For a game about developing games, I'm surprised by:
- The lackluster tutorial that doesn't prepare you for the apparent depth of mechanics involving competition, engine licensing, employee happiness etc
- The UI bugs like my employee names showing random characters when I bring up their profile in the employee overview
- The lack of useful info about why my employees remain unhappy no matter how nice I make the office

Best game development "simulator" on the market. It should last you many hours.

Mad Games Tycoon 2 takes you on a journey through the history of video games, starting in 1976 and continuing into the future. As I mentioned, the game walks you through the evolution of the video game industry—from its beginnings (which were unfamiliar to me) all the way to the year 2030. While you can continue playing beyond that point, no new consoles or technologies will become available after 2030. New technologies can be unlocked by researching them once they become available, but they remain locked until you reach a certain year in the game.
You start your company as a solo developer who has just purchased their first building. Additional buildings can be bought as your campaign progresses, provided your chosen map has multiple buildings available.
The core objective of the game is to develop your own video games. You can customize these with a unique topic, an optional subtopic, a main genre, and an optional subgenre. Further customization involves selecting an engine (either your own or one developed by AI), and then choosing the platforms your game will be released on.
Next comes an important part of the process—setting the sliders that affect different aspects of your game. These sliders can make or break your project. You'll also choose from a list of features to add to your game. Once everything is set, you can begin development. You can construct additional rooms to support this process, such as marketing rooms to promote your game.
During development, your team (which you can expand by hiring more employees) generates points that determine your game’s final review score. Remember those sliders and features you selected earlier? They’ll also impact the score.
Review scores are influenced by the difficulty level you’ve chosen—the higher the difficulty, the more points you need for a good score. Another factor is the current in-game date. As time progresses, the threshold for good scores increases with each passing month, up until 2030.
Depending on the review score, your game may sell well—or flop. And yes, you'll be repeating this loop throughout the game.
Once you've earned enough money, you can research the Workshop room, which allows you to develop arcade cabinets. I haven’t spent much time with this feature, so I can’t comment in depth.
Another important feature is ‘Console Development’, though it requires a large amount of money just to unlock. Once researched, you can develop your own console. You’ll also need to research console technologies and features, which can be expensive. When designing a console, you choose its components and features (my tip: always pick the latest components and all available features). Then your technicians can start the development process, which takes time—but you can speed it up by assigning more technicians to the room.
Eventually, your console will start selling, but make sure there’s at least one game available for it. You can also reduce manufacturing costs in the Console Development room. Once your console becomes profitable, it can be a major source of income for your company. As for dealing with your competitors? Just buy them out. This removes their consoles from the market and prevents them from releasing any in the future.
There’s also a multiplayer mode available, but I haven’t tried it yet, so I can’t speak to how it plays.
Final Thoughts
Personally, I'm very interested in the historical side of the video game industry, which makes this game especially appealing to me. That said, I found the console and arcade cabinet systems to be a bit simplistic. However, if you're into management-style games and have an interest in video game history, I definitely recommend giving Mad Games Tycoon 2 a try.