Star Wars: Tiny Death Star

Star Wars: Tiny Death Star was a business simulation video game developed by Disney Mobile and NimbleBit, and published by Disney Mobile for Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and Windows 8/RT devices. It was based on NimbleBit's previous game, Tiny Tower, and was set in the Star Wars universe.

Star Wars: Tiny Death Star was announced by Disney Interactive Studios on October 4, 2013.  It was released in Australia and New Zealand for Android devices on October 11, 2013 and in Australia for iOS devices on October 15, 2013.  It was released worldwide on November 8, 2013 for Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Windows 8 and Windows RT devices.

The game was removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store by Disney in October 2014.

Gameplay
The goal was to build and expand a Death Star, while attracting virtual people known as galactic Bitizens to build and run virtual businesses within the Death Star.

Currency
The main currency was Imperial Credits. Credits were made by selling products on business levels or by trading Imperial Bux in for them. Imperial Bux were used in Tiny Death Star to complete construction and product orders instantly, unlock specific floors, unlock specific species, upgrade elevators, unlock costumes, instantly recruit Bitizens into a residential level, hire VIPs, and earn money more quickly. Imperial Bux could be purchased by going to the Get Bux option on the main menu. Using Tapjoy offers, it was also possible to earn free Imperial Bux by completing offers such as downloading and running apps or signing up for programs.

Unlockables
While playing Tiny Death Star, Bitizens, Levels, and Scenes were unlocked in the album. Throughout gameplay, new species of bitzens were unlocked when they appeared in the elevator or were found throughout the Death Star. These bitzens were sorted into the following categories: Bounty Hunters, Droids, Men of the Rebellion, Ladies of the Rebellion, Rebel Heroes, Rebel Aliens, Outer Rim, Troops, Rebel Forces, The Force, Cantina Crew, Hutt's Henchmen, Limited Edition, Galactic Registry Series 1 and The Deep Core.

The levels that were built to make a player's Death Star larger are sorted into six categories: food, service, recreation, retail, residential and imperial. Residential levels were used to house bitzens which can then be put to work making credits in the business levels. The food, service, recreation, and retail levels were built as businesses used to make credits. Credits were used to build new levels. In the businesses, a maximum of three Bitizens which reside in one of the residential floors were assigned to work. They ordered products which the business sold. How long the products took to arrive depended on the Bitizen's skill level at the given job. Imperial levels were used to produce Imperial Items for missions. When these missions were completed, credits were awarded. Each of the categories of business levels had ten possible levels to unlock.

Scenes were unlocked when the elevator was used to take a specific individual (or sometimes member of a species) to a specific level.

VIPs
Apart from standard Bitizens, there were also VIPs who randomly appeared in the elevator. Up to 5 VIPs could be stored in the lobby at any one time, and they could be kept for any period of time. VIPs were used to improve the Death Star. They helped attract customers to the player's levels, complete tasks faster, move levels, upgrade levels, or fill an entire vacant residential floor with tenants.

The "Holiday Update" (version 1.0.1.4), released on December 17, 2013, featured 'Decorator Droids'. These limited edition VIPs decorated a floor with holiday/Christmas lights. Limited edition rewards were available to those who decorated enough floors. In early January 2014 this promotion expired (decorated floors were brought back to normal) and the Decorator Droids were no longer available.

Bugs
When the game was originally released, one major problem was discovered: the "Negative Bux" glitch. This glitch occurred when the player used Imperial Bux to purchase a specific level. The result was that the player received a negative balance of Bux, otherwise impossible to achieve. The player then had to balance this account before he/she could begin to accumulate Bux again. To make this matter worse, if a player had bought Bux with real money, they can lose the in-game currency to this glitch. As of December 17, 2013, this bug has been fixed.

In July 2014, some users reported a new bug, where their Galactic Registry 1 Bitizens had changed into random Bitizens. The Besalisk species disappeared from the album, and existing in-game besalisk bitizens were erroneously replaced by a character of Lando Calrissian. Cornelius Evazan's appearance became incorrect. Imperial assignments did not operate after a certain point early in the game, making the imperial levels mostly pointless. All of the Salvage Droids' "Possible Salvage" screens showed the same panoply of ewoks instead of the correct possibilities of the currently scanned areas.

Discontinuation

In October 2014, Disney pulled the app from the App Store and Google Play. Co-developer Nimblebit was not given notice prior to the removal. As of December 11, 2015, it is unavailable on both the Windows Store and the App Store. Disney removed the game from all app stores because they wanted to take the Star Wars games in another direction. The developer, Nimblebit, was furious at the removal of the game, because it was a high source of revenue, despite the multitude of bugs that had plagued it since its initial release.

If a user had previously downloaded the game (i.e.: via GooglePlay), said user can re-download the game, despite its being unavailable. Some features  (such as the Tapjoy Bux purchasing) are disabled, but players can still tend to their Bitizens.

See also
 NimbleBit LLC
 SimTower
 Tiny Tower

References

External links
Former official site
NimbleBit

Category:2013 video games
Category:IOS games
Category:Android (operating system) games
Category:Business simulation games
Category:Construction and management simulation games
Category:Star Wars video games
Category:LucasArts games
Category:Disney video games
Category:Video games developed in the United States
Category:Windows games
Category:Windows Phone games