Both to commemorate this rather unique moment in modern society, and as a thank you to everyone’s awesome support for the Steam launch (and the game in general), I went ahead and added some content to the game. Pandemic Parenting is a new event during Year 5 (which means people who just play the free demo can see it too), and adds about 2,000 more words to it. I also redid the pro sports path for the endings after a reader found me on Reddit and asked about them, and I realized that locking the Hall of Fame career to only scholarship players at elite universities, while realistic, might be a tad harsh. Now there’s at least a middlin’ chance someone who went pro right off or had to pay their own way can still be a star, similar to the other activity jobs. I also tweaked some other stuff as I saw it, and fixed a couple of reported typos. Thanks!
Also, because I love polls and can’t make up my mind about how to progress on this game’s followup, some stuff to ponder:
- Do The Grandparenting Simulator as a paid DLC!
- Do The Grandparenting Simulator as a standalone release!
- Pie!
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Pandemic section was fun! But it was surprising to not have any achievements for it.
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I thought about it. But I spent so many years as a moderate-level achievement whore on my 360 that the 1000/50 ratio has a strong, almost irresistible appeal.
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Will the Grandparenting Simulator be compatible with every possible ending of the Parenting Simulator?
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Most certainly. No narrative dead ends. Even though the kid can end up in a buttload of different jobs, I figure I can break them down into just a couple different categories and then make specific references to them at just a few points to keep things from getting too crazy. I mean, whether they’re traveling for acting, pro sports or playing violin, they’re still gone a lot and the family would have to deal with that (as well as the potential of both positive and negative effects of the fame that comes with those things). And whether they’re a cop, an office drone or a karate instructor, they would similarly have the potential to struggle with lack of money compared to the more lucrative fields.
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I feel extremely called out with the negative effect of being an office drone. Can’t wait to live vicariously through my fake child and cathartically cry!
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As an office drone myself, I deeply sympathize. Well, currently a dining room drone, at least until the end of this month. Most people in my department are alternating weeks going in, but since myself and my older daughter are high-risk, I have been solely at home and will be until the beginning of July when, assuming nothing changes, they will put me into that alternating schedule as well. So weird to work every day at an office and then suddenly not have gone into it since way back on March 16th. Not bad weird, mind you, just different weird.
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Would the relationship they have with you also factor in? I know that there is no way to be estranged from your child in game, but their adult relationship with you can vary in warmth (although it is still loving).
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That’s my intent. A lot of this is still theoretical since I have written very little of this, but while complete estrangement would not be possible (since that would make for a short game), a less loving relationship will lead to more reticence on the part of your child when you try to engage, maybe a little bitterness as well. And a selfish child will be less appreciative of what you do for them, and more likely to just take for granted help you provide and be unhappy if it isn’t forthcoming.
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If the game is a standalone release, will we get to save our TPS games so they can be transferred over? Also is extracurricular success in year 15 determined randomly?
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Once the author completes 80% of TGS, only then you can save your TPS files so that they can be carried over to TGS.
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Ayup. No saves until it’s almost done.
I am unsure about the viability of DLC; TPS has sold over 5,000 copies, but if only 1,000 of them purchase a DLC pack likely priced no higher than $1.99 or $2.99 then this isn’t going to work out great compared to a stand-alone release. However, that’s fine if it is relatively short and does not have a ton of new mechanics. So a lot of the decision may be made for me by how big this ends up being. If it passes the 100k threshold, expect to see it released as a proper TPS sequel. If it’s like 60k, then I’d much rather do a small cost DLC add-on to the first game then have it seem like a cheap cash-in sequel.
@Snowflower I will doublecheck but I believe it is mostly based on the hidden activityboost stat. You increase it by favoring the activity over school and by increasing whatever stat is related to that activity.
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Hello, let me just start by saying how much I loved this. However, I did have a few questions.
- In one of my playthroughs, I smothered my child and they ended up with 55 academics to 45 athletics. However, they still ended up valedictorian despite getting higher academics in previous and following playthroughs. What’s the change here?
- In all of my ivy league playthroughs, my child never gets their degree. How can I change that?
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The Education stat is not really involved with the Valedictorian stat calculation; there is a hidden stat called Grades (which you can affect with certain decisions. Some of these grade-boosting decisions are also rather smother-y). High Education (70+) boosts Grades by one point. The threshold for Valedictorian also depends on the school you go to (Edgewick is the highest, while TSS is the lowest).
You can make your child complete their degree by teaching them to be more independent, and giving them more structure.
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Thanks for playing! Snowflower covered it better than I honestly could have without pulling up my copy of the code to look through. I wrote this, you’d think I would remember more of the specifics offhand…
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Finally completed every achievement in the game!
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Is there a part 2? I hope there is
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There may be a Grandparenting Simulator later, but at present just the one exists. Glad you enjoyed it!
@Snowflower I missed this before, congrats! That is no small feat to be sure.
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Hey!
I was thinking of giving this game a go. May I ask if there’s any option to deal with mental health on your child and the Mc themselves?
Is there also an option for your child coming out? Or are they heterosexual in all cases?
Will do, Thanks!
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Glad you’re considering giving it a go, but there’s not really any content dealing directly with mental health. And your child’s sexuality is pretty much not involved in the story at any point. So it is possible you might end up disappointed if those were the things you were really hoping to delve into. If you try the free demo that goes through the first few years, that should give you a good idea of the content and tone for the story as a whole.
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