We have been very quiet lately but that’s only because we are focused on getting the game done. We have said all along that our plan is to release Game Dev Tycoon later this year and slowly but surely our time frame is closing. As it is often with software projects we are a bit overtime but we used the time well and made the game bigger and better than we initially planned. Now, after a year of hard work and some very intense months recently, Game Dev Tycoon is feature complete.
When will the game be available?
Since Microsoft is the last deciding entity we can never guarantee a date but our estimate is that the game will be available for PCs and intel-based tablets later this month. For an up to date estimate you can visit our status page.
Right at the moment we are testing the game extensively and tweaking some balance-related things to make sure that the difficulty is right and that different play-styles work well. We estimate to have this done this week by which point we will prepare the release and submit it to the Windows Store. When this is done we just have to wait for the game to pass submission. Usually this takes around 5 days but in case it gets rejected for some reason (which we don’t expect) it could take another 5.
What features will the game have and how much will it cost?
Please see the updated Game Dev Tycoon page with a lot of new information and new screenshots.
What about ARM devices?
The lite version is already available on ARM devices and running quite well but we are seeing some performance issues in the full game, particularly in the later level where you have many characters on screen. We are optimistic that we will be able to deliver the full game for ARM devices soon but since we currently do not know the exact cause for the issues we see we cannot tell for sure. Once the first release is out the ARM version will be our priority. If we are lucky we can solve everything before Christmas, if not it will be early next year.
Game translations?
Once the first release has settled a bit and we have the ARM version sorted we will start to make the game translatable. There is a surprising amount of text in the full game so this will take some time to prepare. At first we will likely translate the game to German (because we are both native German speakers so this makes it easy to test) and then we will consider other languages based on demand.
Last night a small bug-fix update to Game Dev Tycoon Lite went live in the Windows Store.
This update is of special interest to players using the new Microsoft Surface device. We have fixed a number of performance issues which slowed down gameplay on the Surface.
Here is the complete change log:
v1.1.1 – 03.11.2012
– Gameplay adjustment: For some games, PC sales were not strong enough compared to other platforms.
– Fixed: Trashing a game does not apply experience gains.
– Fixed: Rarely buttons do not respond in notification windows.
– Fixed: Double clicking a button can cause the game to close.
– Improved: Greatly improved overall performance on Surface.
– Improved: Enhanced typewriting animation performance on Surface.
– Improved: Slider and time allocation preview performance.
– Improved: Skipping tutorials now skips all previously displayed tutorial messages, not just the first few.
Meanwhile progress on the full game is good. We have the artwork almost wrapped up and there are only a few features to finish/polish before we can go do some extensive testing. Our plan to release it ‘later this year’ seems to hold up well.
To celebrate the Windows 8 release we leave you with this image (click for large version):
Microsoft not only released Windows 8 to the world today but they also accepted a little update to our Game Dev Tycoon Lite app to the Store. Thank you Microsoft 🙂
You can get the update from the Windows 8 Store. If you don’t have Windows 8 yet you should read up on it here. Until January next year Microsoft offers a fantastic upgrade offer that allows you to upgrade from Windows 7, Windows Vista and even Windows XP(!) for just under 40$.
The full version of Game Dev Tycoon is still under development. We will post some new information about the full game in due course.
Thank you
Our little preview has just hit ten thousand downloads on the Windows Store and more importantly many of you have decided to give us a positive rating. We could not have wished for a better welcome!
Progress
We are busy working on the final game as we are on track for a release later this year. Hopefully you won’t have to wait for too long once Windows 8 has hit shelves around the world. We will announce when the game will be available through the usual channels (newsletter, website, twitter, facebook).
FAQ
While we don’t want to spoil the full game by listing in-depth features and answering every question we wanted to give you a few answers:
Will the final game be free?
No, usually free games make their money by selling you virtual coins or items and often those things are required to really enjoy a game. We don’t like this approach for this type of game. Game Dev Tycoon will have a free trial similar to what the preview delivers now and the full game will have a small up-front cost. This will make sure that you can enjoy the full game without being bothered by in-app purchases or ads.
By purchasing the game you will also support us and ensure that we can bring you more games in the future.
Will I be able to move out of the garage?
Yes, the final game will allow you to move out of the garage and into offices.
Will I be able to hire employees?
Yes, you will be able to hire and train employees once you own an office.
Will I be able to make sequels to a game?
Yes, you will be able to do that during the course of the game.
Will there be more options when defining and publishing a game?
Yes 🙂
Will there be random events in the game?
Yes, we have added a number of events which will test your decision-making skills. There will definitely be some surprises.
Will you translate the game into my language?
Maybe. We do have plans to translate the game into different languages but we don’t know yet when those translations will be made available. There is a suprisingly large amount of text in the full game so a proper translation will take some time. We might release translations after the initial release.
Are there any easter eggs in the game?
Yes, one is even already in the preview but to our knowledge no one has found it yet 😉
Feedback
If you want to provide us with feedback or suggestions you can simply send an email to support@greenheartgames.com – while we might not reply to every email we promise that we read every bit of feedback we receive. We are also happy to see your end-of-preview screen shots if you want to share 🙂
Patrick Klug
