MGT Trix for Breakfast [28/1/2018]

niche requests (layouts, staffing, engine pricing, mods, mmos, guide to guides, etc) v1.171020A hotfixed

Introduction

Please seek clarity if my reply or updates don't help you.
Please specify anything you need rewritten, elaborated or just plain explained :)
Comments also remind me to scan discussions andso update lol

For those unaware, MGT was on hiatus, due to the death of one of the brothers :(
If a traditional funeral, Stefan took the time to write this on the day Christian was buried.
Occaisional updates did resume. Latest unannounced bug fix was in Oct 2017 (no changelog).
Mad Tower Tycoon development will resume soon.

Guide to the Guides

Many guides have become obsolete from game updates, so check thier comments.
ie. pinned guide in discussions and wiki guide are defunct.
If looking for an all-encompassing guide with everything you need, you won't find one.
Every guide specializes in a certain area, this one focuses on what the others don't have.
Including what's hidden deep in the discussions, so you don't have to dig around for hours.

Videos for newbies - YT1 and YT2
The guides cover everything else and corrects minor mistakes in those vids.
Click [view all] - there's only 18 guides in English

For the basics, Farsight's are good and the most up to date.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=616265616
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=774005261

Legendary Mode Guides have solid startup advise for any mode and include layout tips.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=604119935
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=458399932

Console Guides
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=923856183
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=681952623

Startup Settings

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=770675011
Random Genre Combos change which Genre and Topics work well together.
Random Concept Settings effects ALL slider optimums (both pages) when making a game.

Game Speed Setting changes ticks per year, but not how fast staff work.
The faster this setting, the less productive staff are per week.

Legendary Mode in a Nutshell

Basically, everything costs more and you can go broke from just idling.

• Increased operating costs (rent, employees, fees, etc).
  
• Competitor buy outs are more expensive.
  
• Higher point demands for ratings (see Perfect Games section).
  
• Popularity drops a lot faster, especially for online games.

Game Dev (GD, Prog, gfx, snd)

MGT devs recommend 8 mediocre staff (4x8 room) doing general contracts on auto.
Start with 4 staff, +1 whenever 20 jobs are pending, I've never needed more than 6.
Contracts via button on main screen can go to any dev room, so best to accept them via this room.
General + Production contracts cover the cost of research, training, staff, and building overhead.
These two types of contracts quickly raise your industry approval rating,
which in turn attracts better and more lucrative contracts of every type.

Use game contracts, with quality staff, to improve genre/topic/console stars and for fast money.
If overshoot target score, reload and reduce features or post-dev room options, to maximise profit.
If undershoot, reload and add more, so you get paid in full.
Take the most lucrative game contracts that you can produce first.
Adding a genre/topic/console can break a contract.
There is no benefit from copywrite protection on a game contract.

Publishing and more about Production contracts are in the Production section.

MGT devs recommend a deskless 3x3 dev room to hold games, while post-dev rooms finish it off,
so you can start developing another game straight away.
Good to have a separate 4x4 dev room, dedicated to updates and engines, if you go this route.

Post-Dev rooms

include Graphics, Sound, Motion Capture and Quality Assurance.
These increase component points (see Perfect Games) and fix bugs.
How to unlock them other guides, only then can you research thier features.
Graphics and Music studios unlock when make a game with 200 relevant points, for example.

Perfect Games [85-100% rating]

Many thanks to Varnhagen for revealing his research.
Each component (GFX, SFX, Control and Gameplay) needs this many points:
(year-1979 + month/12) * Mode of Play
Mode of Play = Easy 35, Normal 55, Hard 65, Legendary 70
The more you research, the easier it becomes to achieve this.
Read this discussion if you want an in-depth explanation.

Component Points are increased via staff skills & specialties, and post-dev rooms.
An excess of points in a given component is a waste of money and staff time.
Not enough points reduces the component's score %, hence total game rating.

However, Gameplay rating is capped at 80%.
Genre & Theme raise this to 91% (+1% per experience star + 5% if an optimal match).
Optimal matches are in "MadGamesTycoon_Data\Text\ThemesFit.txt" and listed in other guides.
If 91%, then a RNG of -6% to +9% is applied.
Hence, reloading a save before a project is initiated, can change the score.
An update "fixed" being able to do so, just before finalizing a project.

Penalties are given for not using available tech or current market trend.
Meaning the tech staff specialize in, not post-dev room options.
Penalties reduce the 80% cap on Gameplay to a lower value, regardless.
So, an up-to-date engine and qualified staff are extremely important.

