Mad Games Tycoon - Game Development Guide

This Guide lists the Perfect Settings for each Genre, their ideal Target Markets, and Release Dates. (Now With Topics)

Supports both the new 0-10 and old -/+ slider settings.

Also contains a detailed breakdown of how Priorities work, increasing your chances of scoring 100% Reviews.

Introduction

Hello everyone.

In this Guide I will be going over the optimal settings for each part of the Game development process for each Genre. It is important to understand that while these may be best settings for each Genre, you won't automatically get 100% Reviews. The reason behind this is the skills of your staff (or the lack thereof) that will need to be trained up to get consistently high scoring Reviews.

The starting Genres have been marked with '(Starter) *' to make them easier to identify.

Slider Number Chart 0 to 10 (New / Simplified)
















Slider Number Chart -5 to +5 (old / Complicated)

Chapter 1 - Adventure

Release Date	Y-1980 M-11
Target Market	Adult or Seniors
Supporting Genre	Supporting Target Market
Puzzle	Adult or Seniors
RPG	Adult or Seniors
Interactive Movie	Adult or Seniors
Third-person Shooter	Adult or Teenager
Perfect Topics	Agents, Aliens, Angels, Anime, Apocalypse, Barbarians, Bunker, Castles, Conspiracies, Cowboys, Crime, Cyberpunk, Dating, Demons, Detectives, Devil, Doctor, Dragons, Dreams, Druids, Dwarfs, Educational, Elves, Espionage, Everyday life, Fairies, Fantasy, Gangster, Ghosts, Historical, Horror, Ice Age, Islands, Knights, Mafia, Medieval, Monsters, Movies, Orcs, Pirates, Police, Prison, Radioactivity, Religion, Reporter, Revolutions, Space, Space Stations, Steampunk, Thieves, Time travel, Treasure, Treasure Hunters, Vampires, Vikings, Werewolves, Witches, Wizards, World Wars.
Perfect Settings	Slider Number 0-10	Old Marking System
Gameplay & Graphics	4	-1
Story & Game Length	0	-5
Atmosphere & Functions	0	-5
Game Depth & Beginner Friendly	7	+2
Core-gamer & Casual-gamer	2	-3
Priority Settings	Slider Percentage 0-50%
Graphics	20
Sounds	10
Technology	30
Gameplay	40

Chapter 2 - Arcade (Starter) *

Release Date	Starter
Target Market	Children or Teenager
Supporting Genre	Supporting Target Market
Third-person Shooter	Adult or Teenager
Sports	Adult or Teenager
First-person Shooter	Adult or Teenager
Puzzle	Adult or Seniors
Skill	Adult or Children
Platformer	Children or Teenager
Fighting	Children or Teenager
Perfect Topics	Aliens, Animals, Anime, Barbarians, Bunker, Castles, Cats, Crocodiles, Cyberpunk, Demons, Dinosaur, Dogs, Dragons, Dreams, Fish, Ghosts, Goats, Helicopter, Hell, Insects, Karate, Knights, Militar, Monsters, Mushrooms, Music, Ninjas, Planes, Planets, Plants, Predators, Rabbits, Radioactivity, Robots, Samurai, Sheep, Space, Spaceships, Space Stations, Squids, Steampunk, Submarines, Superheroes, Tanks, Taxis, Thieves, Time travel, Trolls, Ufos, Werewolves, Wizards, World Wars.
Perfect Settings	Slider Number 0-10	Old Marking System
Gameplay & Graphics	7	+2
Story & Game Length	8	+3
Atmosphere & Functions	3	-2
Game Depth & Beginner Friendly	7	+2
Core-gamer & Casual-gamer	8	+3
Priorities	Slider Percentage 0-50%
Graphics	20
Sounds	20
Technology	20
Gameplay	40

