game dev story hacker vs hardware engineer
Okay, so I was messing around with “Game Dev Story,” you know, that Kairosoft game where you run a game studio? I got to thinking, what would be more fun, playing as a hacker or a hardware engineer? So, I decided to give both a try and see what happened.
The Hacker Route
First, I started a new game and went all-in on hiring hackers. I figured, these guys are all about coding, right? So I focused on training them up in programming and scenario writing.
- Training Focus: Programming, Scenario
- Game Ideas: I tried to make games with a lot of story and depth, thinking the hackers would nail that. I try to develop RPG and simulation games.
- Hiring Strategy: Got as many hackers as I could afford.
It was kinda slow going at first. My games weren’t total garbage, but they weren’t hits either. It felt like something was missing, I can’t promote my games well.
The Hardware Engineer Path
Next, I restarted and this time went heavy on hardware engineers. My thinking was, these are the folks who make consoles, so maybe they’d be good at making games that really push the hardware.
- Training Focus: Sound, Graphics
- Game Ideas: I aimed for action games and stuff with cool visuals. Try to made some good graphics games.
- Hiring Strategy: Loaded up on hardware engineers.
This went a little better! My games were selling more, and it felt like I was making progress faster. However, my games sound is not good.
Mixing it Up
Then I had a lightbulb moment. Why not both? I started a new game and hired a mix of hackers and hardware engineers, and a few random designers just to make everything balanced.
- Training: Made sure everyone got trained in everything, but still focused hackers on programming/scenario and hardware engineers on sound/graphics.
- Game Ideas: Started experimenting with different genres.
- Hiring Strategy: Kept a balanced team.
This is where things got real! I use those hacker to boost scenario and programming points, hardware guys made awesome sounds and graphics. My games started getting awesome reviews and selling like crazy. It felt like I’d finally cracked the code (pun intended!). The key point is balance.
It’s way more fun, and way more effective, to have a balanced team. Don’t sleep on those other job types either – a good director or producer can make a huge difference!
