Info about Good Company: Official game description: Good Company is an in-depth management sim about building a bustling tech corporation in a world inspired by the trail-blazing spirit of Silicon Valley. Assemble complex production lines, manage employee logistics, and sell high-quality products on the market to become the best company in the whole county! **BECOME A PRODUCTION POWERHOUSE** ---------------------------------- Turn a garage into your first manufacturing headquarters and eventually develop it into a leading tech corp. Purchase materials, hire staff and craft a wide range of items as you focus on building an efficient production line that always keeps the goods flowing! **AUTOMATE FOR SUCCESS** ------------------------ Create complex production loops using a powerful logistics system. Expand into new buildings and improve efficiency with zone management, work policies and fully automated machines. **INVENT AND INNOVATE** ----------------------- Design new tech products that will conquer an ever-changing market. Focus on in-demand features and create high-quality products - or just squeeze as much profit out of them as you can! **GET BIGGER, BETTER, BOLDER** ------------------------------ Build beyond your humble beginnings by expanding your facilities, investing in new markets and researching new technology. Manufacture advanced products like robots and improve workflow using the power of conveyor belts! **BE A BACKYARD VISIONARY** --------------------------- Play Campaign mode and follow the story of a local entrepreneur determined to save the economy of their home county! Complete missions with a high rating and prove yourself through additional challenge levels. **COLLABORATE WITH FRIENDS** ---------------------------- Explore unlimited possibilities in Freeplay mode and work together in online Multiplayer for up to 4 players (includes cross-platform compatibility). * Single player Campaign Mode * Endless Freeplay Mode * Co-op Multiplayer * Bonus challenge missions * Create and optimise complex production lines * Manage workflow with the Logistics system * Automated workforce and manufacturing * Buy materials and manage stock * Hire, train and assign tasks to employees * Invent and design tech products * Research new technologies * Sell your products on an evolving market * Develop employee skills and nurture their happiness * Expand your company across additional buildings * Set company goals for your business to achieve * Assign business policies with various benefits * Compete with rival companies for market influence * Undertake company assignments for bonus rewards Release date: 21 Jun, 2022 Categories: Management Simulation, Factory Building, Automation Game, Logistics Management, Product Design, Cooperative Multiplayer, Single-player Story, Resource Management - Hardware Profile: No data Feature extractions: - Community Price: No data - Playtime Metrics: No data - Time-to-fun: No data - Player Archetypes: No data Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category. Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews. What players like: - Engaging & Deep Gameplay (weight 1): The game offers a highly addictive and rewarding experience, blending strategic planning, complex logistics, and satisfying automation. Players find the core loop of designing products, optimizing production, and managing economics deeply engaging and challenging, often comparing its depth favorably to titles like Factorio. - Appealing Art Style & Sound (weight 0.28): Reviewers consistently praise the game's adorable and colorful art style, noting its functional cuteness and polished visuals. The low-poly graphics and fitting soundtrack contribute to a pleasant and fresh aesthetic. - Responsive Developers (weight 0.2): The development team is highly praised for their continuous updates, quick bug fixes, and active communication with the community. Their dedication and responsiveness have significantly improved the game over time. - High Potential, Underrated (weight 0.16): Many reviewers feel the game is underrated and possesses significant untapped potential within its genre. Despite concerns about its development status, players still find it unique and enjoyable. - Accessible Learning Curve (weight 0.16): The game is praised for its smooth and gentle learning curve, aided by a well-designed tutorial and intuitive UI. This allows players to quickly grasp the basics and dive into optimizing processes. - Robust Current State (weight 0.13): Reviewers note that the game, even in its current or early access state, feels like a complete experience with substantial content and progression. It's considered stable with no serious game-breaking bugs. - Deep Product Design (weight 0.12): The game features a robust product design system where players must research components and design products to match market demands. This allows for fine customization and strategic choices, from low-cost mass production to high-value niche devices. - Rewarding Production Output (weight 0.08): Players find immense satisfaction in witnessing their meticulously designed factories efficiently produce goods and generate increasing profits. This visual and economic feedback loop provides a strong sense of accomplishment. - Functional Multiplayer (weight 0.08): The inclusion of multiplayer support is highly praised, with reviewers finding it functional and adding significant fun when playing with friends. It makes company setup more