Gamedev Stories
No scores yet. Be the first!
About Gamedev Stories
Gamedev Stories is a game studio management sim in pixel art, played in the browser. You found a tiny studio in a garage with two friends and half a million dollars, and you have eight years to turn it into a name the critics remember.
Every game starts with four choices: a genre, a theme, a platform and a direction. Speed ships fast and cheap, Quality takes longer and earns more. Four focus sliders tune the feel (cute or realistic, simple or deep, niche or mass market, safe or bold), and every genre has a profile it likes best. Then the team gets to work. Coders, writers, artists and composers fill four bars, Fun, Creativity, Graphics and Sound, while little numbers pop over their heads. Somebody has an idea now and then, and research points buy boosts that can work or end in a pile of bugs.
When development is done the coders hunt the bugs, you name the game and four critics review it. Pixel Pete cares about fun, Ava Vector about graphics, Dr. Loop about creativity and Chip Tune about sound. A total of 32 or more out of 40 puts the game in the Hall of Fame. The reviews, the fans you already have, the hype from ads and expos and the share of the platform decide how many copies sell over the next twelve weeks.
The genre and theme table is secret, and it is built from the PixelDen catalog itself: every genre and theme pairing that matches a real game on PixelDen is an Amazing combo, and shipping one names your game after it, thumbnail and all. Each new PixelDen game adds to the table.
Between projects you take contract work, train and level up your staff, hire from word of mouth, job ads or a headhunter, buy licences for new consoles and, from year two, move to a loft with six desks. Salaries are due every March, the vendor visits in May, PixelExpo opens in July and the awards night closes every December, where Bitforge, the rival studio across town, competes for Game of the Year, Best Pixel Art, Best Soundtrack and Top Seller.
The career ends after year eight. The career score is one point per $10,000 left, plus one per fan, plus 500 for every Hall of Fame game, 1,500 for every Game of the Year and 300 for every other award. After that you can keep playing unscored. The studio saves itself in the browser, so you can close the tab and continue later.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long is one career in Gamedev Stories?
Eight in-game years of 48 weeks. At normal speed a week takes two seconds, and every decision pauses the clock, so a full career takes about 20 to 30 minutes. The fastest speed is four times quicker. The studio saves itself, so you can stop at any time and continue later.
What do the four bars Fun, Creativity, Graphics and Sound mean?
They are the points your team puts into the game. Coders mostly add Fun, writers Creativity, artists Graphics and composers Sound. Each of the four critics cares most about one of them, and the bar for a good game rises every year, so the studio has to keep growing.
How do I get a game into the Hall of Fame?
Score 32 or more out of 40 from the four critics. Points above this year's bar, a good genre and theme combo, focus sliders that fit the genre and few bugs all help. A Hall of Fame game can get a sequel, which starts with some of its points and extra hype.
Which genre and theme combinations work best?
The table is secret, but the critics comment on every combo and the New Game window shows the grade of any combo you made before. The Amazing combos are the real games you can find on PixelDen: if a PixelDen game is an arcade game about a classic idea, so is the best arcade combo in your studio.
How is the career score counted?
After eight years: one point per $10,000 in the bank, one point per fan, 500 for each Hall of Fame game, 1,500 for each Game of the Year and 300 for each other award. Every January a progress score is saved too, so a career you leave early still counts.
Does my studio save between sessions?
Yes. The career saves in your browser after every week, and Continue on the title screen picks it up. Your best career score and how far you got are kept with your account when you are logged in.
