Game Dev Story Guide and Cheats (Updated with Game Center Achievements)

Game Dev Story is quite possibly the most addictive game for the iPhone. However, unlike most iPhone games which tend to be of the pick-up-and-play variety, this actually has a bit of a learning curve to it (albeit not a very steep one). So here is some advice for the people out there who are looking to take the pixellated, pocket-sized games industry by storm!

 
 

Getting started

• Fill out your office with staff as quickly as possible, making sure you have someone specialised in each aspect of game development: Sound Engineer for Sound; Designer for Graphics; Writer for initial proposals; Coder for general game improvement and debugging.
• Contract work is a great way in the early game to bring in a bit of extra cash for your projects and earn some easy development points. Although you can theoretically fail contract work if your team doesn’t complete it by the set deadline, this hasn’t happened to me once. So be ambitious and go for the jobs that offer you the biggest money. Your team can handle it!
• In your early days you probably won’t be making more than 1 game a year. As such, you should time the release of your game in time for Christmas, when sales are much better. A game usually takes about 4 months to be developed.

 
Developing a game

• It’s important to pick the right person to work on each different aspect of the game. This is pretty much self explanatory; use someone with good ‘Scenario’ skills to submit the initial proposal, ‘Graphics’ to work on the graphics, and ‘Sound’ to work on the music.

WARNING: Most employees don’t like to work on the same area of a game for more than 2 projects in a row. If you keep using the same people for the same tasks, then the amount of points they add to the game will be much smaller. Since early on you don’t have enough staff to rotate them, it might be worth bringing in the occasional freelancer to work on the games.

Boosting the quality of your game in development

For the most part, the game development process is automated, but there are a couple of ways in which you can contribute:

• Sometimes a member of staff will ask if he/she can boost an aspect of your game. Unless you want to receive a load of bugs (which can be useful as you can convert them to Research Data), you should make sure the person is well-trained in the area that they want to boost.

 
SALESMAN:

This guy come to your office once a year and sells boosts (among other things) that you can then use Research Data on to improve your game.
 
Remember, each time you buy something off him, the cheeky chap ups his prices. Here is a list of his goods:

Fun/Creativity/Graphics/Sound Boosts – Once purchased, you can use these to boost specific aspects of your game at 30 Research points a pop. Use the following

•     Fun – Director, Coder

•     Creativity – Producer, Writer

•     Graphics – Designer

•     Sound – Sound Engineer

Bug Cleaner – The least useful boost. Massively speeds up the debugging process, but you miss out on development points as a result.

Career Change Manual – Can be used on to change an employee’s role

 
Which consoles are worth releasing games for?

Throughout the game, new consoles get developed in a similar way to those in real-life. As such, it’s always worth developing games for the popular Intendro (Nintendo) consoles such as the Game Kid and Super IES. In the later game, the Sonny PlayStatus is worth investing in due to its popularity and longevity, as is the Intendro Gamebox.

• Always keep your eyes on which consoles have the greatest share of the games market and try to develop most of your games for them.
• Once you’ve developed your own console, develop for it exclusively to keep your console’s share of the market high and the money flowing!

 
Sequels

You can make an official sequel to a game which receives ‘Hall of Fame’ status by getting a total score of 35 or more from the press. Sequels to a game keep the genre/type combination of the original and (unless you really cock up) tend to be a success.

• NEVER release 2 sequels in a row. Audiences will get bored of it, ruining your chances of developing further sequels.
• Sequels won’t develop your company’s skill at making new game genres/types, so don’t become too dependant on them!

 
‘Amazing’ Genre/Type combinations

While some of the most effective game genre/type combinations are fairly self-explanatory, others are a little less obvious. Here is a list of genre/type combo’s that are guaranteed to be hits.

