Game Dev Tycoon Challenge

[The Big Guy]

Hi everyone,

Here is a challenge that everyone can participate in. Torrent a copy of a new game called Game Dev Tycoon, and then attempt to get as far into the game as possible without going bankrupt. The pirated copy of the game has a big twist that completely changes the game, and it is one of the best things I have ever seen in gaming. If you already know what it is, do not spoil it for people playing the game. If you are not interested in playing, I put a link at the bottom of the page in spolier tags in which the developers explain what they did and the uproariously funny things that happened afterwards. If you are interested, post how far you got, what your strategy was, and how much money you made. Enjoy!

http://www.greenheartgames.com/2013/04/29/what-happens-when-pirates-play-a-game-development-simulator-and-then-go-bankrupt-because-of-piracy/

[Kendjin]

Hi everyone,

Here is a challenge that everyone can participate in. Torrent a copy of a new game called Game Dev Tycoon, and then attempt to get as far into the game as possible without going bankrupt. The pirated copy of the game has a big twist that completely changes the game, and it is one of the best things I have ever seen in gaming. If you already know what it is, do not spoil it for people playing the game. If you are not interested in playing, I put a link at the bottom of the page in spolier tags in which the developers explain what they did and the uproariously funny things that happened afterwards. If you are interested, post how far you got, what your strategy was, and how much money you made. Enjoy!

http://www.greenheartgames.com/2013/04/29/what-happens-when-pirates-play-a-game-development-simulator-and-then-go-bankrupt-because-of-piracy/

I already own the game though.

[sanahtlig]

Can you give a working magnet link to the pirated version? I might accidentally download the real version.

[solidbatman]

Can you give a working magnet link to the pirated version? I might accidentally download the real version. :P/>

The only way to get the real version is to buy the game. The devs themselves provided a pirate link

[sanahtlig]

I browsed through some torrents and it seemed like the real version might've been cracked / uploaded. Several fake torrents have already been removed.

[Kendjin]

The real game did indeed get cracked. I believe the "pirated" version got flushed out by torrent sites.

[Supah Kawaii Weeaboo]

Earlier this evening, I was catching up with video game news on Gamertell (one of my favorite niche fan sites). There I learned that Game Dev Tycoon was released. I had heard one or two things about the game in the recent past, but I wasn't sure how close it was to completion.

After browsing Greenheart Games' sites, I noticed they had a number of things to say to their fanbase. Keep in mind that the creators offer a free demo, and are selling the full version for $8 US with no DRM. The game should work on any current computer, and does not include any "free to play" style items and bonuses as ways to make more money.

[sanahtlig]

I was going to use the "pirate" version as a demo. The concept seems interesting, and I might learn something about game development by playing it.

[Steve]

lol I just finished this game (played for the first time and didnt bankrupt xD) and focused on loli visual novels for mature audience xD I might put the full livestream on youtube xD

and now I went to post on fuwan and I see its already topic here xD

edit: btw for the working pirated version (not the troll one that game overs you) here: http://www.putlocker.com/file/7CEF1464886FA787

[Steve]

Here, made a topic:

Since it is very related to VNs

It answers the question: "Can you make Visual Novels popular in the west?"

[Guest]

the devs at greenheartgames are mistaken when they use the word 'steal'.

Making copies takes nothing away from the ones being copied from. You steal nothing. Rather you are manufacturing something without paying the monopoly holder. This is completely different conceptually and morally.

Compare the following four sentences:

“He downloaded a copy of Avengers for free.”

“He got a copy of Avengers without paying for it.”

“He manufactured a copy of Avengers for free.”

“He made a copy of Avengers without paying for it.”

the first two are reinforces the copyright industry’s “stealing” moniker, with a clear tone of dishonesty. whereas the second two just don’t work in that respect – if anything, they have a “yeah, so?” tone to it. http://falkvinge.net/2012/12/08/its-not-getting-or-downloading-a-copy-its-making-or-manufacturing-one/

You cannot copy what the devs do not willfully release into the world. If you try to copy it before it is released, then that IS stealing. But when you buy a copy, then manufacture copies from your copy, then that's copyright infringement. You are producing more of the thing that the holder of the copyright is supposed to have a monopoly on the production of.

So these so-called pirates, are really people who are choosing the rational economical decision WITHOUT stealing. It is cheaper to manufacture your own instead of using the dev's print shop (who is charging $, therefore you just print it on your own, it's just cheaper (yet never reaches $0. not in energy costs. nor in labour costs.). For they instinctively know that producing one more copy removes NO copy from anyone else, therefore is not stealing. And they know this even though they are taught to confuse sharing with stealing. manufacturing with theft. Amazing isn't it?

Copies are worthless. There's so much of it. It's like confetti. The service of information production is not worth anything that people are willing to pay a CENT for.

Rather, the devs should focus on providing value that the people with household printers cannot print.

