below par, the backlash can be disastrous.  If a game does well you’ll reap in the money, but if it’s bad, or worse, recalled, you can kiss goodbye to any profit.  It’s also an incredibly personal game, your experiences are your own and no two playthroughs will ever be the same, although all of them are special.

“I’ve felt more emotion when looking at a rock than I have from playing most video games,” says Michael. ” Those AAA blockbusters are the worst as they try to force someone else’s over-acted emotion onto you.  So when I was five game years into my stint at Castle Mooch Games whilst playing the compulsive iPhone Dev-em-up Game Dev Story, I was surprised when real emotion took hold.”

“Why?” continues Michael.  “Because in order to progress I really needed to fire two of my employees.  And I didn’t want to.  But, I did.  And felt terrible when their pixellated response to the sacking was displayed for me to read.”  Game Dev Story manages to make a connection in a way that, as Michael says, most modern games fail to do.  It’s not all downers, though, the game’s filled with high points and excitement, too.

“The next game my team created was an AAA blockbuster itself,” smiles Michael, “smashing all sales records and securing me enough funds to buy a licence to develop for a new console.”  The ultimate goal in Game Dev Story is to create your own console, of course, rather than developing games for other manufacturers’ machines.  Sure, you can discover new genres and new games, but bringing out your own device?  Pure joy.

“We live in a world that has us surrounded on all sides by videogames and the associated culture,” says Peter attemping to define just why we all feel so connected to the game that’s taking up all our spare time.  “It’s a huge part of our sphere of influence. So it stands to reason that a game which is based around the lives and machinations of those who make the games we love would appeal to us.”

Michael probably sums it up the best.  “I’ve stopped playing Game Dev Story long enough to write this,” he says.  “And that is more than long enough.”  “Indeed,” says Lewis heading out the door, “Duty Calls: Primative Warfare isn’t going to develop itself.”

You can buy Game Dev Story by clicking here.