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Built to Scale

Lead a 21-day startup sprint—juggle meetings, develop features, and keep the team motivated to ship on time.

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Game overview

Startup jam story

Made for GMTK Jam 2024, Built to Scale puts you in the role of a founder steering a fledgling company. Each day presents narrative events—investor meetings, bugs, team drama—and your choices shift stats like Cash, Product, Marketing, and Morale. Reach the end of 21 days with a healthy balance sheet to secure your future.

Built with Remarkable Games' Ren’Py template, the VN blends branching dialogue with light RPG mechanics, inventory, and day-night cycles.

Controls

Visual novel interface

  • Left-click: Advance dialogue, select choices, interact with UI elements.
  • Right-click / Esc: Open the Ren’Py menu to save, load, or tweak settings.
  • Scroll wheel / Page Up / Page Down: Review the dialogue backlog.
  • Space / Enter: Quick-advance through text when revisiting scenes.

Why play it?

Highlights

  • Jam-friendly runtime with meaningful management decisions.
  • Stylised art inspired by co-working spaces and startup culture.
  • Open-source Ren’Py project for devs wanting to blend VN storytelling with lightweight sim mechanics.

Tips

Ship on schedule

  • Keep an eye on cash reserves—investor meetings can swing your balance massively.
  • Boost team Morale before crunch days to avoid burnout penalties.
  • Save before big milestone choices so you can explore alternate strategic paths.