Chapter 3 - Building

Release Date	Y-1983 M-9
Target Market	Adult or Seniors
Supporting Genre	Supporting Target Market
Strategy	Adult or Seniors
Economic Simulation	Adult or Seniors
Real-time Strategy	Adult or Seniors
Perfect Topics	Apocalypse, Boat, Bricks, Business, Bunker, Cars, Casinos, Castles, Cinema, Cities, Colonization, Cooking, Digging, Dinosaur, Doctor, Dungeons, Dwarfs, Economy, Eroticism, Everyday life, Evolution, Farming, Game Development, Gangster, Gods, Gambling, Holiday, Hospital, Industrialization, Islands, Knights, Medieval, Movies, Politics, Prison, Roman, School, Space, Space Stations, Stones, Television, Theme Parks, Trains, Transportation, World Wars.
Perfect Settings	Slider Number 0-10	Old Marking System
Gameplay & Graphics	3	-2
Story & Game Length	10	+5
Atmosphere & Functions	10	+5
Game Depth & Beginner Friendly	0	-5
Core-gamer & Casual-gamer	1	-4
Priorities	Slider Percentage 0-50%
Graphics	30
Sounds	10
Technology	30
Gameplay	30

Chapter 4 - Economic Simulation

Release Date	Y-1981 M-1
Target Market	Adult or Seniors
Supporting Genre	Supporting Target Market
Strategy	Adult or Seniors
Building	Adult or Seniors
Sports	Adult or Teenager
Real-time Strategy	Adult or Seniors
Perfect Topics	American Football, Art, Basketball, Baseball, Boat, Boxing, Bunker, Business, Cars, Casinos, Castles, Cinema, Colonization, Conquest, Cooking, Cities, Cricket, Doctor, Economy, Eroticism, Everyday life, Farming, Fashion, Game Development, Gambling, Gangster, Golf, Holiday, Hospital, Ice Hockey, Industrialization, Islands, Knights, Medieval, Movies, Music, Plumber, Politics, Prison, Racing, Rockstars, Roman, Rugby, School, Space Stations, Soccer, Taxis, Television, Tennis, Theme Parks, Trains, Transportation, Wrestling.
Perfect Settings	Slider Number 0-10	Old Marking System
Gameplay & Graphics	4	-1
Story & Game Length	10	+5
Atmosphere & Functions	10	+5
Game Depth & Beginner Friendly	0	-5
Core-gamer & Casual-gamer	0	-5
Priorities	Slider Percentage 0-50%
Graphics	10
Sounds	5
Technology	35
Gameplay	50

Chapter 5 - Fighting

Release Date	Y-1982 M-4
Target Market	Children or Teenager
Supporting Genre	Supporting Target Market
Arcade	Children or Teenager
Platformer	Children or Teenager
Sports	Adult or Teenager
Perfect Topics	Animals, Anime, Assassins, Barbarians, Castles, Cyborgs, Demons, Fitness, Islands, Karate, Knights, Martial Arts, Mecha, Monsters, Ninjas, Samurai, Superheroes, Wrestling.
Perfect Settings	Slider Number 0-10	Old Marking System
Gameplay & Graphics	7	+2
Story & Game Length	9	+4
Atmosphere & Functions	9	+4
Game Depth & Beginner Friendly	9	+4
Core-gamer & Casual-gamer	5	0
Priorities	Slider Percentage 0-50%
Graphics	30
Sounds	20
Technology	30
Gameplay	20

