New Hosted Game! "The Parenting Simulator" by Matt Simpson

Aaaand there’s the first attack review on Google. The Yuris are back in action, just like with Sword of the Slayer.

@Akm That’s definitely something I was hoping for; so much of the issues we have as people is not being able to understand where someone else is coming from and what drives them. We often don’t even know ourselves, so knowing someone else is a real challenge. There’s not a lot one can do with a story, but I wanted to try and help parents to understand kids (especially people who aren’t parents and are thinking about doing it, so they know the good and bad ahead of them) and children to understand their parents as well. Every little bit helps.

@dillpickle1996 I hope so too! I must admit I’m a bit more excited to write League of Lunacy, my proposed fantasy/superhero/comedy, just because I like making ridiculous characters. But it can definitely wait if there’s enough call to do Twelve Months (the working title for Parenting 2) first, especially since I might need more coding experience under my belt to do LoL’s mechanics properly. TM would not be much more technically difficult than Parenting to create; likely the same structure as far as a series of events per month that are either random or determined by your choices.

@Mary_Duffy Is this out on Amazon yet? I know @Bugreporter had mentioned the link didn’t work yesterday, but I didn’t see it on Amazon itself either, although Death at the Rectory looks to have been released over there.

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I have two children, and I’m too scared to play this game. I used to think about writing something similar, but every single choice gets a randomised result. Because kids. Kids are COMPLICATED, man.

I salute you. From a safe distance.

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How do I get my child to become an actor? I got him into art classes but I can’t figure out how to get him into acting.

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I never plan on being a parent myself, but this was a nice change of pace from the other games i play and it was great. I never thought id get so invested into a my digital offspring, especially since i felt disappointed that he didnt make it through college. I think I went too easy on him. Least Malik Ortiga got a job and turned out decent in the end.

I guess a nitpick that I have, besides the aforementioned lack of personal romance, was that it does not seem possible for your child to fail hard. Correct me if im wrong but it doesnt seem like they can potentially go homeless/become a basement dweller and the worse thing that can happen to him is getting an unglamorous desk job. It just feels like there is not as much tension as there should be in watching your child try to strike out on their own. And another thing was how my child didnt seem to run into dating problems. I was surprised no Boyfriend/Girlfriend issues came up, i figured we’d have to deal with things like making sure they’re dating life goes well or even unwanted pregnancy. Granted i only played 1 playthrough so i may have missed it.

Overall, great game though.

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You’re absolutely right; I like to call the outlook of this story ‘idealized realism’. In that I tried to encapsulate as much of the reality of parenting as possible while leaving out the worst stuff. You can’t get drunk and beat your kid, they can’t be molested, run away (though that was a proposed story event I ended up cutting, it would have been the tame ‘I’m gonna go join the circus’ version and not the ‘I’m a teenager who will never return and is probably going to end up in a sex trafficking ring’ version), they can’t die from choking or leukemia or getting into the chemicals under the sink. They can’t get pregnant or get someone pregnant at 15, get brain damage from huffing paint, or for that matter get arrested for huffing paint, the list goes on and on.

Part of that is my attempt to make this a story for everyone, without any controversial content (though it then ended up rated T anyhow, despite the lack of sexual content, substance usage, any real violence or even harsh language). The other part is that wasn’t really the story I wanted to tell. There’s plenty of media out there to depict the dark underbelly of having or being a child, and all the horrors that can occur. Something to provide a little escapism from that seemed like a fun idea.

@Noldyn You have to make sure they get the lead role in the school play (and bonus points to anyone who gets the movie reference as far as what the play is about), and then you would have the option for them to go further down that path with a commercial tryout a couple of years later. I recommend high Pop and Brain in order to get the best chance at seeing one of the two good acting endings.

@Felicity_Banks Thanks! Yeah, I have seen that reaction quite a lot from other parents when I mention the game. It’s pretty understandable, especially when my three-year old is screeching that she will NOT put on the white dress because she wants the red dress and nothing else will do, even though she grew out of it months ago.

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I like that it is the way it is. I have enough fear in real life, what bad things may happen to my kid, to wish this in a game. It is a fun game that captures the lighter hardships most, goodwilling parents face. The way it is written makes you like your imaginative child and it is a good representation on what everyday parenthood means, without painting it in unrealistic pretty colors.

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I used to hate tomato and would swallow it hard if I was forced to eat the veggies. Now I mock those in the cafetaria who set their veggies aside (and probably take it for myself).

