Game Developer Tycoon vs buckets
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Theme selection
- Game composition
- Earning money
- Building a luxurious home
- Becoming a popular developer
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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!
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.
- Flick-to-shoot controls
- Campaign mode with cutscenes
- Arcade endless survival
- 1v1 gameplay
- Defense mode
- Over 40 minigames
- Daily rewards and quests
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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
Verdict
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
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.
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.
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.
| Parameter | Game Developer Tycoon | buckets |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (44 ratings) | 4.7 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 44 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 11 months | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 149 MB | 17 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | HENN Inc. | Hummus Development |
Customer experience
Game Developer Tycoon
buckets
In-app purchases
Game Developer Tycoon
- 20 diamonds$0.99
- 90 diamonds$3.99
- 200 diamonds$7.99
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- 550 diamonds$19.99
- 1200 diamonds$39.99
buckets
- 1 Ad-Skip$0.99
- 10 Tokens$0.99
- 100 Buckets$0.99
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- 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?
Is buckets free?
Which has better reviews, Game Developer Tycoon or buckets?
Do Game Developer Tycoon or buckets have ads?
Which is updated more often, Game Developer Tycoon or buckets?
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