Chapter 6 - First-person Shooter

Release Date	Y-1989 - M-11
Target Market	Adult or Teenager
Supporting Genre	Supporting Target Market
Arcade	Children or Teenager
Platformer	Children or Teenager
RPG	Adult or Seniors
Sports	Adult or Teenager
Fighting	Children or Teenager
Simulation	Adult or Seniors
Third-person Shooter	Adult or Teenager
Perfect Topics	Agents, Aliens, Anime, Apocalypse, Assassins, Barbarians, Bounty Hunter, Bunker, Castles, Cowboys, Cyberpunk, Cyborgs, Demons, Dinosaur, Devil, Dragons, Dungeons, Dwarfs, Elements, Fantasy, Gangster, Ghosts, Hell, Historical, Hitman, Horror, Hunting, Insects, Islands, Knights, Mafia, Mercenary, Military, Monsters, Ninjas, Paintball, Parallel Worlds, Physics, Police, Portals, Radioactivity, Revolutions, Robots, Sandbox, Space, Space Stations, Special Forces, Squids, Superheroes, Survival, Thieves, Time travel, Treasure Hunters, Vampires, Werewolves, Witches, Wizards, World Wars, Zombies.
Perfect Settings	Slider Number 0-10	Old Marking System
Gameplay & Graphics	10	+5
Story & Game Length	7	+2
Atmosphere & Functions	2	-3
Game Depth & Beginner Friendly	8	+3
Core-gamer & Casual-gamer	2	-3
Priorities	Slider Percentage 0-50%
Graphics	50
Sounds	25
Technology	20
Gameplay	5

Chapter 7 - Interactive Movie

Release Date	Y-1991 M-4
Target Market	Adult or Seniors
Supporting Genre	Supporting Target Market
Skill	Adult or Children
Puzzle	Adult or Seniors
Adventure	Adult or Seniors
Perfect Topics	Aliens, Agents, Animals, Anime, Apocalypse, Bunker, Cinema, Comedy, Conspiracies, Cowboys, Crime, Cyberpunk, Cyberspace, Detectives, Devil, Dreams, Dwarfs, Educational, Elves, Eroticism, Espionage, Everyday life, Food, Gangster, Hacking, Hitman, Horror, Knights, Mafia, Medieval, Movies, Police, Rabbits, Reporter, Space Stations, Superheroes, Television, Thieves, Time travel, Vampires, World Wars, Zombies.
Perfect Settings	Slider Number 0-10	Old Marking System
Gameplay & Graphics	10	+5
Story & Game Length	0	-5
Atmosphere & Functions	0	-5
Game Depth & Beginner Friendly	10	+5
Core-gamer & Casual-gamer	8	+3
Priorities	Slider Percentage 0-50%
Graphics	30
Sounds	25
Technology	20
Gameplay	25

Chapter 8 - Platformer

Release Date	Y-1980 M-9
Target Market	Children or Teenager
Supporting Genre	Supporting Target Market
Arcade	Children or Teenager
Puzzle	Adult or Seniors
Skill	Adult or Children
RPG	Adult or Seniors
First-person Shooter	Adult or Teenager
Third-person Shooter	Adult or Teenager
Perfect Topics	Agents, Angels, Animals, Anime, Assassins, Barbarians, Bounty Hunter, Bunker, Castles, Cats, Candy, Children, Cowboys, Crocodiles, Cyberpunk, Cyborgs, Demons, Devil, Digging, Dinosaur, Dogs, Dragons, Druids, Dwarfs, Elves, Everyday life, Fantasy, Fairies, Frogs, Ghosts, Goats, Horses, Ice Age, Insects, Islands, Karate, Knights, Medieval, Monkeys, Monsters, Mushrooms, Music, Ninjas, Orcs, Pets, Pirates, Plants, Plumber, Police, Predators, Prison, Rabbits, Radioactivity, Rockstars, Robots, Roman, Samurai, Sheep, Skeletons, Space Stations, Squids, Squirrel, Steampunk, Stones, Stone Age, Superheroes, Survival, Thieves, Time travel, Toys, Treasure, Treasure Hunters, Trolls, Vampires, Vikings, Werewolves, Witches, Wizards.
Perfect Settings	Slider Number 0-10	Old Marking System
Gameplay & Graphics	5	0
Story & Game Length	5	0
Atmosphere & Functions	4	-1
Game Depth & Beginner Friendly	6	+1
Core-gamer & Casual-gamer	5	0
Priorities	Slider Percentage 0-50%
Graphics	25
Sounds	25
Technology	25
Gameplay	25