accessible. - Unique Factory Simulation (weight 0.08): The game is noted as a solid, lightweight entry in the factory building genre, offering a unique abstract representation of retooling production lines. Some players even report gaining a better understanding of real-world manufacturing processes. - Enhanced Logistics System (weight 0.07): Recent updates have significantly improved the logistics system, introducing smart and automatic route settings. This has resolved previous "logistics problems" and made the system much clearer and more efficient. - Customizable Free Play (weight 0.07): The game's free play mode is highly customizable, offering a built-in progression system and settings that cater to both new and experienced players. This flexibility enhances replayability and allows for diverse play styles. Common complaints: - Tedious Manual Management (weight 0.98): Players find core gameplay loops, such as setting up production chains, reconfiguring layouts, and managing inventory, excessively tedious and manual. The absence of quality-of-life features like copy-paste, bulk demolition, and automated desk settings forces repetitive, time-consuming actions, making the game feel like a chore. - Limited Replayability & Endgame (weight 0.79): The game offers limited replayability due to its linear progression and insufficient late-game automation. Players quickly reach the limits of gameplay, finding the endgame repetitive and lacking in new challenges or achievement systems to encourage continued engagement. - Persistent Bugs & Unfinished (weight 0.77): The game is plagued by numerous bugs, including frequent crashes, freezes, and soft locks, many of which have been reported for years and remain unaddressed. This indicates a lack of polish and active development, leading players to feel the game was released unfinished and subsequently abandoned. - Convoluted Logistics System (weight 0.38): The logistics system is widely criticized for being convoluted, buggy, and difficult to manage. Issues include poor AI routing, items getting stuck, settings not saving, and a lack of precise control over item flow, leading to frustration and game-breaking problems. - Steep Learning Curve (weight 0.17): The game presents a steep learning curve, particularly due to its complex logistics system and lack of clear explanations. Players often feel overwhelmed and struggle to advance, with the inability to pause time further increasing the difficulty of trial-and-error. - Unclear Financials & Bankruptcy (weight 0.16): The game's financial system is difficult to understand due to a lack of clear statistics and detailed economic information. This opacity, combined with rapid product obsolescence and high financial pressure, often leads to frustrating and unexpected bankruptcies. - Poor UI/UX & Hotkeys (weight 0.13): The user interface is described as frustrating and inconvenient, especially for managing large production chains. A significant lack of hotkeys and issues with camera and character controls contribute to a cumbersome and physically tiring experience. - Shallow Employee Management (weight 0.11): Employee management is cumbersome, requiring individual clicks for hiring and tedious manual skill assignments. Furthermore, the system is shallow, as employees with varying wages offer no discernible difference in ability or productivity, making hiring decisions meaningless. - Repetitive Product Updates (weight 0.11): Products quickly become obsolete, forcing players into a repetitive cycle of research and updates to maintain market relevance. This update process is often tedious, requiring manual interaction with each production table, which detracts from the gameplay experience. - Flawed Campaign Mode (weight 0.1): The campaign mode suffers from several issues, including long periods of waiting, bugged or broken levels, and pre-built setups that are difficult to reconfigure. It also provides limited challenges and introduces mechanics that are not consistently used, impacting player experience. - Restrictive Factory Space (weight 0.08): The factory spaces provided are often too small and narrow, leading to inefficient layouts and 'spaghetti planning' for production lines. This restriction limits effective use of conveyors and equipment, making it difficult to create aesthetically pleasing or highly optimized factories. - Free Mode Pacing Issues (weight 0.06): The pacing in free mode feels off, quickly becoming a grind to acquire better technology. The technology tree itself is perceived as slowing player progress rather than enhancing it, making it difficult to break through and enjoy the sandbox experience. Gameplay feedback: - Deep Business Simulation (weight 0.28): The game is a comprehensive business and management simulator focused on micro-level factory operations. Players manage resources, personnel, production lines, research, and product design, iterating to optimize profitability. It's compared to games like Factorio and Software Inc, emphasizing its detailed production and logistics challenges. - Granular Factory Layout (weight 0.22): Players engage in highly detailed factory layout and logistics setup, including manual and automated options for material flow. This involves strategically placing workbenches, shelves, and conveyors, defining connections between them, and managing item transport. The system allows for intricate production chains from raw materials to finished products. - Guided Campaign Tutorial (weight 0.18): The