The Not Very Definitive Game Guide, My Random Bits Of Advice...

This might sound odd... but now every game I play I'm maxing out at $2 billion before the year 2000.

What I do is kind of what was initially listed.

I have my guys study like you wouldn't believe the first year, and I have them up in the 6s and 7s by 1981, and usually by that time I can hire more guys. The studied ones work on the Atari 2600 engine and it takes about 6 weeks. I then pump out 4 games by X-Mas of 1981. After that cash comes in and my new headquarters are up and running I find all the best hardware crew.

My initial team makes one or two games a year while the rest study like mad on hardware. When I hit Level 3 on my headquarters... my hardware guys are all set and I make a platform... this is in about 1985. While the platform is being made every available employee is studying up to make games for the new platform with 4 or 5 guys left to make a game so I don't go bankrupt. And since I will improve the hardware when the platform is completed for a good year, I can end up making anywhere from $700-$1200 per platform sold.

I then release the platform and all the hardware guys bone up on the other study section while the others pump out games for my new engine while my deals get other games moving... but I save about 3 or 4 to lower the production cost for about 40 weeks.

I'll only sell about 2,300 units a week... but at the profit it doesn't hurt the company, it just makes me unstoppable. When the initial buzz is over on the platform I simply drop the price down so I'm breaking even on it but selling great games like mad for it. Eventually the production cost is so low I can sell about 10,000 units a week at about $100 profit plus what the games bring in.

I've mostly stopped playing the game because I can't make any more money though.

*bump*

Maybe this thread deserves a sticky?

thanks. I'm glad this thread has been appreciated. I'm quite proud of that guide.

and I'm quite grateful for it. It saved me a lot of bankrupsies and stumbling around in the dark trying to figure this game out.

Edit: I 2nd georg's motion. Let's get this stickied!

This post has been edited by Seriously Unserious on Mar 30 2007, 11:37 PM

I missed you SI, glad you're back.

okay.

That's it pinned

Thanks metalman!
... or should I say manofsteel?

My tips:
- Make only action games
- Keep to only 4-5 game franchises
- Hire the best staff and sack the others, but get them cheap, otherwise your games will not make any money
- Upgrade when you can
- When developing an engine or game always buy the best tools
- Make as many platforms as possible when you're around 100 million up
- After your second platform give up making games
- Get as many publisher deals as possible
- Milk your platform's success by keeping it on the market for as long as possible

I've been able to make a fortune on non action games. Basically, while the rest all compete over who makes the best action game, I releaced an adventure/RPG and it did great, and it's sequels have done even better than the original. The reason for this is that hardly enyone releaces games in this genre so there's almost no competition, and this does seem to make a difference in this game.

MYTH:Employees take FOREVER to study up

TRUTH:Right click the studier in current tasks and drop that little bit of money to nearly halve their study time (can do it twice). It's worth it 5 times over.

You can always use artmoney or something like that to pump up your employees leadership and hardware to 100+

Isn't that one of the cheats?

Welcome to the forums!

you dont need tools to make a really good engine actually. i had a leader with 111 leadership, 6 programming, and another with 10 graphics, and i made a 109 engine, and am making enough to get by on easy. i wouldve bought tools, but some bad decisions early on left me broke.

Thanks for the useful tips! I have just started playing this game and have yet to master it but I will be sure to try these tips.

I do have one thing to say. I made it big time without studying or selling engines.

What I did was immediately make an engine for Atari 2600 and then upgrade it accordingly. Then I made an action game called Action 360 (based on the engine called "360" ) It was a huge hit though. Why? I hired the best workers I could. I had about 2 people with their expertise on Programming, Design, and Graphics. Also, as soon as I could, I reviewed my game a billion times, fixed it accordingly, and then repeated that process over and over until the review was so positive it couldn't get any better. After almost a year of work, the game was released in early 1981. And it was a HUGE success. Think Halo for Xbox. It was absolutely amazing. Then I made the mistake of trying to make a sequel and then canceling it and then finding out I could not make a sequel again. I also tried to make a new platform and eventually the Atari 2600 went outdated. But it was number 1 for over 50 weeks and in the top 10 for 100 weeks.

I think this was a one time lucky thing because I was never able to repeat this success. I think I will try your tips next time instead.