[sanahtlig]

Ignore the word "steal" and they make a pretty good argument about the actual consequences of piracy--for example, that a good title will not sell much more than a mediocre title. We can see this happening in our own backyard with Mangagamer. The caveat is that this dynamic plays out differently in different markets. If your game is mainstream enough, you'll always have havens of consumers that won't pirate your product. But if the market is niche, the target demographic is technologically savvy, and other factors such as latent social stigma are at play, piracy can be game changing.

[Snowtsuku]

I was actually waiting for those piracy comments on this thread. I want to comment about it but I change my mind. Glad that Aaeru delivers.

[solidbatman]

the devs at greenheartgames are mistaken when they use the word 'steal'.

Making copies takes nothing away from the ones being copied from. You steal nothing. Rather you are manufacturing something without paying the monopoly holder. This is completely different conceptually and morally.

Compare the following four sentences:

“He downloaded a copy of Avengers for free.”

“He got a copy of Avengers without paying for it.”

“He manufactured a copy of Avengers for free.”

“He made a copy of Avengers without paying for it.”

You cannot copy what the devs do not willfully release into the world. If you try to copy it before it is released, then that IS stealing. But when you buy a copy, then manufacture copies from your copy, then that's copyright infringement. You are producing more of the thing that the holder of the copyright is supposed to have a monopoly on the production of.

So these so-called pirates, are really people who are choosing the rational economical decision WITHOUT stealing. It is cheaper to manufacture your own instead of using the dev's print shop (who is charging $, therefore you just print it on your own, it's just cheaper (yet never reaches $0. not in energy costs. nor in labour costs.). For they instinctively know that producing one more copy removes NO copy from anyone else, therefore is not stealing. And they know this even though they are taught to confuse sharing with stealing. manufacturing with theft. Amazing isn't it?

Copies are worthless. There's so much of it. It's like confetti. The service of information production is not worth anything that people are willing to pay a CENT for.

Rather, the devs should focus on providing value that the people with household printers cannot print.

Using the word steal made me cringe as well, but for a different reason. In this case, the developers cracked the game themselves and uploaded the torrent.

Thats like me placing a $100 on the ground and saying "Now here it is if you want it, but remember, it's wrong to do this." Of course people are going to try and take it. So for them to cry about piracy is a bit hypocritical, though I do like the way they went about proving a point with the cracked version.

[sanahtlig]

Using the word steal made me cringe as well, but for a different reason. In this case, the developers cracked the game themselves and uploaded the torrent.

Thats like me placing a $100 on the ground and saying "Now here it is if you want it, but remember, it's wrong to do this." Of course people are going to try and take it. So for them to cry about piracy is a bit hypocritical, though I do like the way they went about proving a point with the cracked version.

The analogy is more like placing $100 on the ground, pretending to walk away, but actually just hiding around the corner and watching. They uploaded the torrent, but it's not like "uploaded by the developers" was in the title. But along those lines, for those in the know this pirate release is actually an extended 2nd "demo" that arguably is as legitimate as the demo they offer on their site. Of course, they should realize that their stats are only valid for as long as people don't know this is a prank (or a real full version is torrented).

This stunt is actually a pretty clever marketing tactic, as people that otherwise would've never tried a game released by a no-name company will hear about the game and potentially become interested enough to buy it. Some people might even pay them $8 for a well-played joke on pirates.

[Kendjin]

Gah. Hate piracy discussion such a circle jerk.

It always boils down to: used the word steal and suddenly everything they said is invalid. People pirate the game, causes a possible loss of revenue as they provided people with access to the content and people chose not to pay for it. So what if they used steal. How date they use the wrong word!!

Came into the topic to say I made a game that got 10,10,10,9 and made 5 million, but I leave sad cause of that wall of text.

~lets self out~ :(/>

[solidbatman]

Gah. Hate piracy discussion such a circle jerk.

It always boils down to: used the word steal and suddenly everything they said is invalid. People pirate the game, causes a possible loss of revenue as they provided people with access to the content and people chose not to pay for it. So what if they used steal. How date they use the wrong word!!

Came into the topic to say I made a game that got 10,10,10,9 and made 5 million, but I leave sad cause of that wall of text.

~lets self out~ :(/>/>

I wish I could make that much on a game! I keep investing in new engines, so I release a ton of games rated 5 as cash ins, then use the new engine to get 2 or 3 10/9 games.

[Kendjin]

I think it's all about finding the combos. The gameboy thing is twice as effective on young games. Normal on everyone and quarter on mature for example.

Wish there was a bit more info on the sliders.

[Guest]

no the point of my passage is to show that if the devs want to make money, they have to innovate. the have to use their lateral thinking, their creativity, to find new ways to monetize their creations.

piracy is only game changing for ppl who choose not to innovate. and only slightly. see Independent studies on the effects of File-sharing: http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Studies_on_file_sharing#Frank_N._Magid_Associates.2C_Inc._-_2009_-_P2P_.2F_Best_consumers_for_Hollywood_.28EN.29 http://www.zeropaid.com/news/100921/what-filesharing-studies-really-say-conclusions-and-links/

it says piracy has no empirical effect on sales or can improve sales moderately over the long run.