Use the latest Guides for optimal slider settings, as they have changed.
Even perfect score games get customers wanting more/less of something, just like IRL.
Game reports are biased by component scores, but sub-genre is now displayed.
They give false intel, when using ideal sliders with insufficient component points.
Any combination including Subs, that is not listed in the guides, will fall short of perfection.

Remastering

Remasters are limited to changing engine, features, consoles and languages.
The genres, topics and sliders are locked.

Remaster types currently only change the game's name.
Bug was fixed that prevented an entire series of sequels from being remastered.

Research (GD)

Priority: Features > Genres > Other > Topics and/or Consoles
Auto-Research Topics & Consoles whilst training staff enmasse.
reminder - General and Production contracts will pay for it all.
For research, staff 1-4 until 1990, 1-2 to 2004, 2-4 to 2010, then 2 thereafter.

Auto-Research only works while there is more to research.
Once all is completed, it doesn't automatically restart when new ones become available.

Engine Pricing [scaled]

Always create/update one for each grade of every genre ASAP.
Keep your old engines on the market, they will still sell and you can use them for retro games.
When engines are leased is random, both yours and your competitors.
Can now sort engines by genre when create/update them.
Rates for a genre with a competitor (vs column) only apply for that number of features(feats).
Year only refers to earliest for enough features to make that grade of engine.
Release your engine before they do, if not at least in the same month.
Conservative pricing in other guides did not increase my lease quantity.

grade	feats	vs	cost	share	|	grade	feats	vs	cost	share	|	grade	feats	vs	cost	share
B	3		10k	20%	|	AA	23		45k	40%	|	AAA	34		180k	46%
1980		SKL	9	19%	|	1990		RPG	44	39%	|	2001		FPS	175	46%
	4		11	20%	|		24		50	41%	|		35		200	47%
	5		11	21%	|			FPS	48	40%	|		36		220	47%
	6		12	22%	|		25		53	42%	|			FPS	215	47%
		ARC	11	21%	|			FPS	52	41%	|		37		235	48%
	7		13	22%	|		26		55	43%	|			FPS	230	48%
	8		14	23%	|			STR	54	42%	|		38		250	49%
	9		15	24%	|		27		65	44%	|			SIM	245	49%
		ADV	14	23%	|		28		75	44%	|		40		265	50%
	10		17	25%	|			FPS	70	44%	|			FPS	260	50%
B+	11		20	26%	|		29		80	45%	|		41		275	50%
1983		ARC	19	25%	|			FPS	75	45%	|			FPS	270	50%
	12		23	28%	|		30		100	45%	|		42		285	50%
		SKL	22	27%	|		31		120	45%	|		43		300	50%
	13		24	29%	|		32		140	46%	|		44		315	50%
	14		25	30%	|		33		160	46%	|		45		330	50%
		ADV	24	29%	|						|		46		345	50%
	15		28	32%	|						|		47		360	50%
		RPG	27	31%	|						|		48		375	50%
	16		29	33%	|						|		49		400	50%
A	17		30	34%	|						|			FPS	395	50%
1987		PLT	29	33%	|						|		50		450	50%
	18		34	36%	|						|		51		500	50%
		SKL	32	35%	|						|			3PS	495	50%
	19		37	37%	|						|		52		575	50%
	20		40	38%	|						|		53		650	50%
		FPS	39	37%	|						|			3PS	645	50%
	21		42	38%	|						|
	22		43	39%	|						|

Production

4x22 room with 10 best machines on auto for production contracts.
Start with 3 machines in a 4x8 and increase it's capacity as contracts demand.
Need for more machines is a good indicator of when you should relocate.
If contracts run out, you'll have to restart automation again when new ones arrive.

After unlocking production, only make your own games with 3 stars in genre/topic/console,
only self-publish if all 4 components are starred, and only accept 5-star publishing contracts.
After expanding your main room from 3x to 10x machines, add 1x/3x/5x rooms.
Until then, only use your main room to self-publish if and when it's idle, it's more profitable.

Use these additional rooms to publish and automate filling sales demands for multiple games.
Use the 5x room(s) to assist with production contracts, when it's idle, smaller rooms fail contracts.
How many of each 1x/3x/5x, depends on what you sell/publish at any one time, including contracts.
The 10x room is for production contracts and when you need a 1 million copies run.
One 10x is enough for production contracts until end game, with a 5x picking up any slack.
Contracts via button on main screen go to a random room, so accept via preferred room instead.

