Comparison

Game Developer Tycoon vs buckets

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Game Developer Tycoon

Simulate the life of a game developer, from choosing themes and composing to earning money and building a luxurious home. Aim to become a popular game developer by creating hit games.

Highlights
  • Theme selection
  • Game composition
  • Earning money
  • Building a luxurious home
  • Becoming a popular developer
Features
Read full description

This is a simulation game to become a game developer. Anyone can play easily. Let’s choose a theme, compose, and earn money! Let’s make a hit game and become rich! Let’s save money and live in a luxurious home! I’m aiming to become a popular game developer!

About

buckets

Experience a fun and unique 3D basketball game with intuitive flick-to-shoot controls. Master dribbling, defense, and dunking across various game modes, including a story-driven campaign and endless arcade challenges. Unlock rewards and customize your experience.

Highlights
  • Flick-to-shoot controls
  • Campaign mode with cutscenes
  • Arcade endless survival
  • 1v1 gameplay
  • Defense mode
  • Over 40 minigames
  • Daily rewards and quests
Features
Read full description

Buckets is a fast, flick-to-shoot 3D basketball game — simple to pick up, hard to put down. Drag the ball down to aim — a live shot meter shows your power. Stop your drag in the GREEN band for a PERFECT release: a pure swish that builds HEAT. Misjudge it and the rim isn't so forgiving. Read the defender, drag into the pump-fake zone to send him flying, then rise up and cook him — crossovers, ankle breakers, lockdown defense, and thunderous DUNKS. FIVE WAYS TO PLAY - Campaign — a story mode with cutscenes: climb a road of themed levels (1v1, defense, deep threes, dunks) on 2 lives each, earning Buckets as you go. - Pickup Games — full 5-on-5: move the ball, feed your teammates, play defense, and win the game. - Arcade — endless survival. Your streak climbs and the defense tightens, with dunk slams, time-attack, sudden-death and lockdown challenges mixed in. - Defense — flip sides and lock the opponent down: slide, contest, and swat shots away. - 1v1 — a level-climbing one-on-one. Dribble, break ankles, drive and throw down. Every bucket levels you up. Plus a built-in Tutorial to learn the timing. UPGRADE YOUR PLAYER Level up like a pro — boost Shooting, Dunking, Dribbling and Pokes, plus Speed, Blocks and Ankle Strength. Five tiers, Rookie to Legend. DOZENS OF MINIGAMES Twists drop mid-game — DUNK ZONE, NO-LOOK SHOTS, DOUBLE TEAM, ANKLE BREAKER, SUPA DUNK, 2-ON-1 and more. REWARDS & STYLE - Daily login rewards on a 7-day streak. - Daily & Weekly Quests that pay out Buckets and Ad-Skips for scoring, dunking, breaking ankles and more. - Earn Buckets to unlock a huge shop: jerseys, balls, arenas, trails, victory taunts, hats & accessories, and music tracks. A fully procedural arena: a jersey-wearing defender who contests, blocks, and reaches for steals — and gets smarter every level — a roaring crowd, spotlights, and dunk cinematics where your player throws it down over the top. No forced ads. No logins. No data collection. No paywall to play — just hoops.

Screenshots

Game Developer Tycoon3 screens
buckets4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: buckets at none against Game Developer Tycoon's shown. buckets also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 11 months). Game Developer Tycoon's advantage is review sentiment (83% vs 50%) and ratings volume (44 vs 3). On price, rating, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Game Developer Tycoon sells 5 one-off in-app purchases and buckets sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Game Developer Tycoon against 4.7 for buckets. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Game Developer Tycoon has 44 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 83% of Game Developer Tycoon's written reviews are positive against 50% of buckets's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Game Developer Tycoon ships an update every 11 months, buckets every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Game Developer Tycoon versus buckets: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGame Developer Tycoonbuckets
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (44 ratings)4.7 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews83.3% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings44 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 11 monthsEvery 2 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS13.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size149 MB17 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHENN Inc.Hummus Development

Customer experience

Game Developer Tycoon

All ratings43 ratings
Positive90.7%
Neutral7.0%
Negative2.3%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral16.7%
Negative0.0%

buckets

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Game Developer Tycoon

One-time5
  • 20 diamonds$0.99
  • 90 diamonds$3.99
  • 200 diamonds$7.99
Show 2 more
  • 550 diamonds$19.99
  • 1200 diamonds$39.99
10 purchases

buckets

One-time10
  • 1 Ad-Skip$0.99
  • 10 Tokens$0.99
  • 100 Buckets$0.99
Show 7 more
  • 25 Tokens$1.99
  • 5 Ad-Skips$4.99
  • 80 Tokens$5.99
  • 1,600 Buckets$9.99
  • 10 Ad-Skips$10.99
  • 200 Tokens$13.99
  • 3,400 Buckets$19.99

Questions

Is Game Developer Tycoon free?
Game Developer Tycoon is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is buckets free?
buckets is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Game Developer Tycoon or buckets?
buckets is rated higher. Game Developer Tycoon averages 4.6 out of 5 from 44 ratings, while buckets averages 4.7 from 3 ratings.
Do Game Developer Tycoon or buckets have ads?
Game Developer Tycoon shows ads; buckets does not.
Which is updated more often, Game Developer Tycoon or buckets?
Game Developer Tycoon ships an update every 11 months, and buckets every 2 days. Most recently, Game Developer Tycoon was updated on October 24, 2026 and buckets on October 23, 2026.

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