Animal – Life
Architecture – Simulation, Online Sim
Basketball – Action
Bookstore – Simulation
Cartoon – Simulation, Adventure
Checkers – Puzzle
Chess – Board
Comedy – Trivia
Comics – Simulation, Life
Conv. Store – Online Sim
Cosplay – Trivia
Cowboy – Adventure,  Audio Novel
Cutie – Simulation, Audio Novel
Dance – Music, Motion
Dating – Life, Audio Novel
Detective -Adventure, Audio Novel
Drums – Music, Motion
F1 Racing – Simulation, Life
Fantasy – RPG
Fitness – Motion
Game Co. – Simulation, Online Sim, Life
Historical – Action
Horror – Action, Audio Novel
Horseshoes – Shooter
Hunting – Action RPG
Mahjong – Table
Medieval – Online RPG
Mini-skirt – Trivia
Motorsport – Simulation, Racing
Movies – Simulation, Audio Novel
Mushroom – RPG, Online Sim, Simulation, Life
Mystery – Shooter
Ninja – Action
Ogre – RPG, Action
Pinball – Motion
Ping Pong – Life
Poncho – Table, Action RPG
Pop Star – Simulation,  Online Sim, Life, Motion
Reversi – Puzzle
Robot – Shooter
Romance – Simulation, Audio Novel
Skiing – Motion
Slots – Motion
Snowboard – Racing, Motion
Swimming – Online Sim
Soccer – Simulation, Life
Stocks – Online Sim
Sumo – Action, Trivia
Town – Simulation, Life
Train – Simulation
Virtual Pet – Action, Online Sim
Volleyball – Motion
Word – Life
Wrestling – Life

• The more game/genre types you develop, the better you get at making them. So don’t feel like you have to stick rigidly to this list. If you’ve got a good enough team of workers, go crazy and try out whatever combinations cross your mind!

 
Unlocking game genres/types

• In order to unlock different game genres and types, you need to fulfil specific requirements using specific staff. Since the game keeps these secret from you, here’s a list containing criteria for unlocking most game genres and types.
  Sports———–Coder – Jogging
  Exploration—–Coder – Movie
  Martial Arts—–Director – Movie
  Fantasy———-Writer – Reading
  Virtual Pet——-Coder – Pinball
  Samurai———Writer – Reading
  Dungeon——–Coder – Game
  Romance——-Writer – Reading
  Pirate————Default
  RPG————-Writer – Levelling
  Horror———–Writer – Net Surf
  Word————-Director – Lab Study
  Train————-Designer – Stroll
  Animal———–Default
  Robot————Default
  Airplane———Coder – Museum
  Conv, Store—-Coder – Stroll
  Historical——–Default
  Book Store—–Sound Engineer – Stroll
  Art—————-Designer – Movie
  Movies———-Writer – Reading
  Game Co.——Coder – Game
  Architecture—Director – Long Trip
  Lawyer———Director – Net Surf
  Monster——–Designer – Meditate
  Hunting——–Designer – Game
  High School—Coder – Stroll
  Junior High—Writer – College
  War————-Sound Engineer – Concert
  Ninja————Default
  Cutie———–Designer – Concert
  Ogre———–Writer – Meditate
  Fashion——-Director – College
  Detective—–Writer – Reading
  Mystery——-Writer – Reading
  Horseshoes—Director – Pinball
  Cartoon——-Writer – Anime
  Cosplay——-Writer – Anime
  PopStar——-Director – Museum
  Mini-Skirt—–Hacker – short trip
  Mushroom—Hacker – short trip
  Poncho——-Hacker – long trip
  Chess——–Coder – Stroll
  Checkers—–Sound Engineer – Anime
  Mahjong——Coder – PinBall
  Reversi——-Default
  Dance——–Writer – Concet
  Fitness——-Sound Engineer – Meditate
  Wrestling—-Writer – Gaming
  BasketBall–Writer – Jogging
  Snowboard–Director – Jogging
  Golf———–Default
  Swimming—Sound Engineer – Meditate
  VolleyBall —-Designer – Jogging
  Motorsport—Writer – Net Surf
  Soccer——–Designer – Jogging
  PingPong—-Coder – Jogging
  Sumo———Director – Stroll
  Baseball——Coder – Stroll
  Wrestling—–Sound Engineer – Stroll
  Marathon—–Default
  PinBall——-Writer – Pinball
  Slots———-Writer – Pinball
  Dating——–Designer – Anime
  Spy———–Director – Long Trip
  Celebrity—-Coder – Concert

 
Advertising your game

As your game is being developed, you can advertise it to boost its ‘Hype’ rating and increase the popularity of your company. The more you spend on sponsorship, the more popularity and hype you get.

The main thing to remember here is not to go over-budget with the advertising. Spend within your means otherwise you might find your games (particularly early on) raking in less cash than you spend on them.

