Vertical Slice: A Game Dev Story
Released Jun 2021
From nobody to famous game producer in 3 years: that’s the journey you will live! Experience the trials and tribulations of game development in this life simulation game: live through the process of founding a small team and learning how to work together to develop a successful game.
66% positive · 332 reviews
Done
All announced content has been released
High confidence
Done
All announced content has been released
High confidence
Where to buy
Steam $9.99
Can't confirm — worth a look
We couldn't confirm these stores carry this game.
Green Man Gaming Steam key Search IndieGala Steam key Search Prices in USD, as listed by each store.
Buying through an affiliate store helps support the site
Evaluation
Vertical Slice: A Game Dev Story launched in Early Access on February 11, 2021, and graduated to its full 1.0 release on June 24, 2021, which also introduced an "Endless Mode" as a new feature. Following the 1.0 launch, the developer committed to further adjustments based on player feedback and issued a same-day bug fix patch. Activity continued through 2022 and into early 2023, but only in the form of bug fixes — a crash fix on December 24, 2022, and a single targeted bug fix on February 1, 2023. There are no unreleased DLC entries, no announced future content, no roadmap, and no developer statements about planned expansions or updates beyond the 1.0 release. The developer has not posted anything since February 1, 2023. The post-launch update history consists entirely of maintenance patches with no major content releases after the 1.0 launch date. The game launched as a complete, self-contained experience and has received only upkeep patches since then.
Evidence
Official 1.0 release announced, introducing Endless Mode and marking the game's graduation from Early Access. Developer states they will continue to adjust and optimize based on player feedback.
Game launched into Early Access on Steam on February 11, 2021.
Media
Details
Developer
Publisher
2P Games
Achievements
—
Platform
Windows
Controller
—
Steam Deck
Not rated
Players
Single-player
About this game
Vertical Slice: A Game Dev Story is a life simulation and management game that invites you to experience the life of a game developer: start from scratch as a one-man studio and take off from there to become a successful game producer in a 3 years-long journey!
Experience the trials and tribulations of this hard job on your own and, also, supervising a small team where everyone counts on your organization and leadership skills. Work hard every day to develop a successful game that catapults you to the stardom of games in a reasonable time.
As the leader of your studio (sometimes caricatured as a talking cat) you have to organize its members’ work – but also care about your own welfare. It’s easy to forget the world when you’re developing a game, so make sure your developer eats, sleeps, exercises his body and has fun, so his physical and mental health doesn’t suffer.
But even when you’re living the dream of being a game developer, there’s more to life than work: you’ll meet people while hanging around, and it will be up to you if you work on your personal skills to be likable enough, and if you want to dig deeper into their lives and stories. You decide what kind of game producer you want to be in this slice-of-life story!
Experience the trials and tribulations of this hard job on your own and, also, supervising a small team where everyone counts on your organization and leadership skills. Work hard every day to develop a successful game that catapults you to the stardom of games in a reasonable time.
As the leader of your studio (sometimes caricatured as a talking cat) you have to organize its members’ work – but also care about your own welfare. It’s easy to forget the world when you’re developing a game, so make sure your developer eats, sleeps, exercises his body and has fun, so his physical and mental health doesn’t suffer.
But even when you’re living the dream of being a game developer, there’s more to life than work: you’ll meet people while hanging around, and it will be up to you if you work on your personal skills to be likable enough, and if you want to dig deeper into their lives and stories. You decide what kind of game producer you want to be in this slice-of-life story!
KEY FEATURES
- Take decisions in game development. What art style fits your vision better for the game? Which music suits the mood and setting? You’ll need to take a lot of decisions and work hard to push the game forward and make it shine so the audience notices it.
- Keep learning! Lots of different skills are involved in developing a game: programming, game design, music, art… In Vertical Slice, you can develop any game you want -- as long as you have the skills required to do it, so keep learning and improve your skills to make the game of your dreams!
- Find a way to make money. Making games takes a lot of money: food, rent, study, and of course your team’s salaries are all essential parts of the budget. What will you do to fund your project? You can accept outsourcing contracts to make some quick money, and once your game is released, there are different ways for you to increase your revenue…
- Build a talented team. Hire staff to help you develop the game, filling your ranks with talent in areas such as programming, narrative design, game design, art, music… But you’ll have to take budget restrains into account -- you can’t hire an all-star team if you can’t afford to pay them!
- There’s more to games than work! After work, you can hang out with friends and meet new people from different industries. Be nice with them -- you never know who will be in the position to help you in the future!
- Endless mode: a new feature added now on full release, Endless Mode is a sandbox experience that keeps going after you’ve ended the 3-years long story mode. Keep working as a studio leader, create more games and earn more money to write your name in golden letters in the history of games!
Are these done yet?
Last evaluated Jun 23, 2026
Something about this evaluation looks wrong Report illegal or harmful content