Publisher Dream

[What is it?]

Publisher Dream is Circle Entertainment's second 'Dream'-simulation game for DSiWare. In their first game, Bookstore Dream, you had to manage a bookstore. In Publisher Dream, you are running a game development studio named Triangle (instead of Circle) that publishes games for a platform called 'cShop' (instead of eShop). The game studio is shown in nice little sprites, reminiscent of the simulation games of developer Kairosoft for smartphones. Actually, Publisher Dream is just a blatant ripoff of Kairosoft's Game Dev Story (available for iOS and Android since 2010), but Circle Entertainment's game is less extensive. Nonetheless, you select the kind of game to develop, buy inventory and hire (but not sack) employees. The maximum time you can run the Triangle game studio is 9 years. Thankfully that's not real time.

[Is it fun?]

Publisher Dream is one of those strange games in which you barely do anything, but somehow manages to be addictive (one can call it the 'Football Manager'-syndrome). Most of the time you're just glaring at the screen, waiting for a game to be developed, so you can start another waiting line. The visuals are nice and fitting, but nothing out of the extraordinary; and the same can be said for the sound. The game is very forgiving in the beginning if you spend too much money on fancy new furniture: you get quite a few shots to continue if you mess up. However, if you're in debt too often it's game over and you can start from scratch. Sometimes I wish the game development time was quicker, but it's doable.

It's disappointing that new furniture (which is available when the studio expands) is just repeating itself: instead of Plant I you can buy Plant II ... for a lot more money. Some more variations in new items would have been nice. It's also not possible to name games or employees after yourself. As a result, the personalized touch is missing, which is unfortunate. While addictive, 9 years of game publishing in Publisher Dream manages to be more than enough. At the end it gets a little boring, since most tasks are quite repetitive.

[Is it worth the money?]

Publisher Dream is available for only 2 bucks (200 points) in the 3DS eShop, which makes it a good value. If you enjoy the game, you'll be at least spending almost between 6-7 hours on it – and you can do a lot worse for that bargain price. Replay value is virtually non-existent and the game is by no means perfect, but it's quite enjoyable while it lasts. For 2 bucks you can't really go wrong, so I strongly recommend you give Publisher Dream a try, especially if you like casual simulation games.