Under Development

4.0 stars

"This plays as a 3D, minigame-based GameBiz!"

October 21, 2011  |   By InicoSandman

Version: Under Development 1.0

Pros

Possible outcomes are virtually infinite, it rewrites and modifies gaming history at the same time, a great way to make progress, highly customizable interface, nostalgia and modern gaming in the same place, awesome gaming-inspired soundtrack, really balances out the "realistic" and "fun" parts of the game.

Cons

The game offers some horrble, unfair judgement sometimes, some of the minigames can be too hard even at the easiest difficulty, as of the writing of this review (October 21, 2011), still has a buggy interface, though this is being worked out, can be hard to start out, even if you read the game manual, for a lack of a tutorial.

Summary

"Under Development" is a comeback game for indie developer Mat Dickie, more widely (but not much) for his alias "MDickie", as the name suggests, it's a game about game developing. In it you are a game developer (d'uh!), and although there's no way to "win" the game, there are many, many ways to lose, and to have fun. First thing you'll noticed is, there are quite a few people in the universe, and indeed there should be, and chances are, you'll recognize some names on it's roster, like Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto, celebrity Michael Jackson and also Blitz designer Mark Sibly, but the big majority of the NPCs are ficticional - as they should be, the more celebs, the more unbalanced the game becomes, and they should have some high stats.

And since I mentioned stats, let's take a look at the gameplay, the characters are rated in 6 stats: design, programming, 2D Artistry, 3D Artistry, sound engineering and music, and these define what they are good at developing - which is made via minigames, the higher you score at them, the more the game is developed - and someone with high stats with a low score helps as much as someone with low stats and high score. There's something about giving untalented people a chance though, as their score in the game defines if they get better at that or not. Other very important characteristic is Popularity. The name speaks for itself - it's how widely known that person is. If somebody in the A-List releases a game, it's going to sell much more than they would if it was just some simpleton in a T-Shirt + Jeans combination, regardless of quality.

And since I mentioned that, let's speak about the games, there are two kinds of games, "Aspirational" and "Inspirational" games. The latter being the most common case, they are games you work on without being sure of how they will turn out, and that only gets an identity after it takes form. The former are games suggested by the boss or your teammates (more on them in a sec) or ports, and you know how they'll turn out since day 1. Their rating is defined by the quality of the work you put on them - if you try to pull out an "E.T" you'll probably be received with a low rating and poor sales unless everyone involved has a ultra high popularity! And regardless of sales at the time of launch, it WILL have an effect on your public image, so don't try to released numerous manure-quality games (I can't swear here) with popular people on your team trying get rich quick, you'll probably just fail. The suckier your games are, the suckier people will think you are at game developing.

And about teammates, you can have up to 6 people, including yourself, working in your office, and in your games. That's an important part of the game, because, unless you are a one-of-a-kind, ultra-talented game developer, chances are you are flawed in at least on of the stats. Having people to cover this flaws (though you'll have to pay them a salary and their rent, more on this in a minute) is what turns good games great, and great games into GOTY candidates. Not everyone is a Mat Dickie after all.

About contracts - you'll probably see a lot (and I mean a LOT) of those while you're playing. Regardless of if it's a contract to enter another company or one for someone who'll work for you, they can be VERY tricky, as everyone in the game is different and you truly can't read all intentions. As an employee you must seek the juiciest contract within the employer's patience, and as a boss you should try to work out the lowest possible agreeable salary. It's hard because you have to work with egos - sometimes the person you're trying to convince doesn't like you or somebody in your team, and will need a whole lot of money to swallow their pride, and even then they will most probably create some intern problems. Don't ever commit the mistake of thinking it's easy to work with people - in this game or otherwise!

The sound is something amazing, even though it's the sole thing MDickie didn't entirely make in this game. The sound effects are almost entirely taken from classic games, as is the soundtrack. Still you'll love it, that's a guarantee.

Lastly the game's highly customizable - if your games of choice aren't in the array of over 500 different games or if your favourite game song isn't in (or you don't like any of the songs that are in, in which case you're a childhood-less bastar--), different games, songs and more are possible to add with little effort. As if that isn't enough, there are plans of releasing the source code (as he did with his other games when he retired) in his website as soon as the game is in it's most reliable version.

Under Development is a must-play if you like simulation games, especially if you're a Gamebiz fan. It really balances out the "realistic" and the "fun". Oh yeah, and there are the random events... But I'll let you figure that out by yourself. And you will, as soon as you test this game. It's totally worth any amount of time you spend on it.

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5.0 stars

"This is awesome.I nver thoght MD wil make a anothr gam"

October 21, 2011  |   By dipanjan007

Version: Under Development 1.0

Pros

this game is one of the best ones

Cons

thanks to MD now i am gona enjoy ths gam so don't disturb while gamin

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