How does Schedule 1 compare to Drug Dealer Simulator?

[Dr. Granola]

Saw this pop up on youtube, and it seems the game is gaining traction

I'm curious how the game plays, because I put a bit of time into DDS but wasn't really satisfied with the game, and wanted to learn a little more about S1 to make sure I'm not going to end up grabbing something that falls into the same pitfalls that DDS did.

It's been a while since I played DDS, but the main thing I still remember is feeling like the game was less than the sum of it's parts. Like I was getting a diluted experience of each of the parts of the games.

Some more pointed remarks
>a lack of feedback on the mixing process and how the mixes translated into results.
>Timescale felt super cramped (days too short to feel like using the wait function ever mattered)
>Respect/reputation decayed WAY too fast per day(comboed really badly with the short days)

I don't think DDS is an outright *bad game*, per say. I'd just call it undercooked or something. If I could, I would rate it a "Well I didn't like it but I didn't regret the time I spent on it."

Besides that, setting aside the comparisons, how does Schedule 1 stand on it's own? Is the game in a good state, or does it have jank and bugs that are still being patched?

[LordChaos]

Never played DDS but I've played Schedule 1. I recommend looking up gameplay before you buy, but there is a free demo of this game so you can try that out

[DivideNull]

Schedule I: Free Sample

[incomingmissile]

I havent played DDS but i have played schedule one and from what ive HEARD schedule one is better, i wouldnt know though. I really like schedule one and the gameplay loops is very fun and unlocks are well placed imo

[Dr. Granola]

LordChaos a écrit :

Never played DDS but I've played Schedule 1. I recommend looking up gameplay before you buy, but there is a free demo of this game so you can try that out

DivideNull a écrit :

Schedule I: Free Sample

Oh hold up there's a Free demo? I completely missed that, thank's for pointing it out. I'll go check it out then.

[Some_Dude2016]

Playing both schedule 1 fixes a few of your problems kind of, the day cycle might be to short for your liking, the mixes in this game are relatively simple in terms of how much you get out of it and addictiveness but it has some weird aspects like the fact of adding in different orders results in wildly different yields, and no decaying respect unless you give them lower than quality products or leave them waiting. All in all schedule 1 might provide the feeling that you missed in dds1 as most of the stuff is in depth in terms of hands on for mixing packing and creation. As other have stated the free demo could be a great option to test the game but even as a stand alone game it feels alright maybe some cool features in the future to vary the gameplay as it gets repetitive after awhile but certainly not barebones like other beta releases out there. But I warn you do not go in expecting it to be like dds otherwise all you will see is the similarities go in with an open mind and understand that it is its own game with different game mechanics. Having the immediate comparison of these two games right away makes you feel as though it will repeat dds mistakes but if you go in with a blank slate you will enjoy the experience far more!

[WhisperFire26]

I like the hands-on crafting system and that was one thing that DDS does not have. The UI is minimalist except for a hotbar and a phone.... there is no user inventory or bag.

I suggest that you either buy the game and see for yourself or try the free demo called "Free Sample"

[cdplayer906]

schedule 1 has a much more streamlined UI. i always had beef w/ how cluttered and initially confusing dds menus were. i also prefer the world over either dds. more liveliness to the npc's and general atmosphere.

imo schedule 1 executed the idea much better than dds, but i'd love to see something somewhere in between. like sch 1 dealing system w/ dds art style, but an even more interactive world.

also something to consider too, we're comparing a just released EA to 2 fully released games. there's really no telling how good schedule 1 could get, considering such a strong start

[Labtop 215]

I've played both. I got my copy of DDS 1 off of Good Old Games for about $3 while ByteRunners was about to release DDS 2. Off the top of my head...

Drug Dealer Simulator goes for a more gritty nihilistic feel with the occasional bit of social commentary here and there, while Schedule 1 is more stylised. Police chases are more intense in DDS1 but never reach the point of lethality, and if the police get a taser into you, they automatically capture you. You can run into a safehouse and the police can't just barge in or anything. You can be raided eventually and if you are caught inside your safehouse during a raid, that is game over.

