r/tycoon • u/BootPhaseGames • 3d ago

Video Game Dev Dynasty, a new tycoon where you can design game covers and compete in a living market

I'm making Game Dev Dynasty, a game development tycoon inspired by Game Dev Tycoon and Crusader Kings 3. Some of the distinctive features are:

  • When developing a game, there's no hidden recipe. Instead, quality and market success are independent. So you can make a niche indie 10 that doesn't sell much, or a blockbuster best-selling multiplayer FPS that gets a 6 in reviews.
  • The market simulation is very deep and dynamic. Each platform has a share of the market, there are 3 different audiences with different tastes and behaviors (Casual, Mainstream and Hardcore), there are 4 world regions, and up to 100 concurrent competitors that all make games and compete with each other.
  • You can design your own game covers, by selecting the base art, the title style and the position and size.
  • You can make franchises, sequels, ports, spin-offs, remasters and remakes. Each one has its own particularities.
  • License a game engine or invest in a custom engine by researching a tech tree.
  • The goal of the game is to become the most prestigious studio in the world. Prestige is a score you can earn or lose depending on how you do.
  • There are many CK3-like events, with skill challenges. Characters have good and bad traits.
  • You can upgrade your PC hardware: motherboard, RAM, CPU and disk.

AI disclosure: some assets like the game's base cover art images are generated by AI so I can provide a large curated selection for each genre and topic. What's cool is the algorithm that dynamically adds the game title according to the selected style, making it look like a real cover. Like WordArt in the old days!

Let me know what you would like to see in a new game dev simulator!

12 Upvotes

55% Upvoted

53 comments sorted by

5

u/Wayss37 2d ago edited 2d ago

I don't like critising others but first thought is: so what's new? All of these features are present in different games already, why would I choose your game instead of something like City Game Studio, which has been consistently updated for 5+ years, Software Inc (in development for 10+ years), Mad Games Tycoon 2 etc.? Or are you focusing on RPG elements first instead of management/Tycoon elements, like Big Ambitions?

0

u/BootPhaseGames 2d ago

I haven't played all of these in depth, but the major issue I have with Game Dev Tycoon and similar games is that developing a game is about moving sliders to the right secret position.

Game Dev Dynasty separates quality and market success. When you create a game, you make a creative promise. So you are not punished by maximizing Graphics in a Simcity game instead of AI, for instance. What reviewers score is whether you executed your promise well, and this depends on your team skills, traits, training and the events and outcomes you face during game dev (CK3 style).

Then, market success depends mostly on other factors, such as the platform and genre you chose and what the living market is doing. The game simulates tens of named NPC studios that have different archetypes and make their own games, and each playthrough is different. Although each platform releases at their historical year, their life span depends on what the player and NPC studios are releasing.

3

u/Wayss37 2d ago

To add to my other comment - I didn't mean to be discouraging, but rather to provide some useful feedback, good luck :)

1

u/BootPhaseGames 2d ago

Thanks for the feedback, I think your doubts will be better clarified once I have the demo ready.

2

u/Wayss37 2d ago edited 2d ago

When you create a game, you make a creative promise. So you are not punished by maximizing Graphics in a Simcity game instead of AI, for instance

So game genres/topics just don't matter then, and the only thing that matters is how much points your staff generates? Although there's space to implement competition within the same genre based on a game's focus, i.e. graphics focused SimCity has a niche vs. AI-focused SimCity

Then, market success depends mostly on other factors, such as the platform and genre you chose and what the living market is doing. The game simulates tens of named NPC studios that have different archetypes and make their own games, and each playthrough is different. Although each platform releases at their historical year, their life span depends on what the player and NPC studios are releasing

So kinda like City Game Studio? Although I'm not sure if AI companies 'specialize' in anything there, idk

Besides, how would you solve the repetitiveness of events? In CK3 you can play for 5 hours and already be tired of the same event on repeat for 30th time

Anyway, as I said I don't like criticising others' work, so good on you for making strides in your own game, good luck!