Chapter 9 - Puzzle (Starter) *

Release Date	Starter
Target Market	Adult or Seniors
Supporting Genre	Supporting Target Market
Arcade	Children or Teenager
Platformer	Children or Teenager
Skill	Adult or Children
Interactive Movie	Adult or Seniors
Perfect Topics	Animals, Anime, Art, Bricks, Bunker, Candy, Casinos, Castles, Cats, Chemistry, Children, Cinema, Cooking, Crime, Cyberspace, Dating, Detectives, Digging, Dinosaur, Diving, Doctor, Dogs, Dragons, Draw, Dreams, Dungeons, Educational, Elements, Elves, Eroticism, Espionage, Everyday life, Evolution, Fairies, Fantasy, Fashion, Fish, Fitness, Food, Frogs, Fruit, Gambling, Ghosts, Goats, Hacking, Hell, Holiday, Horror, Ice Age, Islands, Mathematics, Music, Parallel Worlds, Physics, Plants, Portals, Prison, Puzzles, Quizshow, Reporter, Religion, School, Science, Sheep, Space Stations, Squids, Squirrel, Steampunk, Stones, Television, Time travel, Toys, Transportation, Treasure, Vikings, Viruses, Werewolves, Wizards, Worms.
Perfect Settings	Slider Number 0-10	Old Marking System
Gameplay & Graphics	0	-5
Story & Game Length	10	+5
Atmosphere & Functions	10	+5
Game Depth & Beginner Friendly	0	-5
Core-gamer & Casual-gamer	7	+2
Priorities	Slider Percentage 0-50%
Graphics	15
Sounds	15
Technology	20
Gameplay	50

Chapter 10 - Real-time Strategy

Release Date	Y-1989 - M-5
Target Market	Adult or Seniors
Supporting Genre	Supporting Target Market
Arcade	Children or Teenager
Strategy	Adult or Seniors
Economic Simulation	Adult or Seniors
Building	Adult or Seniors
Perfect Topics	Aliens, Castles, Colonization, Conquest, Dinosaur, Dwarfs, Fire Department, Gods, Helicopter, Historical, Islands, Knights, Mecha, Medieval, Mercenary, Military, Monsters, Orcs, Planes, Politics, Radioactivity, Revolutions, Robots, Roman, Space, Spaceships, Special Forces, Steampunk, Submarines, Tanks, Transportation, Trolls, Vikings, World Wars.
Perfect Settings	Slider Number 0-10	Old Marking System
Gameplay & Graphics	5	0
Story & Game Length	5	0
Atmosphere & Functions	5	0
Game Depth & Beginner Friendly	4	-1
Core-gamer & Casual-gamer	3	-2
Priorities	Slider Percentage 0-50%
Graphics	25
Sounds	15
Technology	30
Gameplay	30

Chapter 11 - RPG

Release Date	Y-1980 M-4
Target Market	Adult or Seniors
Supporting Genre	Supporting Target Market
Adventure	Adult or Seniors
Platformer	Children or Teenager
First-person Shooter	Adult or Teenager
Third-person Shooter	Adult or Teenager
Perfect Topics	Angels, Anime, Agents, Apocalypse, Bunker, Castles, Comedy, Cyberpunk, Devil, Dragons, Druids, Dungeons, Dwarfs, Elves, Fairies, Fantasy, Ghosts, Hacking, Hell, Islands, Knights, Medieval, Monsters, Radioactivity, Revolutions, Skeletons, Space, Space Stations, Steampunk, Time travel, Treasure, Trolls, Vikings, Werewolves, Witches, Wizards.
Perfect Settings	Slider Number 0-10	Old Marking System
Gameplay & Graphics	4	-1
Story & Game Length	2	-3
Atmosphere & Functions	0	-5
Game Depth & Beginner Friendly	3	-2
Core-gamer & Casual-gamer	0	-5
Priorities	Slider Percentage 0-50%
Graphics	25
Sounds	15
Technology	20
Gameplay	40