Observe how many copies each room produces in a day, while production contracts are getting filled, so you know which room to use for what, ie while expanding from 3x to 10x.
You may find a different number of machines per room more suitable for the games you publish.
Cheaper machines produce less, but I haven't analysed a detailed comparison.
Having a backorder for games on the market, reduces demand and hype.
Balanced production efficiency postpones the need for adding more machines.

4x4 storage with 4 best = 1.2 million mixed stock, you don't need one per game.

Tick all extras and auto adjust price; remember to update 5x and market it during pre-release.
Stock 10% sold for a budget/remaster release, or (hype at launch)% if just released a sequel.
Self-publish and break even = paid for itself including all expenses, so it still made money.
Publishing contracts can be updated, including bugfixes and languages.
Carefully size up cost vs profit of publishing contracts, it's easy to result in a net loss.

Can voluntarily take a game off the market in Head Office.

Fanbase and Game Pricing [scaled]

Fanbase increases from goodies, languages, target audience, hype, game points and review score.
Aside from Customer Service events of course.
Unable to confirm if Fanbase is subdivided by Genre or not, but does feel like it is.

Auto-Pricing adjusts according to packaging and dynamically for market demand.
However, this is not optimal.
$19 reaps the most sales, but price also effects fanbase which in turn limits maximum sales.
Table shows how Pricing effects Fanbase.

$9	double	$19	none	$29	-60%	$39	-70%	$49	-80%
$10	+90%	$20	-10%	$30	-61%	$40	-71%
$11	+80%	$21	-20%	$31	-62%	$41	-72%
$12	+70%	$22	-25%	$32	-63%	$42	-73%
$13	+60%	$23	-30%	$33	-64%	$43	-74%
$14	+50%	$24	-35%	$34	-65%	$44	-75%
$15	+40%	$25	-40%	$35	-66%	$45	-76%
$16	+30%	$26	-45%	$36	-67%	$46	-77%
$17	+20%	$27	-50%	$37	-68%	$47	-78%
$18	+10%	$28	-55%	$38	-69%	$48	-79%

below $8 has no additional effect and isn't worth the production costs.
$50 and higher has no additional effect, except sales will dramatically drop from overpricing.

Marketing & Support (Office)

Minimum of 3 Support staff and 1 Marketing required.
Tick both options on bottom and working up from Flyers to TV, is the most cost effective.
Can begin during dev, so it's hyped up when launched.
Maximise marketing of yours that sell at least 1k/wk, but only game contracts selling 5k/wk.

Do a few conventions until you unlock Support; never booth game contracts or < 70 rated.
Support generates fans, actions moreso, auto as you can afford, it effects all products.
Conventions are the most expensive Support action, only multi-booth A class or better.
Only silly geese market a budget release ;)

MMO

MMO research unlocks Month 2, 1999.
Click "retail" under the random name button to enable MMO/F2P for a new game.
Remember to Update an MMO 5x before it hits the market, just like a normal game.
Monthly updates and expansions/addons keep them selling, but F2P is the most lucrative.
Sell an MMO for under $15 and slowly reduce the price everytime sales drop.
If an expansion makes less than $20 million, do not make another one for that game.
Convert it to F2P after 7-8yrs or when price has to drop below $9.

F2P

At $100 million, make your first actual F2P, a AA or AAA game. You'll need the money.
Update weekly for 100-200 weeks, keep advertising maxed out and ensure enough servers.
Never make an addon for a F2P, only patch it. You should get $5 billion in return.
This is how to get the money to make consoles and buy out competitors.

Addons and Expansions

If you make an addon or expansion, instead of an actual update (patch),
these appear to be different games, but require the base game.
They are listed separately so you can judge if and when to make another.
Expansions were sold as a separate CD back in the day.
You cannot produce copies of an Addon, the icon on a game tells you it has an Addon.
You can also only patch an addon, to help tell the difference, aside from custom names.

Platforms/Consoles (Prog)

Wait to develop, until you can back it up with quality games, to create market demand.
The other guides cover consoles quite well already.
This is the most difficult to master andso most profitable part of the game.

At $5 million, consoles unlock, but wait until $5 billion to actually make them.
They can be made earlier, but it's a hefty slog to accomplish.
Market it, so it has a market share, else cannot make games for it.
At $5 billion, also buy out competitors (via "stats" button).
Demand they make all thier games exclusively for your console.
You'll soon control over half the market share by being a tyrranical despot. :)

Modding:

Edit/Add consoles in "MadGamesTycoon_Data/Platforms/Platforms.txt"
Remember to add a 128x128 png to the folder.
Make sure you add every line, especially (CREATEPLATFORM).
Ensure IDs are sequential.
Must exit to desktop and start a new game for it to work.
Read Autosave Bug section

Head Office (Office)

Co-Ordinate -> assign to a staffed room = (Office/2)% faster, (skill of person in HO)
This applies to ANY room with desks, that have staff in it, except HO of course.