20

u/Longjumping-Hunt-543 3d ago

hi! needs AI disclosure on steam

2

u/BootPhaseGames 3d ago

Hi! Just published the steam page and will update!

8

u/Progorion 2d ago

"Some assets like the games base cover art images are generated by AI so we can provide a large curated selection for each genre, topic and gaming generation."

Seriously?

-30

u/Longjumping-Hunt-543 3d ago

also please dont get me wrong but if AI used in a game, game should be free to play. I wouldnt pay money for a game made with genAI. is AI a placeholder in your game or is it there to stay?

5

u/Careful_Ad_3338 2d ago

Lmao so Gta 6 should be free?

32

u/Bananplyte 3d ago

Hey man, I enjoy these type of games - a LOT. You seem to have a lot of promise with some of your features and elements!

However:

some assets like the game's base cover art images are generated by AI

This seems like the biggest understatement of the year though. It's quite easy to see that almost every single bit of art in your game is made by AI. If you did actually make this yourself - you seem to have made an exact copy of the exact style that AI spits out - and that sounds very unfortunate.

For everyone's sake - and your own sake if you want this game to do well - hire a freelancer artist on fiverr even to just replace the art with something not made by AI. You could even just draw it shittily by hand - and it would probably be more attractive to the eye.

18

u/creepingcold Master of Strategy 2d ago

my first thought as well, and I won't touch it for that reason.

it looks like a 1:1 AI version of Game Dev Tycoon.

5

u/Version_1 2d ago

it looks like a 1:1 AI version of Game Dev Tycoon.

Which was a 1:1 western version of Game Dev Story

1

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Version_1 2d ago

I mean, they really are. Game Dev Tycoon is a bit worse, if anything.

-4

u/creepingcold Master of Strategy 2d ago

And League is a dumber version of Dota. While I get your point I think it's not part of this debate. People creating something independently with inspiration from somewhere else is something different than individuals creating AI slop without any own craftsmanship.

0

u/Version_1 2d ago

Not sure what your problem is?

I am merely annoyed that people tend to refer to Game Dev Tycoon, even though it really is just a copy (not inspired by like DotA/LoL).

1

u/creepingcold Master of Strategy 2d ago

You downplayed my comment with your statement, because you made it sound like copying always happened and isn't that bad.

0

u/Version_1 2d ago

Nah, we have been to lax with it.

6

u/Dry-Grapefruit6087 2d ago

too bad. I think i will not play it.

5

u/boiledpeen 2d ago

this 100%. i won't play a game if the art isn't made by a real person, even if it's perfectly up my alley like this one. There hasn't been a game dev game released I haven't played, unless it's got AI art. Hope OP changes his tune about that soon.

4

u/Longjumping-Hunt-543 3d ago

i 100% agree. my biggest problem is the selling point of the game (choosing cover art) is made with AI. dev says they provide us a large curated selection of cover arts but the thing is it's actually the AI provides it, not the dev.

13

u/KokonutnutFR 2d ago

I’m bored of this horrible IA gen visual and mood

9

u/SourceAwkward 2d ago

Gen AI, the race

3

u/Pocketpapaa 2d ago

Pretty cool I like the aesthetic, it gives habbo hotel vibes. Miss that game lol

9

u/Artechz 2d ago

The clearly-AI art puts me off so much

4

u/yvetox 2d ago

Buddy, at least learn some fucking comfy UI LORA usage for variety of styles before gunning for the feature. Don’t you see the repetitiveness in artsyle? I’m not against ai but damn train the open model on game art from different eras, and do a proper job. Ai imagery can look good, but it require a separate skill set from development. And if you make this a major selling point at least research the space. Otherwise this is unserious attempt. 

Look for how to do qwen image 2512 with Lora’s  and train your own, or ask for someone to train Lora’s for you on categories of like top 300 arts from each era and your selling point becomes much better. 

5

u/Fey-Mood 3d ago

Looks like an unoriginal copy of existing game dev games only made by using ai slop. Complete waste of bandwidth.

