How to Use the Video Game MOD
A user-created MOD focused on the video game industry brings features and mechanics of its own. To make a video game startup succeed, work through the three phases below.
Happy to develop game software for consoles other companies manufacture? Skip phases 1 and 2 and start at phase 3.
Phase 1 — Create an IP for your console hardware
Building your own hardware starts with an intellectual property.
Add a Product IP unit
A Product IP unit is added inside an R&D center.
Develop a new hardware IP
Click [Develop a New Hardware IP].
Select Video Game Console
Choose a console product group
Three console product groups are offered. The one you pick sets the research path for your new hardware IP.
Choose Proprietary or Open Source
This is the strategic decision of the phase, and it cuts both ways.
| Choice | Who can manufacture | Upside | Downside |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proprietary | Only your company. | A higher profit margin on the hardware business. | No one else is working to grow your console’s market share. |
| Open Source | Any third-party company you grant rights to. | Your hardware proliferates far faster, and the user base grows with it. | You are not the only producer, so you profit less per unit and face price pressure from third parties. |
The IP itself is created instantly. Developing the technology and the operating system behind it takes considerably longer — that is phase 2.
Phase 2 — Develop an operating system for the console
You cannot manufacture a console until it has an OS.
Research the three OS technologies
Set up a software development company and take these to a tech level of at least 30:
- Console OS Core
- Console OS Display
- Console OS Input
The research takes several years. To skip the wait entirely, enable Player Starts with OS Tech on the New Game Setting menu — you then begin the game with the required OS tech level.
Start a Game Console OS product
Click [New Software Product] and select Game Console OS.
Choose your IP
Wait for development to finish
Development of the OS begins. When it completes, your factory can start manufacturing the consoles.
Phase 3 — Develop game software
Pick a genre from the Software Guide
The Software Guide lists the game genres open to your first project.
Set up a company and hire for it
Start a new software company and hire people with the skills the chosen genre’s technology needs.
Start a new software product
With the technology ready, click [New Software Product] and select the genre.
Choose a title and box image
You then pick a unique game title and box image from within that genre. In this example the company focuses on Economic Sim, so the list shows the various versions of Capitalism as pre-defined custom game products.
Tech level gates the list. At an Economic Sim tech level of 31, only the original Capitalism — which requires 30 — can be selected. The more advanced versions need higher levels and stay locked for now.
The MOD’s distinctive mechanic
You cannot develop a generic game. There is no such thing as an unnamed Economic Simulation title — every game needs a pre-defined title and custom image behind it. That is deliberate: products with recognizable names are simply more fun to develop and sell than generic ones.
The consequence is that each MOD holds a finite supply of titles. Once every pre-defined title in a genre has been taken, you must move your focus to another genre.
Worried the supply will cap the size of your empire? It does not have to — you can add your own game images and titles.