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Game Dev Tycoon guide - Tips to make a hit game

Game Dev Tycoon guide - Tips to make a hit game

Become a development daredevil with our tips.

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Game Dev Tycoon made its way to Google Play and Android devices, back in 2018, but it's still a very relevant and fun game. We've got a bunch of top Game Dev Tycoon tips and sneaky cheats to help you become a renowned game developer.

Whether you have ambitions to be the next BioWare or Nintendo, we've got the tips that'll take you from game design noob to a general of great genres.

Just take a look at our tips below, and you'll be smashing out straight tens.

Original article by Dave Aubrey, updated by Pocket Gamer staff.

Click on the button below to dive into the Game Dev Tycoon tips and tricks:

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Take on Contracts

Money can go by fast in Game Dev Tycoon if you aren’t careful. You have to take into account the amount of content you put into your game as well as what platform you want to put it on and these things can bring your budget down (especially those pesky monthly costs).

However, contracts are here to make life a little easier. When you complete one, you can get paid over $20,000 early on. The only issue is, that taking on contracts doesn’t guarantee instant cash. If you can’t complete them, then you’ll be hit with a penalty that’s typically worth around $8,000.

Contracts are really out of your control, too. All you can do is just watch and hope that the job is completed. Starting off with smaller contracts that pay less ($13,000 let’s say) is a good way to essentially guarantee that you succeed. It won’t seem like much but, every dollar counts.

Don't Panic if You Fall Into The Negative

So, don’t get me wrong, if you can avoid going into the negative on your account then definitely try your best to do so. However, in the worst case that you stay out of money’s way, then you can survive being below the positive.

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Just make sure to keep finding ways to make money whether it’s through game sales or contracts and try to bring yourself back up above the water. When in the negative, you want to make sure your account doesn’t reach -$50,000.

If that happens, then your company will go bankrupt. You can choose to get a loan from the bank but then you’ll need to make sure to pay back more than you received so you have to take that into consideration. Best bet is to just make sure you’re publishing games and doing contracts.

More Expensive Platform Doesn't Always Mean Better

Trust me, I feel you here. Seeing the new shiny home console felt like a good opportunity to open the door up for your games. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always help and can be really costly. In the end, it’s all about how the game scores.

The good thing is that, if your game does succeed on console, you’re going to reel in more dough to stack up in your bank account. However, if it fails, then that can put a hole in things in your account. So really, it may be best to get a grasp of what game combinations work before taking the plunge with a console.

More Strong Research

In Game Dev Tycoon, research is probably one of the most important things you can do. A game thing it allows you to do is open up the door to more game types and genres. When starting out, you of course are limited to four types of games, given to you at random with each playthrough.

By researching, you can expand your range and show off your versatility. Doing this will also make it easier to connect the dots between a game style and genre that seem to be a perfect fit for one another too.

There are plenty of genres to unlock so this can open plenty of doors. It will allow you get creative which in turn may allow you to see better results when making your perfect video games.

Keeping it Simple

New gaming platforms (including mobile; hey, hey, that’s us!) will come out regularly as you progress in Game Dev Tycoon. Each of these are all based on real-world platforms such as iPhone, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii among others. Classic systems like the Dreamcast and NES also are in.

Time will move along fast in the game which means these systems will release in a hurry. Don’t get tempted to jump in on the hottest thing if you don’t feel comfortable, as the price to purchase a developing license for these can be high.

Sticking with PC allows you to save more money as it’s always there. The market share for PC will fluctuate a bit but you can still get a solid revenue stream coming in if your game does well enough. However, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t develop games for the more expensive platforms. Just make sure you’re comfortable enough with the amount of money you have before pushing forward. The good thing is that the developer license is a one-time payment. You’ll need to pay in order to develop the game on platforms but it’s still much cheaper than the license which can go over $500,000.

Revving Up


This is a great way to move on with the advancing times in Game Dev Tycoon. Building your own engine can be expensive at times but can be quite worth it. The reason being is because; as you research and unlock new features, you bring some or if not all of these things into one engine.

This will allow you to develop games with a variety of options such as a save game feature, online multiplayer, a deeper story, and open-world among other things. Reviewers will sometimes take note of your technical improvements such as better graphics.

Even with older tech, you can still score well if you muster up a good combination but it’s still very important to try to add fresh new things. It makes things more fun as well.

Wow, You're So Trendy

Trends are things that pop up at random throughout your career in Game Dev Tycoon. Typically, these come up when you move to the big office building. These are quirks that gamers become interested in such as having a random mix of game topics and genres (Farming and Action for example) or just a specific genre or parental rating becoming popular.

You don’t always have to follow these but I definitely say to give them a shot. Following these doesn’t guarantee success of course but you’ll receive a much larger sum of money if your game does well while the trend is active.

After a little while, you’ll see a news report pop up saying that the trend is no longer popular and that the market is normalized. Once that happens, then it’s back to your regularly scheduled Game Dev Tycoon programming…for now.