single-player campaign serves as an extensive tutorial, gradually introducing core game mechanics and features through a series of missions. It provides a structured learning path for players to understand the game's complexities. The game also includes an in-game guide for further assistance. - Challenging Logistics Management (weight 0.18): Logistics is a central and complex aspect of the game, requiring players to architect efficient work organization and manage supply lines. Players must constantly retool production lines to meet demand, and while automation is attempted, the game lacks alerts for issues like fill levels or labor shortages, making manual oversight crucial. It's considered one of the most important components alongside research. - Flexible Freeplay Mode (weight 0.14): The game offers a freeplay mode where all mechanics are available from the start, allowing players to experiment without specific mission objectives. This mode supports adjustable difficulty settings and is the primary mode for online multiplayer cooperation. It provides a sandbox experience for creative factory building. - Modular Product Creation (weight 0.14): The game features a detailed system for designing and producing products using various modules and components. Players must research new modules, procure raw materials, and assemble them into final products, often with a Tetris-like design interface. This process involves manufacturing all internal components rather than purchasing them. - Worker Automation Potential (weight 0.08): The game allows players to hire employees to manage production and logistics, significantly speeding up operations compared to manual player involvement. It's possible to build fully automated facilities run entirely by reprogrammable workers, enabling hands-off production once set up. - Evolving Market Demands (weight 0.07): The game features a dynamic market that constantly evolves and becomes more demanding over time. Players must continuously upgrade their products or offer discounts on obsolete items to remain competitive and profitable. This forces strategic product development and adaptation. - Dual Tech Tree Research (weight 0.07): The game incorporates a technology tree system divided into two areas: analysis and research. Players generate research points by analyzing existing modules, which are then used to unlock new and improved components and functions. This system drives progression and product innovation. - Restrictive Challenge Missions (weight 0.06): Beyond the main campaign, the game offers bonus challenge missions designed with special restrictions and tricky tasks. These missions provide additional difficulty and test players' mastery of the game's mechanics under specific constraints. - Community Mod Support (weight 0.04): The game has either added or plans to add support for mods, indicating a commitment to community-driven content and extending the game's replayability. This feature allows players to customize and expand the game experience. - Cooperative Online Play (weight 0.04): The game features an online multiplayer mode, specifically designed for two players to cooperate in building a company. This cooperative experience is primarily available within the freeplay mode, allowing friends to manage a factory together. Performance notes: - Frequent game crashes (weight 0.02): Players frequently experience game instability, leading to crashes every few hours. This issue significantly disrupts gameplay sessions and negatively impacts the overall player experience. - Graphics not essential (weight 0.02): Players express that ultra-realistic graphics are not a necessary feature for the game's enjoyment or success. This suggests that development resources might be better allocated to other aspects of the game. Recommendations: - Wait for improvements (weight 0.36): Many reviewers advise waiting for further development, bug fixes, and quality-of-life improvements before purchasing. The game is currently considered unpolished or incomplete by some, especially at its full price, and may not be suitable for casual players or those expecting a finished product. - Great for genre fans (weight 0.21): The game is highly recommended for players who enjoy complex management, logistics, and factory simulation games, offering a deep and engaging experience that can lead to many hours of play. It's particularly suitable for those who appreciate meticulous gameplay. - Good value on sale (weight 0.14): Despite being in Early Access, the game is considered well-playable and offers substantial content. Many reviewers recommend purchasing it, especially when it's available at a discount, as it offers good value for genre enthusiasts. - Promising future potential (weight 0.07): Reviewers express optimism for the game's future, believing that upcoming updates and quality-of-life improvements will significantly enhance the experience. Many are willing to re-evaluate their recommendations once these changes are implemented. - Campaign aids beginners (weight 0.04): The game's campaign mode is highlighted as a helpful tool for new players, making the complex mechanics more manageable. It provides a structured way for first-timers to learn and engage with the game. - Logistics issues improved (weight 0.02): Recent updates have addressed previous criticisms regarding the game's logistics system. Reviewers note that the improvements make the system more functional and enjoyable, potentially invalidating