Your employees' salaries are waived the first year ("government subsidy") and you can go into the red to pay them after that. You can't develop a game without some initial funds, but since you can always take a contract to make money, there's basically no hole you can't crawl out of.
Game Dev Story is a Japanese game that was translated to English, which shows, as sometimes there are a few grammatical errors in game. This shows a lack of polish, which may aggravate some players.
Nearly everything is self-explanatory, and the bits that aren't get explained by your secretary. This makes for a game that is easy to understand, even if it does not seem evident at first.
Contracts are measured in weeks and development cycles in months, but time passes at the rate of one day per second. Though the core gameplay involves watching little icons pop up over your employees' heads, rarely do five seconds go by without some player action being prudent, if not required.
Kairosoft has games with really convoluted mechanics, but Hot Springs Story is not one of them. It's quite easy to grasp and you'll be building a grand resort in no time.
Your hot spring inn will advance gradually, allowing you to add slight improvements over time. There aren't any crazy leaps in advancements like in some Kairosoft titles.
This game is about running a hot spring, which is a resort found mostly in Japan. It might seem a bit weird, causing you to lose some of the immersion.
The game is endless, however you do have the option to create save data and start a new game after a certain rank. There is almost no benefit to creating a new game, and quite a few cons.