Form your own game studio set in the early 1980s in a small garage. Develop your own game ideas, create a team and develop megahit video games. Research new technologies, train your staff and upgrade your office space, going from a lowly garage to a huge building.
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Torna-se absurdamente monótono com o tempo, mas até que e um ótimo tycoon
Mad Games Tycoon is a tycoon game made by two German siblings Stefan and Christian Pohl, whom both also worked on Software Tycoon in the early 2000s, a game with a similar premise. (The latter of these two siblings sadly passed away)
Like Game Dev Tycoon, the game starts right in the 1980s, but is more accurate in its historic representation. While Game Dev Tycoon only focused on Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and Sega and a bit on the mobile market, this game also takes into consideration that Atari and other smaller competitors exist and has less bias and even goes up to the Nintendo Switch and a fictional PS5 (the real one was not out yet).
Comparing these two tycoon games, this one is also way deeper. You buy different offices buildings, but start in a garage and have to build various development rooms, similar to games like Theme Hospital. Your employees are also no all-rounders. Well, they can technically become some with the help of training, but they have different strengths. Some might be better graphic designers, others might be better programmers, and others may be audio specialists. Additionally, every employee has a feature and a genre they're good in.
Also, you're not alone on the gaming market and have a lot of competitors. Well... They're no real obstacle, though. If you become rich enough, you will be able to buy them and force them to develop games for your own console.
I enjoyed the game a lot, but now that there is a sequel to this one, that improves on every single point, there is no real point in playing this one.
Like Game Dev Tycoon, the game starts right in the 1980s, but is more accurate in its historic representation. While Game Dev Tycoon only focused on Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and Sega and a bit on the mobile market, this game also takes into consideration that Atari and other smaller competitors exist and has less bias and even goes up to the Nintendo Switch and a fictional PS5 (the real one was not out yet).
Comparing these two tycoon games, this one is also way deeper. You buy different offices buildings, but start in a garage and have to build various development rooms, similar to games like Theme Hospital. Your employees are also no all-rounders. Well, they can technically become some with the help of training, but they have different strengths. Some might be better graphic designers, others might be better programmers, and others may be audio specialists. Additionally, every employee has a feature and a genre they're good in.
Also, you're not alone on the gaming market and have a lot of competitors. Well... They're no real obstacle, though. If you become rich enough, you will be able to buy them and force them to develop games for your own console.
I enjoyed the game a lot, but now that there is a sequel to this one, that improves on every single point, there is no real point in playing this one.
Honestly holds up well if you can make it past the pretty garbage tutorial and the unappealing visuals. Only real complaint is the difficulty falls apart even on legendary once you can establish a good early game and refine your formulas.
2/10. Has potential.
I want to love this thing, but I just don't? It's really hard to put into words my apathy for Mad Games Tycoon because, on paper, it should be something that I love. It's like Game Dev Tycoon with more depth to its mechanics; a more realistic look at the game-making process. And it gets close; I've had good fun with this in the past. But I've put more hours into GamersGoMakers, which is undoubtedly a worse game in many regards, and I had just as much fun.
A big part of the issue is that some of the mechanics here are outright annoying rather than strategic. Do pray tell, on which planet would you not accept a job offer because your employer doesn't have a specific couch you want to sit on? Having to assign people to a room so they can research topics is a bit off-kilter, too. It means you will always progress at a snail's pace until you hit sudden fortune. I believe that issue of pace is why I'm so uninterested in Mad Games Tycoon.
There are a few things that it does right, however. Copy-protection is not something that you magically apply to your game; it's a process of buying software whose quality degrades over time and porting it over to your game. That adds a layer of risk to developing larger games that isn't present in many games like this. There are also licenses for you to build your game off of. Unlike GamersGoMakers, these feel less static in terms of how they're used, which I think is a neat addition.
There are also a few extra things, like adding furniture to your rooms, production lines, managing employees, random events, quality assurance, and much more. And this is where things really hit rock bottom. Some of these are neat; others simply drag the game's already slow pace down. Mad Games Tycoon tries to do a lot but doesn't do much of it well.
My dream game-about-making-games has the superficial layer of depth that Mad Games Tycoon has with the polish of Game Dev Studio with a few things that haven't been tried out yet in this genre as an aside. A big trope I've noticed among these games is that employees aren't viewed as people but as assets. If they drag development down, it's because they're not talented enough or not trained in the right areas. They rarely have conflicts with each other, either. Software Inc gets the latter part down, but I think The Movies does a far better job of any of this than any of these Tycoon games ever have. It's just such a shame that I have yet to see a game about making games with that level of depth because making games is arguably a more team-centric effort than making a movie.
A big part of the issue is that some of the mechanics here are outright annoying rather than strategic. Do pray tell, on which planet would you not accept a job offer because your employer doesn't have a specific couch you want to sit on? Having to assign people to a room so they can research topics is a bit off-kilter, too. It means you will always progress at a snail's pace until you hit sudden fortune. I believe that issue of pace is why I'm so uninterested in Mad Games Tycoon.
There are a few things that it does right, however. Copy-protection is not something that you magically apply to your game; it's a process of buying software whose quality degrades over time and porting it over to your game. That adds a layer of risk to developing larger games that isn't present in many games like this. There are also licenses for you to build your game off of. Unlike GamersGoMakers, these feel less static in terms of how they're used, which I think is a neat addition.
There are also a few extra things, like adding furniture to your rooms, production lines, managing employees, random events, quality assurance, and much more. And this is where things really hit rock bottom. Some of these are neat; others simply drag the game's already slow pace down. Mad Games Tycoon tries to do a lot but doesn't do much of it well.
My dream game-about-making-games has the superficial layer of depth that Mad Games Tycoon has with the polish of Game Dev Studio with a few things that haven't been tried out yet in this genre as an aside. A big trope I've noticed among these games is that employees aren't viewed as people but as assets. If they drag development down, it's because they're not talented enough or not trained in the right areas. They rarely have conflicts with each other, either. Software Inc gets the latter part down, but I think The Movies does a far better job of any of this than any of these Tycoon games ever have. It's just such a shame that I have yet to see a game about making games with that level of depth because making games is arguably a more team-centric effort than making a movie.
An improved version of Game Dev Story/Tycoon, a lot more options (buying people out, making a console, publishing, etc) but with uglier graphics. Making of games still includes choosing a genre and a sub genre if you want and combining them with one or two topics that work well with them and each other (over 160 topics) then using sliders to choose where you want your focus to be (there will always be a best setting for the main genre), that and lack of events can get a bit boring. You can get a lot of "legendary" developers showing up in your hiring lists but they end up just having higher starting stats that you might have already trained your people to be better than and they don't have any lines or actions unique to them and come with a random appearance, so it just had the unfortunate effect of reminding me that Notch and American McGee exist. It's fun for a little while but does get repetitive (would be nice if it would just save the best game settings for each genre when you find them).