Roll 20 for a Successful Compile: A Game Development RPG

"Game Dev Studio RPG" (GDS-RPG) is an ongoing tabletop role-playing game designed as a learning tool for game development project management courses and activities aimed at middle-school students and above. Its central thesis is that a metagame, a game about making games, can teach players how a game studio is organized, which skills are needed across a development cycle, how developers interact, and how complexity emerges from those interactions. The project is presented as a contribution to the DiGRA community's repertoire of teaching alternatives for game design, particularly where real industry experience is out of reach for students or enthusiasts.

The system is organized into two major components: player definition and project (campaign) mechanics. Players create generic "Devs" drawn from seven archetypes, including Programmer, Designer, Market Specialist, Manager, Ludologist, Tester, and Enthusiast, each with an affinity table that assigns bonuses or penalties across challenge types such as coding, resource creation, promotion, gameplay, and leadership. Five attributes (Logic, Sociability, Creativity, Stamina, and Tension) and a level-and-category progression system govern performance, with failure dice shrinking as Devs advance from Rookie to Lead. Projects are tracked through budget, deadline, and an Investor Board that adjudicates consequences, and challenges are resolved through 2D6 rolls against task difficulties, with burnout and crunch providing consequences for overwork.

The work is explicitly described as being in its first phase, consisting of the design of the base Dev creation and project operation system. The author reports no playtesting data yet; subsequent phases are planned to include scenario design, player feedback, value balancing, and evaluation of player experience through Gordon Calleja's Incorporation Model.