Kairosoft!

[Ink Asylum]

These guys are fast becoming my favorite mobile game developers. (http://kairopark.jp/iphone/en/) For those who don't recognize the name, they're the creators of Game Dev Story. More recently, they've released Hot Springs Story, Grand Prix Story and Pocket Academy, and they're working on Department Store Story.

Their games, all of them classic sims, reming me of the better titles during the "Theme" craze found on the PC last decade, especially Theme Hospital. Despite sharing some similarities, particularly the adorable, bright pixel art, the game mechanics in each title are unique enough that they don't feel like just tile swaps.

I'm knee deep in Hot Tub Story at the moment, and I know others here loved Game Dev Story. I thought it worth pointing out some of their more recent titles.

[Worldcrafter]

I love their stuff too. I'm playing Grand Prix Story and it's similar in feel to Game Dev, but with enough twists to make it unique. Kairosoft just promised to release all their games stateside on iOS and Android so we can expect a pretty constant stream of time killing games from them.

[Chris_D]

I liked Game Dev story a ton but Hot Springs Story didn't do much for me. I'm looking forward to the Game Software store management sim that I gather is in the pipeline.

[Ink Asylum]

I liked Game Dev story a ton but Hot Springs Story didn't do much for me. I'm looking forward to the Game Software store management sim that I gather is in the pipeline.

I'll admit Hot Springs Story isn't holding my interest as long as Game Dev. I'd like to give Grand Prix a try, but it's not on iOS yet.

[Wilkz07]

LOVED Game Dev. I can't tell you how many sequels I made to my Horror Audio book: Murder Whore that constantly made the Hall of Fame.

Wasn't a huge fan of Hot Springs, just couldn't get into it. I will get the GrandPrix today. Dept Store sounds like fun - wonder if this is the version of 'game store' that was supposed to come out.

[Chris_D]

The problem is, as a HUGE fan of hot springs, I had made my ideal hot spring hotel in about 90 minutes with the game. You know, a rock garden, some bamboo, a couple of small baths, a vending machine for cold drinks, a cute little cafe in the corner, a souvenir shop to buy Hello Kitty towels. Making some kind of hot spring mega complex is kind of the antithesis of the whole concept.

With Game Dev Story I really didn't want my studio to be making shitty PC puzzle games until it went under so there was definite motivation there :).

[Wilkz07]

Is Grand Prix Story out yet? I don't see it listed on the Kairo Park website.

Hopefully GameDev Story 2 will allow further office expansion.

[Ink Asylum]

My hope for Game Dev Story 2 is being able to level up/train your early employees enough that they'll be comparable to the mega-employees you can hire later. At a certain point if you want to improve your studio you pretty much have to sack your old staff and hire better ones. You'd figure an employee in a business for twenty years would have top of the line skills.

[jpublic]

Grand Prix is out on Android. I've played through it once, and I think it's fantastic.

It's more similar to Game Dev than Hot Springs.

Here's a quick rundown: You build a team of a driver and some mechanics. The driver has a set of driving skills that affect his performance on the track, as well as some mechanical skills. The mechanics have only the mechanical skills. You build a car, add parts, and go racing. You can spend research to level up mechanics, improve parts or car models, research new models or parts, or even level up your mechanics. TO improve your driver beyond the random point-ups they gain, you have to train them, but that quickly becomes an 'only when glowing' affair.

Races are either single-race affairs or a Grand Prix, which are a series of several races. Those are tricky, because you need to have a decent enough team to repair your car in the 'down time' between races, and you may often need to account for several road types in a single GP.

As you advance, you get another car team (which means winning GPs gets WAY easier, because you have two teams to get points) and can hire mroe mechanics per team. This is essential because to build the more advanced car models you need a lot of mechanical skills.

It's fun, and watching the races is entertaining and frustrating, especially when someone's bad driving makes them go from 1st to 5th in about 2 seconds.

[TheEpicOfTyler]

Last time I checked they only had Game Dev Story on Android. I don't know what I'll do now that they have 2 others up... Nothing will get done.

[J Arcane]

I want Grand Prix sooooo bad! I don't understand why it's not on iOS, but instead we get Academy which is just Hot Springs with a coat of paint and more personnel micromanagement.

I didn't like Hot Springs, the subject didn't interest me, and the mechanics seemed kinda obtuse.

[Handmade.Mercury]

I loved Game Dev Story. Bought Pocket Academy the other day, but have yet to figure it out.

[Ink Asylum]

I'm puzzling through Pocket Academy at the moment. Early on it looks like there's a lot less building to be done than in Hot Springs. Right now I'm trying out new options as I find them and trying not to run out of money.