The Developer

The Developer is a game development management game in which you start alone in a basement and build a company by hiring and training workers, researching technologies and creating games to compete in the market.

Game development history

Follow a history roughly similar to the real world as famous companies release consoles. The timeline spans 60 years, from first-generation 8-bit consoles through technological advances from 2D graphics to augmented reality. You can instruct workers to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of consoles.

Create and grow your company

Choose how much time workers spend on each aspect of development, and select features suited to your games' genres and topics. Games that earn good reviews can bring high sales and happy fans. You can create games in eight genres and choose from up to 100 unique topics, make sequels to popular hits, and build custom game engines from technologies you have researched.

As the company grows, you move from your basement into an office and hire more developers. Upgrading the office unlocks abilities that help you make higher-quality games, and you can also try creating your own gaming console. Business loans can help keep the company funded.

Game modes

The game has four modes: Standard, No PC mode, Creative mode, where each topic can only be used once, and a special hard mode featuring market crashes, the Y2K bug and a global recession. In Development Champions, you compete against rival companies. Hidden achievements are also available.