Chapter 12 - Simulation

Release Date	Y-1982 M-8
Target Market	Adult or Seniors
Supporting Genre	Supporting Target Market
Arcade	Children or Teenager
Sports	Adult or Teenager
Fighting	Children or Teenager
First-person Shooter	Adult or Teenager
Third-person Shooter	Adult or Teenager
Perfect Topics	Cars, Castles, Bicycle, Boat, Diving, Extreme Sports, Fire Department, Fish, Helicopter, Historical, Horses, Hunting, Islands, Mecha, Military, Motorcycles, Paintball, Planes, Planets, Police, Robots, Sandbox, Space, Spaceships, Space Stations, Sport, Submarines, Survival, Tanks, Taxis, Trains, Transportation, Trucks, World Wars.
Perfect Settings	Slider Number 0-10	Old Marking System
Gameplay & Graphics	10	+5
Story & Game Length	10	+5
Atmosphere & Functions	8	+3
Game Depth & Beginner Friendly	3	-2
Core-gamer & Casual-gamer	0	-5
Priorities	Slider Percentage 0-50%
Graphics	40
Sounds	25
Technology	25
Gameplay	10

Chapter 13 - Skill (Starter) *

Release Date	Starter
Target Market	Adult or Children
Supporting Genre	Supporting Target Market
Arcade	Children or Teenager
Puzzle	Adult or Seniors
Platformer	Children or Teenager
Perfect Topics	Animals, Anime, Art, Bicycle, Bricks, Bunker, Candy, Castles, Casinos, Cats, Chemistry, Children, Cooking, Crocodiles, Cyberspace, Dancing, Dating, Digging, Dinosaur, Diving, Doctor, Dogs, Dragons, Draw, Dreams, Dungeons, Dwarfs, Educational, Elements, Everyday life, Fairies, Fantasy, Fashion, Fire Department, Fish, Fitness, Food, Frogs, Fruit, Gambling, Ghosts, Goats, Hacking, Hell, Holiday, Horses, Ice Age, Insects, Islands, Knights, Mathematics, Monkeys, Monsters, Mushrooms, Music, Parallel Worlds, Pets, Physics, Plants, Plumber, Portals, Prison, Puzzles, Rabbits, Religion, Robots, Rockstars, Sheep, School, Science, Singing, Space Stations, Squids, Squirrel, Steampunk, Stones, Stone Age, Superheroes, Taxis, Thieves, Time travel, Toys, Transportation, Treasure, Ufos, Viruses, Werewolves, Wizards, Worms.
Perfect Settings	Slider Number 0-10	Old Marking System
Gameplay & Graphics	1	-4
Story & Game Length	10	+5
Atmosphere & Functions	10	+5
Game Depth & Beginner Friendly	10	+5
Core-gamer & Casual-gamer	10	+5
Priorities	Slider Percentage 0-50%
Graphics	10
Sounds	10
Technology	30
Gameplay	50

Chapter 14 - Sports

Release Date	Y-1981 M-9
Target Market	Adult or Teenager
Supporting Genre	Supporting Target Market
Skill	Adult or Children
Arcade	Children or Teenager
Fighting	Children or Teenager
Third-person Shooter	Adult or Teenager
Perfect Topics	American Football, Baseball, Basketball, Bicycle, Boat, Boxing, Cars, Cricket, Diving, Extreme Sports, Fitness, Golf, Helicopter, Horses, Ice Hockey, Islands, Karate, Martial Arts, Monsters, Motorcycles, Paintball, Planes, Racing, Robots, Rugby, Soccer, Sport, Tennis, Trucks, Wrestling.
Perfect Settings	Slider Number 0-10	Old Marking System
Gameplay & Graphics	8	+3
Story & Game Length	10	+5
Atmosphere & Functions	9	+4
Game Depth & Beginner Friendly	8	+3
Core-gamer & Casual-gamer	5	0
Priorities	Slider Percentage 0-50%
Graphics	30
Sounds	20
Technology	30
Gameplay	20