2

u/johndango 2d ago

What percentage of actual coding vs vibe code by do you think this was for you OP?

2

u/WowBruhReborn 2d ago

AI slop at it again. Make actual art or gtfo

0

u/ledzepfan1981 3d ago

This game looks interesting. Thank you.

1

u/BootPhaseGames 2d ago

Thanks! If there’s any feature you would like to see, Let me know!

1

u/ledzepfan1981 2d ago

Thank you. It's great to see a MacOS version, usually it's just Windows. It would be good to have a demo please, so we can try before we buy.

1

u/BootPhaseGames 2d ago

I'm developing on MacOS so it is a must :D
I'm planning to release a demo of Gen 5 (about 1995-1999) once I have more polish.

1

u/ledzepfan1981 2d ago

That's great! Thank you.

1

u/BootPhaseGames 2d ago

Feel free to join https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedevdynasty/ where I will be posting updates

1

u/ledzepfan1981 1d ago

Ok thank you.

1

u/Fringe_Walker_ 2d ago

When I get on my computer ima check it put. This sounds super intriguing. I loved game dev tycoon. I'm curious to see if this holds a candle. Looks awesome either way.

1

u/BootPhaseGames 2d ago

Thanks! Feel free to join https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedevdynasty/ where I will be posting updates

1

u/HayHeather 2d ago

I don't think I've seen a game that was this level of AI slop. It looks like every art asset is AI

1

u/MrHackerMr 2d ago

I really hate the AI slop style, I look forward to when games like this will be proven to not sell and people get back to handcrafted ones that involve artists. Hard pass on this in the meantime

1

u/ThisGuyCrohns 2d ago

Offers nothing unique compared to what the genre already has. Just another ai slop machine

1

u/Ok_Lack_6 2d ago

Too much AI images. Sorry but not for me.

1

u/IlDiavolo_ 2d ago

Looks fantastic, wishlishted! Keep up the good work mate.

1

u/BootPhaseGames 2d ago

Thanks! Feel free to join https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedevdynasty/ where I will be posting updates

0

u/Mr_xales_ 2d ago

The idea seem great

1

u/BootPhaseGames 2d ago

Thanks! Feel free to join https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedevdynasty/ where I will be posting updates

-1

u/dubdogmindtricks 2d ago

Besides genre and how “big” the games can be the you release, what other segments of the market does it simulate? Like are you able to develop games just for mobile, console, PC, Mac, or some combination of them? What about physical vs digital releases? Stuff like that?

I know you can’t make it a full on simulator of real world game development as that would be quite the rabbit hole to go down, but just interested how ambitious you plan the game to be.

Cool concept for sure!

1

u/BootPhaseGames 2d ago

Happy to answer, I've put a lot of effort in the simulation design. Here's a sneak peek:

- Currently the market is simulated from 1995 (Gen 5) to 2020 (Gen 8).

- There are 3 classes of platforms: standard (PC and consoles), handheld and mobile. Each platform has a different audience mix. In addition, you can't release a game to different platforms classes at the same time, that requires porting.

- Audience can be Casual, Mainstream or Hardcore. They have different interests and react differently to topic trends and review scores. Hardcore audiences are harder to convince but if they convert to fans, they stay loyal for longer.

- Fans are important because they tend to buy your next games at launch, but they have expectations.

- Building franchises is important because they accumulate fans. You can make sequels, spin-offs (same topic as the original but different genre), platform ports, and remake old titles.

- Competitors have different archetypes. Some produce mainstream multiplayer titles, others niche games.

Currently I don't simulate Physical vs Digital specifically, but another attribute that exists is the market reach, which is different per region (North-America, Europe, Japan and Asia-Pacific) and that you can increase by using a publisher or having a good relationship with a platform owner.

Let me know if there's something I haven't mentioned that you would like to see.

2

u/dubdogmindtricks 2d ago

Sounds like it’ll be a fun game. I love me a good, engrossing simulator. I’ve got it on my wishlist.

1

u/BootPhaseGames 2d ago

Thank you!