Karisoft's recently released game Game Dev Story for the iPhone OS and PC is kind of ruining my whole life plans right now. Though I've released more than 31 games over the course of the last two days with my production company Chow Chow Chow, this productivity exists entirely from within the game and does not contribute to my game making abilities IRL. That's a bug! Fix that, please.
My procrastination skills aside, Game Dev Story is pretty fun. It completely absorbs you in its details, and once you publish your first game it's hard to stop. The pulse of the game involves how you divvy up your funds across your employees, contract work, and advertisement while you strategically choose which consoles you develop for and what kind of games you aim to make. The release schedule and retirement of the various consoles (Intendo's Game Kid, Sonny's PlayStatus, etc.) is kind of predictable, but that only makes you think that you have an edge over everyone else.
My favorite part is naming my games once they're all debugged and ready to ship. You only have 14 letters for the title so you have to get a little creative, but man. I wish I could play some of these. If you can figure out which out of these 31 games were the top sellers, I'll give you a cookie.
- Peg Leg Dads
- Fang Gang
- Dragon Beard
- Haunted Hole
- Sparkle Shots
- Guts and Guns
- What the Cat
- Blood Mice
- Ghostly Nips
- Hairy Kids
- Final Sash
- Silent Nose
- Sweat Plus
- Hall of Oats
- Hidden Eye
- Dingo's Rage
- I Love You
- Dingo Revenge
- Gargle Day
- Starfish Hunt
- Dingo Quest
- Second Fantasy
- Movie Land
- First Fantasy
- Laser Wizards
- Topaz Hill
- Mystery Pizza
- Mystery Taco
- Ninja Please
- Dirt Pirate
- What the Zoo?!
Oh man, I love the Dongo series. Although I felt like DQ didnt live up to its open world promises.
Posted by: Colin Northway | November 03, 2010 at 12:28 PM
I fully enjoyed Hall of Oats, and am looking forward to the sequel, Hall of Oats: Maneater
Posted by: Steve Calderon | November 03, 2010 at 02:07 PM
Those names are pretty goddamn awesome.
Posted by: Wileywiggins | November 03, 2010 at 03:14 PM
I was kind of lost on some of the Samurai and Ninja game names, but once I started churning out a bunch of Horror RPGs and Shooters, it was pretty easy.
Posted by: .tiff | November 03, 2010 at 03:29 PM
MYSTERY TACO! and the second part, BURRITO TROUBLE!
I dig it!
Posted by: andreas | November 03, 2010 at 05:14 PM
Burrito Trouble is a *great* name for a game.
Posted by: .tiff | November 03, 2010 at 05:17 PM
Tiffffffffffff, I love these naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaames!
Posted by: Maré Odomo | November 03, 2010 at 09:20 PM
So, someday Chow Chow AND Chow is real. Also, I like how Second Fantasy comes out before First Fantasy.
Posted by: Shamous | November 06, 2010 at 03:00 PM
Great names!
Gargle Day & Sweat Plus are my faves
Posted by: DanielMorgan | November 20, 2010 at 10:27 PM