When comparing Rebuild vs Game Dev Story, the Slant community recommends Game Dev Story for most people. In the question“What are the best Android games without in-app purchases/paywalls?” Game Dev Story is ranked 7th while Rebuild is ranked 15th. The most important reason people chose Game Dev Story is:
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.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Well balanced gameplay that offers a good amount of choice to the player
The gameplay consists mostly of managing people, their skills, resources, tools and property. It has enough depth and a good balance in order to present a worthwhile challenge.
Pro Multiple events/endings encourage repeat play.
Pro Endless gameplay thanks to the random generation upon each start of the game
On each beginning of the game, the city is randomly generated. This makes for a new experience every time a new game is started, which keeps things fresh for the player.
Pro Atmospheric zombie survival theme that fits the zombie genre quite respectively
If you like a zombie overrun post-apocalyptic scenario, this game sets the atmosphere accordingly, with constant scavenging for resources on the verge of human extinction, moral choices, and a disturbing soundtrack. All adding up to a well polished game that shows off its theme of a zombie apocalypse quite well.
Pro Simple and intuitive gameplay allows the game to be accessible, no matter the skill level
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.
Pro Very engaging due to quick progression and frequent events
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.
Pro Fulfils a fantasy of creating a game studio
You get to choose what type of game you want to make, what tools you use to make it, who you hire to make it, what systems you publish the final product on and you get to watch how it is received by the world. Then you do it all over again bigger.
Pro A free demo version is available for anyone to try out
Game Dev Story Lite is available for free on the Google Play store. The Lite version ends after 2 in-game years.
Pro Entertaining business success model typical for Kairosoft games
Cons
Con Late game is too easy
Rebuild tends to get easier the more farmland one obtains, so the further the player reaches in the game, the easier things become. This may cause some players to looses interest in the game, since it progressively got easier.
Con not free
Con not free
Con Game is not free
Con Punctuation and grammar errors
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.
Con Unclear method of determining a game's success
Sometimes it is unclear how to find out how successful a game is.
Con It's very hard to fail
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.