 
Staff management

The staff you pick up early on will suffice for your company’s first years, but before long you’ll have to think of the future of the business and replace them with a new generation of more talented employees.

• Even if you train your early staff to Level 5 they aren’t as useful as the Level 1 staff you can hire later on, so think about saving your Research points for someone worthwhile.
• Do a search for new staff every couple of years. You’ll find that there’s always at least one person who can do a better job than one of your current staff. Searching for staff too often can prove pricey!

 
Hackers

Looking at their stats, hackers may look like the ultimate game company employees, but their work output on specific tasks tends to be pretty poor.

If you have enough staff to cover specific jobs, then it’s worth keeping a hacker to help with general game development. Alternatively, you can buy them Career Change Manuals and give them specific roles in your company, although they will lose some skill points as a result.

 
Hardware Engineers

As with many things, Game Dev Story doesn’t really explain how to acquire a Hardware Engineer. To do this, you must reach Level 5 with a single member of staff in all possible staff roles.

Naturally, this takes a lot of research data and a lot of money spent on Career Change Manuals. But after your chosen one has reached Level 5 in all roles, use the Manual one last time and you’ll have the Hardware Engineer option available. Then you can create your own console, and the seal your grip on the games industry!

 
Alternatively, you can just CHEAT

A guide is all well and good, but here are a few cheats for those people who can’t be bothered with playing by the rules

• Hiring new staff for free:

•     When all your staff vacancies are filled, use the ‘Word of Mouth’ hiring to  look for new staff. When it tells you that you have to fire someone to hire the new person, do it and you’ll get the new employee for free!

• Use an employee an unlimited number of times on game projects

•     As the guide mentions, staff don’t like working on two projects in a row. There is a glitch that lets you overcome this. When you get to the ‘Genre’ and ‘Type’ part when developing a game, press ‘BACK’ and then ‘OK’ again on the game direction screen. You’ll now find that there’s no ‘PREV’ icon when you pick your staff, meaning that the fools have forgotten they worked on the previous project and don’t mind working again!

 
Game Center Achievements

Game Center achievements were added in 1.1.0, a list of them are given below:

Sell 100K Make a hit game that sells 100K units.	10 Points
Sell 500K Make a hit game that sells 500K units.	10 Points
Sell 1 Million Make a hit game that sells 1 million units.	20 Points
Sell 5 Million Make a hit game that sells 5 million units.	20 Points
Sell 10 Million Make a hit game that sells 10million units.	30 Points
Sell 20 Million Make a hit game that sells 20 million units.	30 Points
Sell 50 Million Make a hit game that sells 50 million units.	40 Points
Sell 100 Million Sell a hit game that sells 100 million units.	50 Points
Movin’ On Up Grow your office and move into a bigger office.	10 Points
Hittin’ the Big Time Move to an even bigger office.	10 Points
The Big Show Make a name for yourself at Gamedex.	10 Points
Hall of Famer Get a game into the Hall of Fame.	50 Points
Fanboy Letter Get a letter from a male fan.	10 Points
Fangirl Letter Get a letter from a female fan.	10 Points
Generate Some… Generate some buzz by building up your fan base.	10 Points
Idiot Box Have a game introduced on TV	20 Points
Line Starts here Make a game that everyone can’t wait to buy.	10 Points
Game Expert Train your employees to unlock every type of game.	30 Points
Genre King Unlock every game genre.	30 Points
Design God Win the Best Design Award.	10 Points
Music Man Win the Best Music Award.	10 Points
Worst of the Worst Win the Worst Game Award.	10 Points
Close But No Cigar Win Runner Up.	30 Points
Grand Prize Winner Win the Grand Prize.	40 Points
Mystery Staffer X Hire a mysterious masked staff member.	10 Points
Mystery Staffer A Hire a king with a penchant for gaming.	10 Points
Mystery Staffer B A ferocious bear has been spotted around town…	10 Points
Mystery Staffer C Fing a genius who’ll work for bananas.	20 Points
Mystery Staffer K Find a mysterious super robot.	100 Points
Hardcore Hardware Make your own game console.	40 Points
Mystery Console A game console so awesome, it’s like a spaceship or something.	40 Points
Holy Grail Could the numbers be true? A toilet AND a game console?	60 Points

Author: Rob Zak

 

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