When comparing Townsmen vs Game Dev Story, the Slant community recommends Game Dev Story for most people. In the question“What are the best Android games with economics-based gameplay?” Game Dev Story is ranked 2nd while Townsmen is ranked 8th. 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-polished with great attention to detail
From the detail to the inhabitants to the great design of the town it is obvious a lot of attention was payed to the smaller things.
Pro It has that realistic feel
It feels realistic and you can roleplay to your heart's desire.
Pro Intuitive and accessible
Straightforward controls, well-organized information and a thorough tutorial make Townsmen easy to pick up and play.
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 Intrusive ads and offers
Even in the premium version, you'll receive pop-ups offering a few points of Prestige (premium currency) in exchange for watching a video advertisement.
Con Supply chain construction can become tedious in scenarios
Townsmen's complex resource management is not too burdensome while casually building a sandbox city. Once you've done it once or twice, it's frustrating to wait through dozens of build timers just to get access to the raw materials needed for a scenario's first goal.
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.