Brass Knuckle Games is a newcomer to the video games industry. They have been making a few experimental games throughout the years that got a cult following.
Judges of Duty, a law text adventure game that was filled with unnecessary jargon as if a law textbook was made into a Choose Your Own Adventure book, and Knights Out, a medieval 2d action game where the only connection to the word “medieval” was its name, were not the best games but they had something that made them memorable.
But then Gameling came out, and I decided to make Pokemon again because the company was in red, and I did not want to get a game over again.
Game Dev Tycoon is a game to which I come back rather frequently, and it is hard for me to pinpoint the reasons why I do that. However, I do consistently stop playing for one specific reason: Game Dev Tycoon is a game that treats game developers and the process of game design as a whole as numbers and statistics. Why did Pokemon become such a phenomenon? Well, you see: Virtual Pets and RPG is a great combination, plus its audience was kids and it came out on Game Boy, which was a perfect console for this type of game. Why was it perfect? Who cares! It just was.
It is understandable to not have all of the context for why games were successful in a tycoon game that is focused on providing a familiar experience, not a full one. This factor does not excuse the fact that Game Dev Tycoon expresses video games in a fictional vacuum. Although the game does it best to give a history lesson for the players by referencing the actual history of video games, it ends up being no more than flavour text with no way to influence it. No matter how many times you will try to make games for Dreamcast, it is always destined to fail.
In a world, where no matter what you do, your actions do not matter, is there a reason to even try?
There is none. But lack of reason is not what makes Game Dev Tycoon so vile, no.
In a world of Game Dev Tycoon, your only purpose is to make games. You are not a person, your life does not exist outside of video game industry. Why?
Player character is the only character in the game that doesn’t take vacations.
One could explain this decision as a technical one, but it underlines the principle behind Game Dev Tycoon that you are here to make money, and making money doesn’t allow you to go on a vacation. Make more games! Push the technology! Follow the trends! Overwork yourself to the point of exhaustion! What else do you need?
Just repeat whatever you know from the history of gaming free of consequence.