When it comes to packaging product, in Drug Dealer Simulator 1 (as I havn't played the second one), the product can be packaged into bags, but you select the quantity you want to add to each package, which determines whether or not it is bagged or bricked. Plastic bags don't exist in DDS1 as an item that needs to be manipulated in the inventory, although they do exist in Drug Dealer Simulator 2.

When it comes to mixing products, in Drug Dealer Simulator 1 the general purpose of mixing drugs is to cut an expensive product with a cheaper product to make more money. Proportions and product matter... sort of. For instance, if you want to sell snow to the local drug cartel, they will accept a 100% pure product, or you can try your luck and lace it with sugar, baking soda, or salt. Different additives add their own properties to your end product, that determine stuff like the strength of the product, it's toxicity, it's purity, it's addictiveness, and so on. The properties of your mix generally determine how much your clients like your product, how addicted they become to your product, and how likely they are to overdose on your product. You can also mix different drugs together to balance those same 4 factors. For instance, the local drug cartel wont accept your new snow mix if 30% sugar, but will accept it if you lace in crystallised weed up to 30%. Also, in Drug Dealer Simulator 1 your mixes (and also pure product that you sell) have a chance of killing the person using them. This includes you by the way. Your field of view gets permanently zoomed out and you can't move or do anything anymore.

Mixes with multiple drugs sort of rely on a properties based roulette system to determine which drug effect you get if your mix contains multiple drugs. So a 70% chance to become very stimulated, or 30% chance to become somewhat disoriented. The effects you get from take drugs in DDS1 aim to be realistic and usually hinder your ability to do your job (as drugs in the real world would do). Also, Drug Dealer Simulator 1 has an weight based encumbrance system that prevents you from carrying to much product at once, as once you have to much weight you can't run or hop over fences anymore.

Both games have base building. Drug Dealer Simulator has more free-form base building, while Schedule 1 has tile based building.

If you get searched by the police in Drug Dealer Simulator 1, only drugs that are in your pockets (not in your backpack) have a chance to be not discovered, and the only thing you can do to influence this chance is to improve your "illusionist" skill, while in Schedule 1 you can click to hide contraband in your inventory from the police.

In Schedule 1, you can deal drugs to people openly on the street by interacting with them, while in Drug Dealer Simulator 1, you have to have clients contact you through your laptop loaded up with special software.

Also in Schedule 1, you don't have to run away from the police or aggressive people, you can beat the crap out of them instead, with your fists, or a baseball bat. Or you can shoot them with a gun. I can't seem to hold the gun correctly, but it's there and usable.

Also also, in Schedule 1, when you mix products, you add wacky and funny effects to said products like making people's eyes glow, and making their teeth and hair fall out... Uhh... Maybe there's something wrong with me, idk.

Schedule 1 has multiplayer and it works, while Drug Dealer Simulator 1 doesn't have multiplayer, although I don't know if Drug Dealer Simulator 2 has multiplayer or not.

Personally, I like both in their own right, although there isn't as much to do in Drug Dealer Simulator 1 once you've finished the main story, even with mods.

[Dr. Granola]

First, thanks to everyone who took the time to reply, appreciate it.

I'm trying the demo rn, and a couple things are jumping out at me

>Timescale is definitely cranked the heck up. personally, if you're making schedules and timekeeping important mechanics, the fasted I can go before it feels too much is about 1s rl to 1m game time, and this is definitely much faster. I like to take things a little slower and absorb the atmosphere, and it's hard to do that when blinking takes several minutes off the day.

>I'm fond of needing to do a lot of the interactions manually. It's cute. I think the DDS packaging feels better to me, because you can FLY through prepping if you get good at the menu-ing, but I really prefer how the manual growing works here.

>This game feels INCREDIBLY poorly optimized, just like DDS was. A game this simple looking running on medium with the SSAO and godrays turned off is making my laptop run really damn loud. I don't like feeling like a jet engine is blaring in my face when I'm trying to game.

[DrDerpenstein]

Schedule 1 is miles ahead of DDS.

Here's my review of DDS. Sched 1 beats it by a mile:
https://steamcommunity.com/id/drderp/recommended/682990/

[skOsH♥]

The game I think is exactly 1m every 1s. I remember seeing the curfew notice on the road construction sign in the demo

[Orbnotacus]

DDS1 has a max player count of a little more than 4k, and it was within the first month it released, then drastically went down from there.
DDS2 had a max player count of a little more than 9k, which also drastically decreased the very next month and continued declining.
Schedule I had over 400k max players, and it's continuing to trend upwards.