Chapter 15 - Strategy

Release Date	Y-1981 M-10
Target Market	Adult or Seniors
Supporting Genre	Supporting Target Market
Building	Adult or Seniors
Real-time Strategy	Adult or Seniors
Perfect Topics	Apocalypse, Business, Castles, Cinema, Cities, Colonization, Conquest, Dragons, Dwarfs, Economy, Evolution, Fantasy, Farming, Ghosts, Gods, Helicopter, Historical, Industrialization, Islands, Knights, Mecha, Medieval, Mercenary, Military, Monsters, Orcs, Pirates, Planes, Planets, Politics, Radioactivity, Revolutions, Robots, Roman, Space, Space Stations, Special Forces, Submarines, Survival, Tanks, Television, Transportation, Trolls, Ufos, Vikings, Werewolves, Witches, Wizards, World Wars, Worms.
Perfect Settings	Slider Number 0-10	Old Marking System
Gameplay & Graphics	3	-2
Story & Game Length	10	+5
Atmosphere & Functions	10	+5
Game Depth & Beginner Friendly	0	-5
Core-gamer & Casual-gamer	3	-2
Priorities	Slider Percentage 0-50%
Graphics	15
Sounds	5
Technology	30
Gameplay	50

Chapter 16 - Third-person Shooter

Release Date	Y-1990 M-9
Target Market	Adult or Teenager
Supporting Genre	Supporting Target Market
Arcade	Children or Teenager
Fighting	Children or Teenager
First-person Shooter	Adult or Teenager
Platformer	Children or Teenager
RPG	Adult or Seniors
Simulation	Adult or Seniors
Skill	Adult or Children
Sports	Adult or Teenager
Perfect Topics	Agents, Aliens, Angels, Anime, Apocalypse, Assassins, Barbarians, Bounty Hunter, Bunker, Castles, Comedy, Conspiracies, Cowboys, Crime, Cyberpunk, Cyborgs, Demons, Detectives, Devil, Dinosaur, Dragons, Dungeons, Dwarfs, Elements, Espionage, Fantasy, Gangster, Ghosts, Hell, Historical, Hitman, Horror, Hunting, Ice Age, Insects, Islands, Karate, Knights, Mafia, Martial Arts, Medieval, Mercenary, Military, Monsters, Ninjas, Orcs, Parallel Worlds, Pirates, Police, Portals, Rabbits, Radioactivity, Reporter, Revolutions, Robots, Rockstars, Roman, Samurai, Sandbox, Skeletons, Space, Space Stations, Special Forces, Squids, Superheroes, Survival, Taxis, Thieves, Time travel, Treasure Hunters, Vampires, Vikings, Werewolves, Witches, Wizards, World Wars, Zombies.
Perfect Settings	Slider Number 0-10	Old Marking System
Gameplay & Graphics	9	+4
Story & Game Length	7	+2
Atmosphere & Functions	2	-3
Game Depth & Beginner Friendly	9	+4
Core-gamer & Casual-gamer	2	-3
Priorities	Slider Percentage 0-50%
Graphics	40
Sounds	25
Technology	20
Gameplay	15

Chapter 17 - Priorities

As of yesterday afternoon to the early hours of today, I've been working on this game. A great deal of it had to do with consistently achieving a 100% score, and trying to figure out what exactly was going on with Priorities, because I was drawing very inconsistent scores.

I've come to the conclusion that despite the clearly defined 'optimal' settings for Priorities, these aren't actually set in stone, and are in fact more like suggested guidelines. This is supported ingame by the fact that there are no green ticks next to the Priorities in completed Game Reports, and Reports made of games with different Priorities, always default to the 'optimal' settings.

If that is true, then what are the 'perfect' settings?

The good news is that I've found the answer, the bad news is that it isn't consistent, it's tied to skills of your Employees and so not only changes between games, but also within the current game.

I have however found a decent work around that while requiring a little additional effort and some math skills, does consistently result in higher scoring games.

Things you will need: Pen or pencil, paper and a calculator, alternative you can use word or notepad, though if that's the case I recommend playing in 'Window Mode' otherwise you'll be Alt+Tabbing to the Desktop quite a lot.

Now comes the tedious part, typing/writing down all your Employees Skills and then adding them up.