Licenses

Games = how many times you can use it, not how often competitors have.
Sequels use the licence again, but remasters do not.
Check often, so competitors don't buy any good licenses.
Can use them years later, sell with 1 remaining, or forever stash from competitors.
If you cancel development of a game, the license is still deemed used, just like IRL

Staffing

Select a room and click the employees button to see which skill(s) apply in the header.
Less obvious ones are in this guide's index titles, except Motion Capture uses Programming.

Use staff with outdated features for post-dev, general contracts, research, and retro games.
The salary increase is not worth training them in Office work.

New staff available monthly, list refreshes annually, high level prospects are legends.
Legends are just higher skilled including Speed, they get equal pay accordingly.
They're just collectables, but it's cool to hire the creator of Pokemon for instance ;)
Staff eventually become available that specialize in something new you've researched.
Office specialists do eventually become available.
Ensure you have enough decor for a full list of available staff for hire. (see Happiness)

Management

click staff button on the bottom of main view -> manage
select a number tab on the left, drag & drop to assign
tabs on the right aren't group names, they change the skill shown
To Select a Group, use CTRL + F1-12, very handy for dropping into rooms when relocate.

Sickness

Staff do stop getting sick with enough meds, toilets, food, water and drinks - see Lavishment.
Heaters and fans are also a contributing factor; it takes 1-4 weeks to heal up.

Happiness

Happiness/40 = extra people for hire if/when available, the list grows, hence more choices.
Happiness also attracts better staff, legends, and specialists in the latest tech.
Relocate before lavishing out on decor, because it all gets sold for half price.

Post-Lavishment, obtain more hire slots than jobseekers, with overhead lights and plants.
Staff complain when you hire more without adding more basic decor.
Ensure Happiness is evenly divisible by 40 (aka multiple of), so there's no wastage.

Training

Training has changed, from what is in the other guides.
Use Level 1 if an employee's score < 50 or 98+
Level 2 & 3 reflect how much they can randomly gain per tick and the course length.
Can pause training or add/remove trainees at will.
The more trainees, the faster a class finishes, but the less each learns.
Scroll, Vector, and Splitscreen specialties only use programming not graphics.
Trainees pop a +0 when in the wrong level class, but still learn albeit inefficiently.
Warning: auto-train will train them in everything possible, even if they have 100%.
The higher the skill % and the more skills trained, the higher thier salary.
So, don't train staff in skills, that they don't specialise in, except yourself in everything.

Basic Room Layouts

Wait to relocate, until you have 2x cost of the new building.
I contract games specifically to do so ASAP.
Save before adding, resizing or moving a room, to minimise costs.

Only doorways need hall space, staff will teleport where they need to go.

Optimal floorspace usage...
game holder: 3x3 unstaffed dev room
production: 4x(2 + 2 per machine)
sfx: 8x5 = 4 desks, add decor if less desks
gfx: 6x5 = 4 desks, add decor if less desks
motion capture: 5x(1 + 4 per desk), uses only the Programming skill
toilet: 3x(2 + 1 per stall), best sinks do fit opposite
head office: 4x6, so you can at least add chairs and floor lamps
staff room: 4x16 affords most staff requirements
server room: 3x3 = 4 servers, 4x3 = 6
all other rooms: 4x3 = 2 desks, 4x4 = 4 desks, 8x4 = 8 desks, etc.

Lavishment [decor]

Forget about making it look pretty, until you're in the largest building.
This is about maximizing happiness before you get there.
Upon relocating, immediately PAUSE, so you can deck it out at your leisure.
Remember to save, so you don't waste money on redecorating or moving rooms around.

Use the best available head office desk, save -> sell current desk to double check.

Basic needs...
staff/16 couches
staff/8 chairs, arcades, vending machines
staff/4 fridges, heaters, trash, water, tiny file cabinets, toilet stalls
This is based on using the best decor, except for cabs.

Use arrow keys to scroll map when placing objects.
Arrow on bottom RHS of icon in buy screen = doesn't have to be in a room.

Wallmount a pinboard/blackboard, fire extinguisher and medkit by every group of 4 desks
Toilet: fill wall opposite stalls with meds over sinks, dryers between, then add paintings.
Wallmount a fire and med in all other rooms; floor extinguishers are not efficient.
Line remaining walls with smallest paintings, except line Staff room with TVs.
Small paintings provide more happiness than large ones across the same wallspace.

