The game will start in 1985. Real life platforms other than PC and Arcade do not exist, so we essentially ARE the entire game industry.
Posting twice in a row will be explicitly banned to prevent players from out-performing others, though you can post multiple times per day to show your company is active enough to have multiple releases/major events per month. Each REAL LIFE day is equal to one quarter year (Q1, etc) in game (for a total of just under 4 months IRL to reach 2014), so you have a day (the date will be shown on your post) to do any action before the turn is over for everyone. Fast forwarding may be considered if we know in advance that all players have no plans for an entire in-game quarter year.
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Here's a company sheet:
Example Studios
Founded: Q2, 2013
Founder: Ekafsi Emansiht
HQ: Springfield, North Takoma, USA
Description: Enter background info on the company here.
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The first two companies other than my own to register get $50,500,000 in starting cash but MUST launch a console (which costs $50,000,000). Everyone else starts with $500,000 and must save money if they want to launch a platform.
And finally...
Goliath GamesGoliath Games is a GMPC game company that has infinite money but a limit to what it can do. It will release one home console every 5 years, one handheld console every 5 years starting in Q1 of 1980, and a few surprises in the late game. BUT, if one or more competing consoles is launched less than one year before or after the "every 5 years on the dot" release of a Goliath Games console, the Goliath Games Console is guaranteed to be in last place for the remainder of its lifespan.
Goliath Games will also try to release a new game every quarter year. Said games will earn no money for Goliath Games and simply serve as competition in the market by being a guaranteed best-selling game of that quarter. BUT, other companies can make publishing deals or partnerships with Goliath Games (for a price) to produce a game on a given quarter year. If one or more companies releases one or more games in partnership with and/or has a game published by Goliath Games during a given quarter year, Goliath Games will not release any games in that quarter year.
Goliath also serves as a sort of final boss. Once 2014 has been reached, Goliath games will try to monopolize video games. If you all succeed in bringing them down, you win.
That's what I've got. Is anyone interested? Also,
http://gdtrp.wikia.com/wiki/GDTRP_Wiki