I recommend making use of the Staff feature attached to individual rooms, and then going through the Skill lists as they appear, so 'Game Design>Programming>Graphics>Music & Sound'.

Note: Your adding up one(1) skill of all Employees. Not all the skills of one(1) Employee. If you already understood that then that's fine, but not everyone is mathematically savvy, and for those that aren't it can be very easy to make a mistake.

Calculating the total Skill scores of my eight man cube, I get the following.

Game Design = 208.7 = Gameplay
Programming = 148.1 = Technology
Graphics = 164.5 = Graphics
Music & Sound = 178.3 = Sounds

Then order them from Weakest to Strongest, since stronger skills need less support.

1.) Programming = 148.1 = Technology
2.) Graphics = 164.5 = Graphics
3.) Music & Sound = 178.3 = Sounds
4.) Game Design = 208.7 = Gameplay

The next step would be to calculate percentages, which would requires more maths, alternatively you could just check the Priorities above and see if there's a Genre that matches your specific Skill order. Remember that when you're looking through the Guide you're searching for the second word, not the first one.

Sadly there are no perfect matches, but FPS, and TPS are good matches that minimalise Gameplay and Sounds in favor of the other two. With the TPS optimal settings being Graphics 40, Sounds 25 Technology 20, Gameplay 15, I'd set them to these instead. Graphics 40, Sounds 15, Technology 40, Gameplay 5.

I'm using rough estimation, however it is possible to calculate a more accurate number and then carry that to the 5.

Chapter 18 - Specializations

Every character has a Genre Special and a Feature Special. These play a large part in how successful your game will be, and can be all the difference between an 80% and a 90% Review Score or a 90% and a 100% Review Score.

During Character Creation you can choose which Specializations your character can have. It is entirely up to you what you choose, but if you intend to have your character working in Development or Improvement Rooms, then you should choose a Genre and Feature you plan on using a lot. I almost always go for Sports and Internet Multiplayer, which are both released later on in the game.

When Hiring Staff for either Development or Improvement Rooms you should keep their Genre and Feature Special in mind. Taking care to avoid hiring staff whose Genre you are not using, and whose Feature is obsolete. At the start of the game when staff are few and far between, you won't be able to afford being so picky, but as the game progresses, you'll be able to slowly hire your desired staff pool, either culling off the chaff or delegating them Office Work positions.

When the late game rolls by you can have up to 35 Features in your games, by this time you should have (or aim to have) at least 35 Staff members in Development who each have a Specialization in one of those 35 Features.

Ultimately, if your in a position where you can cover all those Features with a Specialist by excluding Features from the game, then this is the preferred route to success. Staff in Development who have a Specialized Feature that isn't in the current game should also be removed from the room. If their Feature Special is outdated, as mentioned above, you should consider firing them or sending them to work somewhere else that doesn't involve Game Development, like Customer Support or Marketing.

Updates

Update 1 - Added Supporting Genres
Update 2 - Combined Tables
Update 3 - Added Table Spacing Between Subjects
Update 4 - Added Title Shorthand to Supporting Genres
Update 5 - Added Target Markets
Update 6 - Added Target Markets to Chapter Titles
Update 7 - Added Target Markets to Supporting Genres
Update 8 - Added All Target Markets
Update 9 (03/05/2016) - Reversed some previous changes to make the Guide more streamlined and removed the absent Chapter 13 joke.
Update 10 (07/06/2016) - Expanded the Introduction to be a bit more informative.
Update 11 (22/06/2016) - Added Configuration Slider Chart.
Update 12 (23/08/2016) - Changed all instances of "Jump & Run" to "Platformer", and removed "Game" from several Genre titles.
Update 13 (23/08/2016) - I've added special marks to the starting Genres to make them easier to pick out. I've also started adding the "Release Date" of the Genres, and the additional "Age Rating" to each Genres' "Target Market".
Update 14 (24/08/2016) - I've added 'Chapter 17 - Priorities' and expanded it's content significantly.
Update 15 (24/08/2016) - I've added the old the numbering system to the Guide, I hope the old Greybeards of the Community appreciate the effort. :P
Update 16 (27/08/2016) - Finished adding Genre Release Dates, Dual Target Markets, and overhauling the structure of the Guide.
Update 17 (19/09/2016) - Started adding preffered Topics.
Update 18 (26/09/2016) - Fixed the Arcade Target Market, deleted the Preffered Topics Chapter, and started adding the Perfect Topics into each Chapter in alphabetical order.
Update 19 (27/09/2016) - Finished adding Perfect Topics for Adventure, Arcade, Fighting, Platformer, Puzzle, Real-time Strategy, RPG, Simulation, Skill and Sports.
Update 20 (27/09/2016) - Finished adding the Perfect Topics for Building, Economic Simulation, First-person Shooter, Interactive Movie, Strategy and Third-person Shooter.
Update 21 (10/10/2016) - Removed the "Masters Guide" link from "Chapter 18 - Specializations" and wrote in a reworked version of what was in my other Guide.
Update 22 (21/06/2017) - Added slider image for the old outdated marking system, for the curious.
Update 23 (10/04/2020) - Fixed Arcade Supporting Target Market in all other Chapters.