older negative feedback on this aspect. - Better alternatives exist (weight 0.02): Some reviewers suggest that other games like Kenshi or Factorio might offer a more complete or satisfying experience in a similar genre, implying the game might not be the best choice for everyone. Other player notes: - Future Content & Development (weight 0.18): Players desire continued development, new content, and adherence to the roadmap. There's concern about the developer's focus shifting to other projects, but also anticipation for future mod support. - Employee Management Depth (weight 0.14): Players desire more intuitive and deeper employee management, including batch operations, specialized workers with varying salaries, motivation systems, and training options. - Building QoL & Blueprints (weight 0.11): There's a strong need for quality-of-life improvements in building and layout, such as copy/paste functionality for objects and a robust blueprint system that can be saved, reused, and shared. - Logistics & Info Clarity (weight 0.11): Players seek improvements in the logistics system, including better real-time statistics, clearer production/consumption relations, easier access to product ingredient information, and overall better tools to optimize factory flow. - Early Access State & Bugs (weight 0.09): The game feels like an early access title with a rocky launch, bugs, and a difficult logistics system. While some issues are expected for Early Access, they impact current playability. - Organizational Departments (weight 0.05): Players suggest implementing organizational structures like maintenance, production, and engineering departments, with managers capable of making autonomous decisions for their teams. - Machine Mechanics & Maintenance (weight 0.05): Players suggest adding more realistic machine mechanics, such as varying cycle times for bottleneck management, machines failing if not maintained, and the ability to stock or order spare parts. - Language Setting Issue (weight 0.04): The game's interface did not default to the correct language (Japanese) upon initial startup, requiring manual adjustment through game properties. - General UI Improvements (weight 0.04): General quality-of-life improvements are desired for the user interface, including an option to right-click and filter specific items within menus, to enhance usability and player experience. - CEO Management Overview (weight 0.02): A highly recommended feature is a comprehensive management overview (CEO desk) providing centralized information and control over procurement, R&D, production, inventory, employees, finances, and sales. - More Product Variety (weight 0.02): Players desire more hardware and market options, such as digital cameras, to expand the scope of products that can be manufactured. - Larger Map Options (weight 0.02): Players would appreciate the addition of new, larger-scale maps to allow for more expansive factory designs and growth. - Cumbersome Zoning System (weight 0.02): While dividing the factory into zones is possible, the current system is described as somewhat cumbersome, indicating a need for quality-of-life improvements. - Reorganization Challenges (weight 0.02): The need to completely reorganize the factory campus after significant playtime (50 hours) suggests difficulties in scaling or planning, indicating a potential need for better tools or design flexibility. - Missing Creative Mode (weight 0.02): The game currently lacks a creative mode, which would allow players to experiment with designs and builds without resource constraints. - Limited Building Options (weight 0.02): The reviewer notes that other factory building games offer more diverse building options, suggesting a desire for greater creative freedom and variety in construction. - More Interactive Experience (weight 0.02): Developers are encouraged to focus more on interactive elements in future updates, suggesting a desire for more engaging gameplay beyond just watching production. - No Multiplayer Needed (weight 0.02): The reviewer explicitly states that the game does not require a multiplayer mode, indicating a preference for a single-player focus. - Enjoyable Boss Perspective (weight 0.02): The reviewer enjoys the immersive experience of being the boss and walking around their facilities, highlighting a positive aspect of the game's presentation. Emotions: - Frustration (weight 0.23): Players experience frustration primarily due to a multitude of severe and unaddressed bugs, including game-breaking issues, crashes, and unresponsive controls. This is compounded by a poorly designed and tedious logistics system, requiring excessive micromanagement and lacking intuitive controls or automation. Additionally, a general lack of quality-of-life features and imbalanced game mechanics contribute to a cumbersome and unenjoyable experience. - Satisfaction (weight 0.19): Satisfaction stems from the rewarding experience of mastering complex logistics and optimizing production chains, leading to a sense of accomplishment. Players appreciate the game's challenging yet balanced design, comprehensive mechanics, and the overall depth that allows for strategic problem-solving and economic dominance. The game's completeness, polish, and continuous developer support also contribute significantly to a positive experience. - Disappointment (weight 0.18): Disappointment arises from the game's unfinished state, characterized by numerous unaddressed bugs and a significant lack of