Polaris Game Dev Sim is a game development simulation game, built using PolarisKit, a lightweight modular starter kit for building 2D games with Pygame.
Polaris Game Dev Sim is designed to be fully replayable, strategic, and a complete example of what PolarisKit can power.
This is a passion project by Polaris Studios, designed to explore strategy, creativity, and history, and to serve as a showcase for PolarisKit and clean game architecture.
The game will feature a full historical timeline (1958 → 2059), unique meta progression, and a rich time-management core loop.
- Game starts in 1958, year of the first commercial video game.
- The studio continues through 2059, a full century of industry history.
- Every year, players choose how to spend their time, balancing staff growth, game releases, studio upgrades, and long-term goals.
Key design goal: Slow, meaningful progression.
Each year, the player starts with 52 weeks.
At each decision point, they choose how to spend their weeks:
- Train Staff (4 weeks): Improve staff stats, diminishing returns if repeated
- Advertise Company (8 weeks): Grow fanbase
- Create Small Game (12 weeks): Build revenue and fans
- Relax Staff (16 weeks): Fully reset fatigue and motivation
- Create Big Game (24 weeks): High risk/reward project
- Create Console (52 weeks): Launch your own platform
- Prototype New Tech (6 weeks): Unlock new features or bonuses
- Attend Conference (1 week): Random small bonus (fans, hype, contacts)
Year ends → player reviews results → new year begins.
- Full historical timeline (1958 → 2059)
- Diminishing returns system on training forces variety
- Meta progression: carry one staff member back to 1958 on new run
- Staff stats, fatigue, motivation
- Game project history track shipped games
- Fans, money, achievements system
- Full text-based prototype first, art and polish layered in later
The game will track:
- Current year and weeks remaining
- Player’s fanbase and money
- Staff roster with stats (coding, art, design), motivation, fatigue
- Shipped game projects history and outcomes
- Achievements earned
- Legacy staff, staff carried over into future runs
This project will begin as a text-based game prototype, built using PolarisKit:
- Proves that the game loop is fun
- Allows fast tuning of balance and pacing
- Easy to iterate
- Art and UI can be layered in once core is solid
- PolarisKit v2.1
- Polaris Studios project branch
This project is in early prototype phase.
The goal is to:
- Build a unique Game Dev Sim
- Explore historical progression and meta strategy
- Demonstrate the flexibility of PolarisKit
- Build a fun and replayable core loop
If you'd like to follow progress stay tuned!