Epilogue

For the Greater Good, please Like, Favorite & Follow.

If you found my Guide useful or simply enjoyed reading it, then why not join my Guide Makers Club? It's a group dedicated to helping would-be Guide makers, but if you liked my Guide and want to see me make a Guide for a specific game, then you can make a request there.

Cheers!

[Farsight]

Under Topics.

[Around]

Where is race genre?

[bellwoody]

Problem......for the last chapter.

My employee applicants, are RARE too see modern tech specialists, like 4k or 32 bit sound.
Many of applicants are good at pc speaker, 8 bit sound, simple 3d.....etc.
It's bad luck or I should just focus at skills(1-100) not at specialists?

[Tired Player 365]

@Farsight, don't have to ask them that specifics, just the basics on how the sliders work. Thank you for your patience and info.

[Farsight]

Also, thank you everyone for the additional awards, they are once again greatly appreciated.

[Farsight]

Ah, I see...

Well the way I like to think of it, from an immersion point of view, is that both graphics and gameplay already have 25% of the workload pre-allocated to them. So the sliders are you deciding where the other 50% goes. So, a game with the slider set all the way to the left for gameplay would be given the full 50%, so the end result would be a game with 75% gameplay and 25% graphics.

However, that's just my own train of thought trying to make sense of the senselessness of it all. I don't know the real reason why the Developer set things the way that they did, you can ask them about it on the Discussion hub if you like, although their pretty busy (I should hope) working on this games sequel, so it may take them awhile to get to you.

[Tired Player 365]

@Farsight, I understand the numbering scheme shown in those pictures. My question is what do that mean. For example if my Gameplay/Graphic slider is at 8, does it mean 8 gameplay (2 graphic) or vice versa? Does 8 mean better for gameplay (by number) or more on graphic since its close to that end. My another confusion was for adventure game, story/gamelength is at a zero. Isnt that weird that adventure game doesnt need a good story if zero means zero for story?

[Farsight]

There should be two images under the "introduction" that help explain how sliders work, if they aren't appearing, then you may need to open the guide using a different browser.

[Tired Player 365]

Need some help interpreting the sliders.... Now lets say I place the slider at 4 for Gameplay (left)/Graphics (right). Does that 4 value account for gameplay (a 6 for graphics) ? So if my slider is completely to the left, will I be putting more focus on gameplay or graphics?

[Thunderbird12]

Yes i know the guide is old and you probably haven't looked at it in years but i just started playing the game and i'm interested in the math behind it.
Chapter 17 about Priorities you say you have a way of figuring out how to match the priorities of any genre to the combined skill of your Employees and you begin the math with adding all their values together for each skill and then say to calc the percentages but describe nowhere how to go from there.
How do you match those % to the priorities?
Your "example" then is for a Genre that has matching priorities and even then im not quite seeing where you get to the new settings matching the skills of your workers. I just need the equation for how to get from skill% to the priority%.