content, including limited product lines and activities. A major contributing factor is the perceived abandonment by developers, leading to a halt in updates and unfulfilled potential, which prevents the game from living up to its promising concept. This results in a tedious and unpolished gameplay experience, particularly in the endgame. - Enjoyment (weight 0.08): Players find enjoyment in the game's fun and addictive simulation management gameplay, particularly its intricate production line automation and strategic depth. The engaging campaign and multiplayer modes, combined with pleasing visuals and an interesting premise, contribute to an overall rewarding and entertaining experience. - Hope (weight 0.06): Hope is primarily driven by the game's untapped potential and the strong desire for future content and improvements. Players express a wish for developers to resume work on the game, implement further updates, and address existing issues, particularly regarding the conveyor system, to fully realize its promise. - Excitement (weight 0.04): Excitement stems from the game's high quality, depth, and engaging core mechanics, which offer challenging opportunities for market domination and high replay value. The prospect of resumed updates and the game's strong early access state further contribute to a positive outlook and anticipation for its future. - Joy (weight 0.04): Joy is experienced through the fun and creative freedom offered by the game's logistics system, allowing players to successfully build and manage their in-game companies. The overall enjoyable gameplay, combined with pleasing aesthetics, smooth performance, and balanced mechanics, contributes to a highly positive emotional state. - Appreciation (weight 0.03): Appreciation is directed towards the developers for their responsiveness, communication, and the significant effort put into the game by a small team. Players also value the game's distinctive art style, detailed campaign, and the ability to customize products and facilities. - Confusion (weight 0.02): Confusion arises from the game's overwhelming complexity, particularly in the late game, and its intricate logistics mechanics. Players struggle with a lack of detailed statistics and clear information, making optimization difficult and leading to thematic inconsistencies that hinder understanding. - Annoyance (weight 0.02): Annoyance is primarily caused by recurring technical issues such as frequent game crashes, persistent bugs, and keyboard unresponsiveness. These problems, along with the game slowing down the computer and machines/NPCs stopping unexpectedly, disrupt gameplay and create a frustrating experience. - Anger (weight 0.01): Anger is provoked by severe, game-breaking bugs and fundamentally broken or unclear mechanics, particularly within the logistics and conveyor belt systems. This is exacerbated by problematic AI and the tedious, frustrating process of reconfiguring logistics, leading to a sense of being deliberately hindered by the game's design. - Stress (weight 0.01): Stress is experienced due to the game's demanding business simulation nature, which is compounded by a stressful and inconvenient user interface. Additionally, awkward camera controls contribute to a feeling of pressure and difficulty in managing operations effectively. - Surprise (weight 0.01): Surprise occurs when the game unexpectedly increases in complexity after automating certain parts, challenging players in unforeseen ways. It also arises when the game significantly exceeds initial expectations, delivering a more profound or enjoyable experience than anticipated. - Enthusiasm (weight 0.01): Enthusiasm is generated by the game's unique qualities, fun, and addictive gameplay, which features well-integrated systems that create a cohesive and engaging experience. This leads to a strong positive emotional response and a desire to continue playing. - Relaxation (weight 0.01): Relaxation is found in the meditative and satisfying process of setting up and observing efficient production chains. The game's overall design and core loop contribute to a calming and enjoyable experience, allowing players to unwind. - Admiration (weight 0.01): Admiration is felt for the game's exceptional quality, particularly as a management simulation. Players recognize and appreciate its unique design and execution within the genre. - Concern (weight 0.01): Concern arises from worries that the game might not receive sufficient attention or future development, potentially limiting its growth. Additionally, the game's complex logistics, potential performance issues, and the presence of character-bound actions in a management game raise questions about its long-term playability and design choices. - Boredom (weight 0.01): Boredom sets in when the game becomes repetitive and chore-like, particularly due to the need for repetitive work and constantly redoing supply links. This lack of variety and engaging tasks transforms gameplay into a tedious experience. - Anticipation (weight 0.01): Anticipation is driven by the expectation of future updates and the potential for robust mod support. Players look forward to new content and features that will expand the game's longevity and replayability. - Fatigue (weight 0): Fatigue is experienced due to the prevalence of manual tasks, especially as the game progresses into the mid and late stages. These repetitive and unautomated actions lead to mental exhaustion and a diminished desire to continue playing.}