- BBC - 2009 - "Pirates" spend more on music (FR)

- IPSOS Germany - 2009 - Filesharers are better "consumers" of culture (FR)

- Frank N. Magid Associates, Inc.2009 - P2P are the Best consumers for Hollywood (EN)

kendjin: sry for spoiling the fun. just so u know, i am a member of the pirate party of australia and i do do talk about piracy on a piracy site on a thread about piracy (bcuz it's important). i also challenge game dev tycoon's devs that their view are wrong, that the empirical evidence shows otherwise (^ see links), and that the entire 'experiment' is regurgitating myths. the studies do not show it this way. also words are very important, bcuz the human mind cannot think outside of words. so if u hijack the words, u hijack all human brains.

[zhurai]

@piracy: does this game even let you test if you can make games based around ads/etc?

zzz, cause then you can actually make money that way without piracy affecting you too much (compared to omg my game is pirated for free)

or use multiplayer games to get people onto a site (which also isn't the best, but it kind of works -- like SC2 for example)

if it just lets you make single player games then it's unrealistic

(note: I have not dled the game in either form)

[Kendjin]

kendjin: sry for spoiling the fun. just so u know, i am a member of the pirate party of australia and i do do talk about piracy on a piracy site on a thread about piracy (bcuz it's important). i also challenge game dev tycoon's devs that their view are wrong, that the empirical evidence shows otherwise (^ see links), and that the entire 'experiment' is regurgitating myths. the studies do not show it this way. also words are very important, bcuz the human mind cannot think outside of words. so if u hijack the words, u hijack all human brains.

Well since you are from AUS, I'll let you off

Also I do agree with what you say, its more that even if you have very good points, topics on piracy on open forums tend to quickly fall into disarray. I'm glad you stand up for your beliefs

[Tay]

Say what you will about the words used, but for me this story is the best example I've seen in a long time of the ugliest side of pirating rearing its head: entitlement. The fact that these people obtained a free copy, hit the "trap", and then proceeded to complain hypocritically is eye-opening for me.

@Aaeru - You know, I agree with some of your points, but the fact of the matter is that the innovation you're evangelizing requires money (because licenses and husbands/wives/children and their respective landlords require money) to do. Game developers don't have a lot of money, and so most of this conversation should be levied at publishers.

It's frustrating and sad to me to see a team that worked so long and hard to make a fun product see near-100% piracy, and no profits (until, of course, this media explosion) (I hope they've since made money off the hype). I think the games industry IS innovating, and IS changing, but the process and expenses of making games hit the developers first, and it's wrong of us to condemn them when, in fact, it's more often the publishers who tie things up.

EDIT: Go buy the real games, people, unless the publishers make it hard for you to do so. Then, in that case, send them lots of messages. We vote with our wallets.

[sanahtlig]

no the point of my passage is to show that if the devs want to make money, they have to innovate. the have to use their lateral thinking, their creativity, to find new ways to monetize their creations.

piracy is only game changing for ppl who choose not to innovate. and only slightly. see Independent studies on the effects of File-sharing: http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Studies_on_file_sharing#Frank_N._Magid_Associates.2C_Inc._-_2009_-_P2P_.2F_Best_consumers_for_Hollywood_.28EN.29 http://www.zeropaid.com/news/100921/what-filesharing-studies-really-say-conclusions-and-links/

it says piracy has no empirical effect on sales or can improve sales moderately over the long run.

- BBC - 2009 - "Pirates" spend more on music (FR)

- IPSOS Germany - 2009 - Filesharers are better "consumers" of culture (FR)

- Frank N. Magid Associates, Inc.2009 - P2P are the Best consumers for Hollywood (EN)

None of your examples are from games. Gaming is a unique market, and VNs are a unique niche of gaming. You can pirate all your music and home movies and the companies can still profit off you, as both media forms have a social event aspect to them (concerts, cinema) that can easily make up the difference. On the other hand, game developers really do depend on consumers actually buying their titles or they'll go broke, especially if they're small. Merchandising could perhaps provide an alternative source of income (likely insufficient to fund development by itself), but I'd rather developers focus on making games rather than cheap gimmick items. I still don't get the mentality that developers must innovate (in ways that don't actually make their games better) or face the massive and contagious apathy of freeloaders, who are perfectly content to offload the burden of funding works they enjoy to a select few diehard fans.

[zhurai]

(zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz this conversation is getting off track of the original topic. the actual game)

[sanahtlig]

The original topic is defunct, because no one has provided a working link to the original "pirate version" of the game. I would've played along, but I've already bought the game and I'm playing through normally. It's sufficiently entertaining to justify the $8 investment.