Game Dev Tycoon is a captivating simulation game where you take on the role of a game developer, starting in your garage and potentially growing into a massive game studio. For players who love to complete everything a game has to offer, achievements are a key part of the experience. This guide will walk you through every achievement in Game Dev Tycoon, providing clear instructions and helpful tips to unlock them all and become a true tycoon of the game development world.
Achievement Walkthrough: Become a Game Dev Master
Here’s a comprehensive breakdown of all the achievements in Game Dev Tycoon and how to obtain them. We’ve categorized them for easier navigation and understanding.
Gameplay & Progression Achievements
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Diversity: Have male and female staff.
- How to Unlock: Simply hire both male and female staff members. As you progress and expand your company, ensure your hiring includes both genders. This will likely happen naturally as you grow.
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Perfect Game: Get a clean score of 10.
- How to Unlock: Achieving a perfect 10/10 score from reviewers is a challenging but rewarding goal. It’s recommended to attempt this with Medium or Large games, as smaller games can be harder to perfect due to less development time and features.
- Tips:
- Focus on research and development to unlock advanced technologies and genres.
- Match your game’s genre and topic carefully to create a winning combination.
- Utilize all development phases effectively, paying attention to design, technology, and gameplay.
- Invest heavily in marketing to maximize your game’s initial impact.
- Target a platform that aligns well with your game’s genre and target audience.
- Aim for innovation and trendsetting features when appropriate.
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Versatile: Release a successful game in all main genres.
- How to Unlock: You need to release a game that is considered successful (generally well-received with decent sales and review scores) in each of the main game genres available in Game Dev Tycoon. This will require you to explore and master different genre combinations and understand what makes a game successful in each category.
- Genres to Master: Action, Adventure, RPG, Strategy, Simulation, Casual, and potentially more as you progress through the game and unlock new ones.
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Writer’s Block: Create a game and wait 1 minute before typing in a name.
- How to Unlock: This is a simple, time-based achievement. Start developing a new game, and once you reach the game naming screen, just wait for 60 seconds before entering a name. Patience is key here!
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Eat Cake: When you’ll be asked to add barrels to a game, add them in an action game.
- How to Unlock: During game development, you will occasionally get random events or requests. One of these is the option to “add barrels”. When this option appears, make sure you are developing an Action genre game and choose to add the barrels.
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Turn it up to 11: Get a reviewer to give an 11/10. (Don’t try it with AAA games initially).
- How to Unlock: Achieving an 11/10 review score is extremely rare and generally not possible with AAA (large budget) games in the early to mid-game. Focus on creating high-quality Medium or Large games with excellent genre/topic combinations and innovative features. This achievement is somewhat luck-based but heavily influenced by game quality.
- Tips:
- Experiment with different genre combinations that have high potential.
- Push the limits of technology and design in your games.
- Ensure your game is highly innovative and scores exceptionally well in all review categories.
- This may take multiple attempts and a bit of luck with reviewer scores.
Naming & Company Achievements
These achievements are unlocked by naming your games or company in specific ways, referencing iconic games and developers.
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Treasure Hunter: Create a game named “Pong” in your Garage.
- How to Unlock: In your starting garage, simply create a new game and name it “Pong”. The genre and topic don’t particularly matter for this achievement, just the name and location.
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Bluehair reporting for space duty: Create a game named “Wing Commander” in the 2nd building before upgrading it.
- How to Unlock: Once you move into your second office building (before any upgrades), develop a new game and name it “Wing Commander”. Again, genre and topic are less important than the name and building stage.
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Welcome to Mars: Create a game named “Doom” in the 2nd building before upgrading it.
- How to Unlock: Similar to “Wing Commander”, in your un-upgraded second building, create a game and name it “Doom”.
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Welcome to your Hospital: Create a game named “Theme Hospital” in the 2nd building after upgrading it.
- How to Unlock: Upgrade your second building. After the upgrade is complete, develop a game and name it “Theme Hospital”.
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Best ride to work ever: Create a game named “Half-Life” in the 2nd building after upgrading it.
- How to Unlock: In your upgraded second building, create a new game and name it “Half-Life”.
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The sky is not the limit: Create a game named “Star Citizen” after unlocking the R&D lab.
- How to Unlock: Progress through the game until you unlock the Research and Development (R&D) lab. After unlocking it, create a game and name it “Star Citizen”.
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Welcome Chief: Create a game named “Halo” after unlocking the R&D lab.
- How to Unlock: Once you have the R&D lab, develop a game and name it “Halo”.
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Painting with nature: Create a game named “Okami” after unlocking the R&D lab (Has to be on a Playsystem).
- How to Unlock: After unlocking the R&D lab, you need to create a game named “Okami”. Crucially, this game must be developed for a “Playsystem” console (like the fictional consoles in the game).
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Inception: Create a Game Dev/Simulation game named “Game Dev Tycoon”.
- How to Unlock: Develop a new game, select the “Simulation” genre and the “Game Dev” topic (or vice versa, if available), and name the game “Game Dev Tycoon”.
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Admirer: Call your company “Greenheart Games”.
- How to Unlock: When starting a new game, name your company “Greenheart Games”, which is the actual developer of Game Dev Tycoon.
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Fan: Call your company “Activision” (or another known gaming company).
- How to Unlock: Start a new game and name your company after a real-world game company. “Activision” is given as an example, but you could also use names like “Electronic Arts”, “Nintendo”, “Ubisoft”, etc.
Sales & Financial Achievements
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Famous: Hire someone ‘famous’ (happens by chance).
- How to Unlock: As you progress and your company gains reputation, occasionally when hiring new staff, you may encounter a “famous” applicant. This is largely random, so just keep hiring staff as needed, and eventually, a famous person will appear in the hiring pool.
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Unobtainium: Get 100M sales on a single game (Possibly the hardest, you can’t use expansion packs).
- How to Unlock: This is considered the most challenging achievement, requiring you to sell 100 million copies of a single game without using expansion packs.
- Tips for Unobtainium:
- Save Strategically: Save your game before launching a potential blockbuster game. This allows you to reload and adjust your strategy if needed.
- Maximize Funds: Accumulate a significant amount of money (around 1000M or more) to invest in development and marketing.
- Develop a AAA Game: Focus on creating a high-quality AAA game (using the largest game size and budget).
- Target G3/M6 Consoles: Develop your game for the most advanced consoles available (G3 or M6 in later stages of the game) to reach a wider audience.
- Optimal Marketing: Invest heavily in the best marketing campaigns available to generate massive hype and initial sales.
- Sustain Momentum: Even if the game’s profits decline after the initial launch, keep it on the market. Consistent, even small, sales over a long period contribute to the 100M goal.
- Game Conventions: Host your own game conventions regularly to boost your company and game’s visibility and generate extra revenue through contract work.
- Consistent High Quality: Focus on consistently releasing well-received games (averaging 9-10 review scores) to build a strong fanbase and company reputation.
Conclusion: Achievement Unlocked – Game Dev Tycoon Master!
By following this guide, you should be well on your way to unlocking every achievement in Game Dev Tycoon. Some achievements are straightforward, while others require strategic gameplay and a bit of patience. Enjoy the journey of building your game development empire and collecting all the accolades along the way! Now go forth and become the ultimate Game Dev Tycoon!