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It’s kid logic. When I was very young, I once hid soggy carrots under the table cloth once when at a relative’s because of course no one would ever suspect that the one person at the table who hates overcooked veges would do that! You can probably guess by the fact I remember this clearly many years later and now eat what ever veges that are presented to me that this plan did not go well…

In saying that I think we sometimes forget what it’s like to have someone tell you what you have to do 7 days a week (even though it’s necessary). I’d probably get cranky if someone was telling me what to eat, wear and do every day as well. (And if the dress doesn’t fit, well kid logic. If you wish hard enough, maybe it will have magically resized itself overnight. If not and you’re in a hurry, distraction with dinosaurs is recommended. Everything is better with dinosaurs… maybe… sometimes :laughing: )

BTW- I can laugh because I can give them back when they start to cry/ have a major temper tantrum and I can’t stop them. Sometimes I think parents must be gifted with the patience of a saint.

Could be wrong, but my understanding is that Amazon is trying to take over Apple’s crown when it comes to delaying releases. (They’ve delayed others recently.)

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Actually, it looks like it has popped up on there now, although Jason pointed out to me that it would have already been on the Amazon omnibus anyhow.

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Will we get an update with more scene?
I’m enjoying the story so far! Would be great if there will be an added scene in the future :relaxed:

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Congrats, @hustlertwo!

I really enjoyed reading this during beta, and I look forward to playing it again, and perhaps being less of a tiger dad this time.

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It’s honestly not something I had considered, but it’s not out of the question. The sequel would probably be more likely than DLC, since I don’t know what else to add here unless it was the college years or something.

@Eric_Moser Glad you have, you’re definitely one of the rare ones as far as parents who enjoy playing it. A lot of them are more in the vein of “I do this all the time, I don’t really want to do it in my off-time”. Which I do understand.

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Thrilled as I am about the warm reception TPS has gotten in its reviews, in a way it’s almost as frustrating as Nuclear Powered Toaster was despite the higher score. Back then my low star reviews were for my actual story, for good or ill. Now I just get a cluster of troll ones the same as those that pop up with any HG or CoG release these days, regardless of who writes them or what they’re about. At least read my stuff before you berate it! And learn to spell!

With NPT I got negbombed a lot out of the gate due to the fixed protagonist controversy, and then watched the numbers tick upwards over time as knee-jerk reactions faded and the new reviews coming in were more focused on the story itself, going from a low of 3.4 to as high as 4.2 (although now that Google changed the formula for all this review stuff it’s down to 4.0). Now TPS started out awesome and I just get to sit and watch trolls chipping away at it a little at a time. So it goes.

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Okay, tbh so far I avoided the wip thread of this game since I find kids normally too annoying but now after giving a chance to the demo it convinced me to buy the full game. I liked the humor in it and also it managed to make me care about “my” kid despite my original feelings regarding children. Kudos to @hustlertwo for the writing.

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One of us…one of us…

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This reminded to go and give my 5 star review (sorry, no worded one as I like to share my opinion about games here.)

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Does anyone know how to rate specific games within the IOS omnibus app? I’d leave a review but haven’t been able to rate anything other than the actual app

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Unfortunately as far as I’m aware I think you can only leave star reviews within the omnibus app (there’s no way to leave written reviews) on google (so I suspect the same for apple) which is a real shame. As written reviews often tell you a lot more about whether to buy the game (including being able to discount low starred ones that are obviously from trolls, or for things that might not bother me but are deal breakers in other’s eyes like the dreaded “too short!” and “not free!” reviews.) Best option is to review in the comments as you’ve done, although you’ll need to edit it with each release you buy which isn’t ideal.

Edit: If anyone likes a game they’ve played on google, it really does help if you can leave a positive review. Even better, a short comment with the star rating can help drown out the 1* troll and “not free” ones as google no longer seems to show star reviews without comments.

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I feel like I’m a bit late to the party (this week was also midterm week). Congratulations @hustlertwo! It’s great to see TPS on the omnibus app at last.

One thing that I noticed: it is a lot more difficult to get the Nobel laureate ending than it used to be. Which makes sense; Nobel laureates are a rare breed. Most things that led to the Nobel ending lead to the lawyer end instead.

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That’s all right; I appreciate any legitimate review I can get. And while it is good to have some 5 stars with text to counter the person or people with a great deal of time on heir hands, I actually prefer people to share on here instead of there if you prefer to do only one of those. It’s hard not to be able to talk to those who leave negative reviews and try to understand them better, but it’s even tougher to see a really nice positive review on Google and not be able to thank the person for it. Here that’s not an issue, so…thanks!

@Jakecu19 As was said by @Jacic you cannot write a review on the omnibus (a fact I am starting to appreciate a bit of late), but when you finish a story it offers you to rate it 1-10, with 10 being the highest, when it asks how likely you are to recommend it to a friend. Because you have to finish it to rate it, it cuts down a bit on stuff like we see here on Google Play.

@Snowflower Good to see you! Yeah, that particular outcome is just about the toughest ending outside of maybe the high actor one now. The added paths made it feel like it should stand out more.

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