The Parenting Simulator- Now Available on iOS, Google Play and Amazon!

No, don’t take it as anything sour on my part. It’s a needed melodrama to make the characters more real and y’all are right to mention it. I just wish I could come up with a background for a single parent setup that doesn’t involve telling a child:

A. Someone didn’t want you (adoption, a single mother or father being left alone with the child because the other was not interested)
B. Someone wanted you but died

I think I can spin it to be bittersweet, where you tell the kid how if it’s A the other person didn’t know what they were missing, and if it’s B the other person would be so proud of them. And some other options of a similar nature.

I think mostly I am just sad that in order to make things realistic, I have to let reality intrude. It’s necessary, but as is so often the case with reality definitely a bit of a bummer.

As I said I was adopted. I was taught that my (adopted) mom and siblings wanted me and that when the time was right for me I could search out info on my birth family if I wanted … from a very early age I was wrapped in love and cared for by people wanting me.

I’m sorry. I said I would not push back and here I am.

At times it is hard not to, especially when I desire friends to understand.

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Well, for starters let me apologize about speaking in the abstract regarding things that for you are anything but abstract. I missed your remark earlier about being adopted while skimming responses at work, and the mere fact that this would have altered the tone of my subsequent posts shows it probably was too cavalier to begin with. I’m glad you were raised believing what my family and I have always believed as well: that family is much more than blood. My wife and I would absolutely have done it if we hadn’t been able to have kids the old-fashioned way, and still consider it a possibility for later on if it’s what we feel led to do (in fact, that would be the only way our family would be expanding, short of a medical miracle). Not right now though; we have a hard enough time with man-on-man defense. Being outnumbered is a daunting prospect.

I definitely am not going to have it be a late age adoption reveal. I have seen firsthand how jarring that is for people when they realize the story they were told about their origin is a lie. It would be more of something that was always known by the child, but now they are mature enough to come to you and sorta ask the big questions while being able to comprehend the answers about either adoption or their missing parent. 13 or 14, perhaps. And you’re right that with the focus properly on what you have rather than what is lost, it should hopefully be positive, if occasionally wistful. Thanks for your understanding and patience with me.

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Is there gonna be a choice in the back story? Like if we adopted them or if they’re our actual child and the parent passed away.

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@hustlertwo

I’m Chester, the Da-Da of little Eric there.

Wouldn’t he say “Dad” if he is talking to an adult?

and make sure you use lots of acetaminophen

I’d change this to Paracetamol, as I had to look up what the bolded word was.

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I didn’t know what Paracetamol is until now, so hooray for new knowledge! Acetaminophen is basically Tylenol. I just wasn’t sure about using the brand name. Could also sub in baby ibuprofen, I imagine. Might be a bit more recognizable while still generic.

The Da-da thing could go either way. It’s not unusual to refer to yourself using the kid-given title even around adults (when the kid is present, at least. Gets a little weird if they are not). But some are uncomfortable with it.

@No_This_Is_Patrick It won’t be set up in the beginning like a backstory element, you will basically decide what happened by what you talk to your teenager about. Retconning, I suppose.

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Okay gang, been progressing with the next update (already finished another Year Three segment, I Did It All for the Upvotes) but what I intended to be the last part of Year Three felt more like a mandatory event. My plan was to limit those to average out to one year in three at the most, but I am finding there are a lot of things that feel necessary since later segments would call back to them. Would y’all say it’s more important to make each playthrough distinct with increased randomization/variability in what you encounter, or to insure the high points get hit even if it means a mandatory event in years 2, 3, 4, and 6 all crammed together?

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This game reminds me a lot of Alter Ego, but from the POV of the parent(s?). That game is structured so that you have the choice of doing a lot of life milestones over the period of your character’s life.

In this case, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to go with making sure the high points are hit, as randomized playthroughs might not always be a good thing if players are looking for a particular event that they want, or just giving some structure to what may otherwise be an oddly paced game.

(Like how we’re talking with Tanya about how to get our child to go on the training potty, then all of a sudden we skip ahead 3 years to when they go to preschool. :man_shrugging:)

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Has this been updated

Well, it wouldn’t quite be like that; everyone will do the same number of events in a playthrough. No one skips a year or anything. It’s just which events you see that is at least partially randomized.

@Harley_Robin_Evans Updated since I first put it up, yes. Back on the 25th I uploaded the rest of Year Two. Not since then, though. I won’t update again until I finish Year Three, which has one more segment to go.

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Not sure if you’re already aware of this (I tried skimming through this to see if it had been mentioned and I didn’t see it, so if it has, I apologize), but I’m playing as a female raising a girl and during the scene where my child takes off through the parking lot and I choose to hit her across the rump, the gender suddenly switches.

Here’s what it says:

"You haul Nia up and swat him across the rump, saying “No, NO! We do NOT run into a parking lot! That is DANGEROUS!” There are a few disgruntled murmurs at this public display of discipline, though you also hear an older voice grumble “Serves her right for running off!”

I like the game so far though! Very interesting premise.

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Thanks! I did not realize that, and it’s likely that instead of writing the variable ${ahim} I just wrote the word him. I’ll try to correct it with the next update.

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This might be a weird question, but how exactly are you planning on handling the child’s identity/identities? Do we get to choose if our child is, for example, gay or bi or straight? And will the story differ based on what we choose?

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It would be weird to have the parent chose identity and preferences - ymmv.

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Maybe, but it is just a game. I guess random generation would be possible lol.

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@Eiwynn That is 100% correct. I am not someone who believes sexuality is a conscious choice, but even those who do would likely still have to admit it is not one made for you by someone else. As a parent you can influence much, but you can make few true long-term decisions directly. As it should be; to have an offspring that’s programmable you probably need Choice of Robots.

As for whether it comes up, as yet undetermined. If so, would indeed be randomized.

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The only reason I’d want to choose is because I’d like to play with a gay child and be a great gay father haha. But, obviously randomization would be more realistic.

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I only just stumbled across this just now and I must say that I am impressed. There has not been a parenting simulator HG before.

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Thanks! I was excited by the idea from when it first came up; I have had numerous notions for a IF since coming here last year but this was the first and arguably my favorite.

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Exactly my motto. Constant Innovation. (I was going to put Latin there, but then I found out that Constant Innovation in Latin is the same phrase backwards…)

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