Walkspace is not required in rooms, hallways, or anywhere else for that matter, except doors.
Staff also spend less time away from thier desk, if there is no walkspace.
Fill rooms with copiers, then stereos, then plants(use floor lamps in Head Office instead).
Copiers only fit facing one direction in tight layouts, and this differs from room to room.
Stereos usually have to be parallel to the nearest wall in a tight layout.
Use the 3x3 game holder as the copy room, it doesn't need any desks ;)

1 overhead light per desk and machine.
1 ceiling fan per machine/storage/server/motioncapture-desk and 1 per 4 desks or room.

If no walkspace and staff complain, replace a copier/stereo/plants with the complaint.
Decor Star Rating does not effect how many staff want... usually.
Remember to decorate Production, Storage and Server rooms.

Autosave Bug

NEVER delete the Autosave or save over it!

NEVER load an old save after modding!

Otherwise, bad things will start happening, like not being able to save games anymore.

Must do a clean re-install to fix...
Uninstall
Delete folder C:\Users\<username>\AppData\LocalLow\Eggcode\Mad Games Tycoon
Delete folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Mad Games Tycoon
Install

Mods List

See Platforms/Consoles section for how to mod it yourself.
Must exit to desktop and start a new game for any of these to work.
Read Autosave Bug section.

Real Companies & Platforms - updated Feb 19th 2018

Real Platform Names

Console Evolution 8 - 8 new platforms

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=437207301
Edit localization files to rename topics, genres, movies, etc:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Mad Games Tycoon\MadGamesTycoon_Data\Text
adding more than current quantity tends to crash game and requires a full reinstall to fix

PGF Expansion - genres, consoles and features (GMG Mod conversion)[redacted]

Guide Updates

15 Aug - PGF Expansion mod link removed, since no longer available for MGT - TYVM Luigi :)
28 Jan - updated Info and Intro
1 Jan 2018 - added Guide to the Guides section, updated mods list, shortened intro
replaced Legendary section with Startup Settings, added Autosave Bug section
27 Dec - added MMO, Game Pricing and Legendary sections
expanded Consoles, Production and Introduction a little bit
28 Nov - currently testing in order to add a MMO section
13 Nov - expanded Management as a sub-section in Staffing
expanded Modding subsection of Platforms/Consoles
11 Nov - minor revisions for clarity
19 May - minor clarification added to Production and Head Office [Licenses]
steady flow of hotfixes still fixing bugs caused by the update
2 May - added Mods List
28 Apl - Production explained more fully.
revised Game Dev, Engine Pricing, Layouts, Lavishment and Introduction
27 Apl - added basic grammar, participles, articles, and punctuation
elaborated on what I could clearly see was lacking. revised Introduction.
mental note - finish achievements on this account, so i don't look like a putz :D
26 Apl - v1.170424A update integrated, modding added to Console section
hotfixes removed no platforms/saves/staff bugs
22 Apl - additions, revisions and clarifications throughout; added an Introduction
28 Jan - revised Game Dev and added separate Perfect Games section
27 Jan - added Guide Updates to replace my comments
minor changes to Lavishment for clarity
Perfect Games added to Game Dev, pending clarifications from Varnhagen
9 Jan - added Remastering
6 Jan 2017 - added +0's to Training, and sickness to Staffing

[Luigi]

@veebles shame you don't have a backup or anything?

[veebles]

@luigi well, can't deny facts, PGF link removed, sorry for all your trouble and thank you :)
I didn't want to believe it, since was the best imho, am sad to see it go

[Luigi]

@veebles well since the site seemed to no longer work I am taking it's been taken down :)

[veebles]

@luigi please let me know if it's been removed from the website altogether :)

[veebles]

@luigi MGT version on the actual website, you now know everything I do, I can't help you further

[Luigi]

@veebies I did read through it I am still trying to figure out how thats go to do with this game though o-o

[veebles]

@luigi why didn't you read that thread thoroughly and ask them for more info, I'm not affiliated

[Luigi]

Why does the PGF Expansion link to another game and why is it pay it's a mod.

[DJ Nekkid]

Thank you mate, that is REALLY interesting, on more then one level.

Now I cannot i.e. take a "3D-sound"-guy and just improve his sound skills, and put him in the sound-booth and similars, my average % should now go beyond 95, and not hover in the low 90's, with an occational 97-98-99...

[veebles]

@DJ Nekkid I believe those guides were correct about it, at the time they were written
but yep, specialties have no impact there now, just skills :)
I started testing, when I had to consider firing outdated Legends