One Time's The Charm

Ahh, so you made your game and you’re sitting comfortably and calmly on a cloud as your game achieves immense success. You made plenty of money, gain a ton of fans and the critics are raving. So you decide to follow the same formula of that game by going with the same topic and genre…the game flops miserably. What could have possibly gone wrong? Why have the gaming gods forsaken you?

Well, going with the same combination back to back will automatically penalize you and give you below-average scores. Sure, you’ll still earn some money but it won’t be as much as you’d hope. So make sure to avoid going with the same combo two times consecutively. You can come back to that formula but give it a few other games first before you do. We have a list of best combos in Game Dev Tycoon, so you can take a peek if you're unaware of the most profitable ones.

This Tip is Historic

One minor thing that can sometimes be forgotten is the Game History tab that’s on your menu when you tap the screen. It has no major impact on anything and is at the bottom of the menu so it can be missed.

However, when you’re making so many games, it’s easy to forget the topic and genre type you chose for the last game. Check the Game History tab to make sure you know so you don’t accidentally roll with the same combination again as we mentioned before. Now get out there and make some history.

Practice Makes Perfect

In Game Dev Tycoon, once you reach office status, you can go and hire some employees for your business to make things easier and take some extra weight off your shoulders. This isn’t our main tip here but an important thing of note is to not hire too many people too fast as this will cost plenty of money in the end. Start with one employee and roll with that for a while before going for a third.

But anyway, the main tip to make sure your employees are trained. Built yourself a wonderful gaming empire with four or more employees? Great! However, they seem to working pretty slow and so that’s where training comes in.

It can be pricey depending on what your employees are being trained on but most things are pretty cheap ($15,000 to have them read books on things related to technology and game design. In the real world, $15,000 is insane for a book but in GDT, it’s a steal). Also, it’s just worth it, as your crew will work faster and with more efficiency. Also, if an employee is weak in certain areas, they can get better at the skills through training.

That's a Great Question

Interviews are small portions of the game that essentially quiz you while also helping get a little insight. You’ll start to get an interview opportunity from various media outlets every time you begin making a fresh new game.

They will typically ask you “What’s more important for this game type and genre? Gameplay or Graphics?”. After you respond, the article will be released, and “experts” will either agree or disagree with your answer.

You can take that information and consider it for the next time you create a game with that combination. It’s small but it’s a really solid insight overall.

Sizing Fun

Once you put out enough games and do enough research, you will unlock the ability to make medium and large sized games. You’ll need to purchase the ability through research. This will allow you to create bigger games with more detail.

This is where having an extra employee or two really comes in handy. In fact, I would recommend at least having three before doing medium games. You can do it with just two (yourself and one other person) but you’ll need to assign yourself and the other person to different aspects of the game (gameplay, story/quests, graphics, etc) and that can wear them out.

You’ll see a percentage meter fill-up for each employee indicating their workload. Getting an employee over 120% or so means that they may be getting overworked. So having that extra employee makes things a lot easier when assigning for medium-length games. Just keep in mind that, making a medium doesn’t mean you’ll do well. However, if the game receives good to great scores, you can expect a nice chunky amount of cash coming your way.

Publisher Contracts

This isn’t necessary when it comes to building your video game empire in Game Dev Tycoon but it’s there when you need it. Similar to regular contracts, publishers will pay you for doing a job that they want. They’ll ask you to make games and will tell you what combination, platform, and ERSB rating they’re looking for. They’ll even tell you that the game will need to at least be of a required review score before getting paid.

Once you do the job and succeed, the money is nice and you will see a boost in fans as making games for a publisher will put your game out there more. As with the other contracts, if you fail to meet the requirements, your crew will be hit with a penalty fee.

Again, you don’t need to rely on these all the time but if you feel like giving yourself a fun, risk/reward challenge, then it can be a great way to gain more fans and earn some nice dough in the process. But, rolling out games independently can still gain you a ton of cash (for example, I was able to earn around $14 million off of one game). There’s actually an achievement you can unlock for making over $1 million when developing as an independent company.

All of The Lights

One way to go and put your name further in the lights in Game Dev Tycoon is by marketing your game. You can spend money to advertise your project in magazines, in other media, and even have a large marketing campaign.

What’s interesting is that you can only do this during the development of your game. As the game will suggest, it’s best to market right in the middle of the process instead of at the beginning or towards the end. Around the middle is the sweet spot.

If your game performs well, you’ll see a ton of new fans thanks to the hype you built up from the running the ad campaign. And of course, more interest means more sales so you can rack up the cash if your review scores are good.

We're Going to G3!

Ahh yes, G3 (known famously in the real world as E3). You and your team can attend Game Dev Tycoon’s version of the iconic gaming convention to help you get more fans. You can get a small booth, medium booth, or large one.

A large booth will cost you over $1 million and if you’re barely over $2 million let’s say, then it’s not worth it yet. You can start small with a $50,000 booth just to see how things work. But this is especially nice when you get the invite in the middle of developing a game. This would mean that you will build up extra hype for your new game.

And don’t worry, feel free to skip as many times as you’d like if you don’t feel comfortable pulling out the cash. You will receive many more invites throughout your long and decorated video game developing career.

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