When comparing Game Dev Story vs Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery, the Slant community recommends Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery for most people. In the question“What are the best Android games without in-app purchases/paywalls?” Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery is ranked 2nd while Game Dev Story is ranked 8th. The most important reason people chose Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery is:
A detailed aesthetic, a great score and an intriguing narrative together create a world that engrosses you from the very beginning.
Specs
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Pros
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
Pro Excellent atmosphere that compliments the engrossing story
A detailed aesthetic, a great score and an intriguing narrative together create a world that engrosses you from the very beginning.
Pro World enveloping puzzles that build upon the last in order to keep the player interested
Puzzles in this game are not too difficult and usually can be quickly figured out by being attentive of your surroundings. But they are not supposed to be hard, they are meant to bring you further into the world. It is through these puzzles that the player will feel more and more connected to the world and story of the game, making for an experience one will remember.
Cons
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.
Con Doesn't work on modern Android
Crash loop.
Con Costs too much money
Con Subpar gameplay
The gameplay often times feels convoluted or just too high concept. Art in the place of gameplay, which some may enjoy, but those looking for deep game mechanics should look elsewhere.