[h1]UNBALANCED Mess[/h1]
I bought this game back in 2020 and waited forever for it to come out of Early Access.. which never happened, and I forgot about it. Since the dev stopped working on it (over 100 days without an update), I'm finally giving this a try in 2024. Review after 96 mins..
[h1]PROS:[/h1]
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[*] I get the idea behind it. The initial difficulty, the "struggle" before you make it. But most of the struggle isn't really from gameplay or "fun". I can see how you could improve upon this idea and make it actually fun though.
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[h1]CONS:[/h1]
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[*] [b]UI/UX[/b]: Annoying beeps with autosave notifications, tiny round icons in the corner for some reason with text reserved for popups (annoying trait of most games these days). A lot of pointless clicking to do simple things.
Want to do a commision?
1. Click a tiny icon on bottom left to search for a commission >>
2. [b]Take the commission by clicking a tiny icon[/b] >>
3. Select "Create Project" on top right to create that commission >>
4. [b]Then click "Select Employee" to select your ONLY employee (which isn't auto selected, you have to do all of this every time)[/b] >>
5. Click "create project" to create the damn project >>
6. [b]Then select list of components to make that project (components aren't selected automatically for some reason, even though you need those specific components to finish the project without fines)[/b].
What a mess. I swear this is done intentionally to pad the play time. There's no way someone unintentionally designs such a pointless process to do something simple. If you think it isn't bad, keep in mind, YOU ARE DOING THIS CONSTANTLY. You have to go through the same steps over and over again. This game is nothing but creating projects in the end.
[*] [b]VISUALS[/b]: Can't be sure which asset pack, but I'm going to guess that this game uses that ♥♥♥♥♥♥ Synty (Google it) asset pack every other Indie game on Steam uses. Honestly, I'm wondering why this game even needs to be in 3D? In 96 mins I played, this game did less than age old Game Dev Tycoon or even Game Dev Story. I mean, even Game Dev Studio had a more interesting looking world with better gameplay, and it was made in Love2D, while this game uses Unity. Software Inc. seems to be the source of inspiration, not just for gameplay elements but awful visuals as well.
I would set the game to lowest quality if I were you. Nothing of value would be lost.
[*] [b]SOUNDS/MUSIC[/b]: Another indie game with garbage audio. especially that awful music constantly on loop. This game goes a step beyond by adding an annoying notification beep that can't be muted. So you have to lower the sound in the game completely or listen to that beep constantly.
[*] [b]GAMEPLAY/STORY[/b]: This game tries to be a tycoon game with visual novel elements. It pops up story elements and gives you dialogue choices. Like offering a pet (which the game doesn't tell you will cost $200/month to keep). Eventually you'll just realize that this part of the game is a waste of time and best left ignored.
I'm not kidding. When I first played the game, I did sit through a few of these story elements. I quickly realized that the writing was equivalent to a Wattpad novel. In a quick restart after going bankrupt, I completely ignored any interaction with the virtual "friends" who seem to have too much free time during financial crises, the crises that'll bankrupt you and abruptly end your playthrough with one failed project, in the first hour of playthrough. Your "friends" do nothing but want to drink and hang out 24/7, if you'd rather work, game basically tags you as a loser. Nice.
This game has zero balancing or the developer rolled the dice when deciding what went where.
A mid-game or end-game event like "Financial Crises" shows up during the first hour when the player just started. I was level 17 when it happened (56 mins in). I was finally enjoying the game a bit, and had decided not to review this game harshly, when the financial crisis happened. One failed project, with no way to load up old saves (there is only one save game, and the game autosaves constantly), I was -$8000 instead of $1500 I had in my bank account. I was already struggling for money because of the crises, the asinine fines of failed projects in this game wiped me out in an instant.
That's 56 mins of my life I'm never getting back.
Nothing you can do worse than waste a player's time. Game development 101. This also resulted in this negative review.
If you wanna know the developer's idea of "FUN". Someone got killed in a random accident event that KILLS THE PLAYER: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1351360/discussions/0/3154186375134451960/
I swear to god this developer got his ideas from too many Twine games.
[*] [b]IMPROVEMENTS[/b]: Can this game be salvaged? Sure.
- Remove/disable or give an option to disable the visual novel nonsense. I'm here to play a tycoon game, not a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ life sim with C&C.
- Mute the UI elements, like autosave, or give an option to do so without muting the entire game.
- Reduce the pointless clicking to do basic things. Why doesn't the "SELECT EMPLOYEE" auto-select the only employee (PC) every time? Why do I have to pointlessly select components, why does that part even exist unless the plan is to bore the player to the point that they end up accidentally selecting wrong components?
- Balance the difficulty curve. Player needs to be eased into the world, not pushed into it and kicked around instantly by random events that don't seem to bother the NPC's. I was getting a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ event where I discovered BDSM rope in some friend's house. When the f**k did I even go there? My character never leaves the chair, I never made that decision, I've been ignoring my friends constantly in-fact. Hell, because of financial crises, I thought the event was something darker (that the friend was planning to hang himself). But no, it's something dumber and annoying.
- Add save slots. I'm not going to sit through your game for hours to waste my time because of some random "event" that messes up the playthrough. Don't disrespect my time. Even better, don't add random events which can't be skipped or events which ruin the gameplay.
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I'm sure there are more improvements needed, but I can't be arsed to sit through more than 96 mins. So my input is based on that.
But since the game hasn't been updated for 100+ days now, I'm going to consider this another abandonware on Steam and move on. I don't see this game getting updated or improved to the point where it'll be worth playing.
[b]EDIT[/b]: Tried to play a bit more to give this game a fair shake. Nah, this game is just a mess. No wonder the dev abandoned it and moved on.
[olist]
[*] Formed a company, decided to release my first "Game", which is called a "Project" and it just feels like you can call it anything really. This has to be the laziest implementation of "Create your software" in-game after Software Inc. and Startup Company. In-fact it feels as soulless as those two games. You are just releasing a random app with whatever features (two while you have 4 unlocked, cause.. reasons?) which has no soul, shape or form. Might as well be Notepad.exe renamed as Crysis.exe, doesn't matter, it doesn't exist even virtually.
Anyway, released the "Game" and suddenly I was in "70 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ K" in debt. Why? What the ♥♥♥♥ are those publishing fees? Has the developer heard of the internet? You can release ♥♥♥♥ for free there and still make money.
You go into debt by releasing a random project, no idea if it's making money or not cause the UI/UX is ♥♥♥♥, so you're sitting there confused, going bankrupt while ♥♥♥♥♥♥ visual novel popups keep happening.
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[h1][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37751144/]SCRAPPY JUNKYARD - Curator Group[/url][/h1]
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