What more do you really need to know? lmfao.

[JuicyCucumbers]

Dr. Granola a écrit :

First, thanks to everyone who took the time to reply, appreciate it.

I'm trying the demo rn, and a couple things are jumping out at me

>Timescale is definitely cranked the heck up. personally, if you're making schedules and timekeeping important mechanics, the fasted I can go before it feels too much is about 1s rl to 1m game time, and this is definitely much faster. I like to take things a little slower and absorb the atmosphere, and it's hard to do that when blinking takes several minutes off the day.

>I'm fond of needing to do a lot of the interactions manually. It's cute. I think the DDS packaging feels better to me, because you can FLY through prepping if you get good at the menu-ing, but I really prefer how the manual growing works here.

>This game feels INCREDIBLY poorly optimized, just like DDS was. A game this simple looking running on medium with the SSAO and godrays turned off is making my laptop run really damn loud. I don't like feeling like a jet engine is blaring in my face when I'm trying to game.

I felt this as well, luckily you can enable console commands, and use settimescale 0-10 I use 0.5. For the performance the only things I can suggest is using the command cleartrash, which has been reported to help with FPS, or use something like Lossless Scaling.($7 or so) The developer has already stated he plans on working on a performance update targeting the specs of Steam Deck. I hope this helps good sir.

[Dr. Granola]

skOsH♥ a écrit :

The game I think is exactly 1m every 1s. I remember seeing the curfew notice on the road construction sign in the demo

I'll need to pull out a stopwatch or something, but it felt a good bit faster

Orbnotacus a écrit :

DDS1 has a max player count of a little more than 4k, and it was within the first month it released, then drastically went down from there.
DDS2 had a max player count of a little more than 9k, which also drastically decreased the very next month and continued declining.
Schedule I had over 400k max players, and it's continuing to trend upwards.


What more do you really need to know? lmfao.

Not to defend DDS, but I'd like to point out that the game is riding a virality wave rn. I don't think player counts are THAT good of a representative of game quality anyways.

----
Anyways, I've had my fill of Schedule 1 for the night.

Parting thoughts:
>Some areas of the map are very poorly lit and the flashlight is *pitiful* at navigating pitch darkness with.

>Police are a little too hard to pick out in the night, both visually and aurually. I think it's a failure on the game's part if you have to solely rely on a UI element to know someone is there and is spotting you.

>speaking of UI stuff. Personal preference, I STRONGLY dislike compass/minimap gaming, where you just stare at the HUD to navigate instead of the actual game. S1 leans on it a little bit, DDS's map felt easier to navigate by memory. More recognizable landmarks and stuff. This one needs more time to settle for me, but I wanted to talk about it now.

>Being able to fight the cops is certainly A Choice. I'll have to see where it goes.

>Holy MOLY storage is awful to handle. Miss how DDS did it, with the free placements on surfaces and ♥♥♥♥. I'll deal.

>Having actual specific persons you interact with rather than a generic respect meter feels a lot better. More interesting too, since it seems the NPCs actually like, EXIST in the world and do stuff on schedules? At the least, I saw one walk by me and into my hired dealers room at one point. Very cool stuff.

JuicyCucumbers a écrit :

I felt this as well, luckily you can enable console commands, and use settimescale 0-10 I use 0.5. For the performance the only things I can suggest is using the command cleartrash, which has been reported to help with FPS, or use something like Lossless Scaling.($7 or so) The developer has already stated he plans on working on a performance update targeting the specs of Steam Deck. I hope this helps good sir.

That's great to know! The game definitely needs an optimization pass or 3.

[Kali Archon]

Another difference is how it handles cutting your product. In DDS, you could cut/mix product with other stuff to increase addiction and volume, and it dealt with percentages. It's super tedious for people who like that.

in Schedule 1, it's just throw random products in that give traits to products that also increases the value and addiction of the product, but doesn't increase volume. It's far easier to mix, but it in itself is really tedious because right now bulk ordering and storage is a nightmare as you saw. There is automation, but I've not figured out how to get everyone to work properly so I just do everything myself.