Quite App-Parent: The Parenting Simulator. Year 12 Complete! Updated 1/27/19. Artist Wanted, Details in Post 547!

gender-choice
#343

@hustlertwo
I noticed you use a lot of choices that goto the same label.

Example below:

*choice
   #"Look, $!{mama} isn't playing around here. If you don't take this seriously, you could get held back a grade."
       That sobers $!{aname} up quick, and ${ahe} falls silent.
       *goto release
   #"Just stick with it. I know you can do this!"
       $!{ahe} grumbles. "I haven't so far."
       *goto release
   #"If that's your attitude, you just added five more minutes to us working on this."
       $!{ahe} groans, but is wise enough not to compound the damage by speaking out again.
       *goto release

If you are not setting stats in the choices you can use fake_choice, so you don’t have to use the gotos.

#344

I truly was not able to figure out how to do fake choices when I did NPT. Eventually I figured it would take longer to figure it out than it would to just keep doing regular choices and gotos. Plus, I can advertise my stories of being free of fake choices! Which I like to think is true anyhow; I am not a fan of choices that literally do nothing, so while it’s not accurate to say 100% of mine at least have a line or two of unique text or stat boosts, it would be accurate to say the number is a solid 98% or more. I use those sorts of ersatz choices as seldom as possible.

#345

But then, with judges, how could one possibly know what they want? With the diverse number of opinions floating around, a game about being a janitor in an SCP-esque facility might be better (opinion wise) than a classic superhero tale.

#346

Well, NPT didn’t place, so Parenting could pretty much only have done the same or better.

#347

An update on the fine-tuning being done. I finished my sub-Q submission and came back to this, working some this morning on the various goals and writing a bit more of the seemingly endless pet event. Since the next event will feature tons of new elements with the derandomized option and the addition of money and achievements, as well as two entire chapters completed, it will:
A. Take a long time, yo. Hopefully December? I’d like to say by Christmas but there’s no guarantee.
B. Officially mark the ‘over the hill’ moment for the story. Both in terms of being over halfway done and because presumably your character would be getting pretty old by now, eh?

#348

Okay, I hate to triple-post, but some guidance is requested. I’m looking more at the money, and trying to decide how to handle it. Should it be a detailed budget, where you earn a certain amount every year which then has money deducted based on individual choices as well as long-reaching changes such as getting the pet or enrolling in the most expensive school that lead to permanent yearly deductions? Or does this distract from the parenting part of the app, and it should just be a simple ‘you have X dollars, and this decision decreases it or this decision increases it’, possibly with a small amount put in each year to keep things afloat?

#349

I would vote for this idea. Not a big fan of management in games myself, and keeping track of a detailed budget and balancing it would detract me. I would like income and expense to have a small part in this story, not a significant or overbearing one. Just my opinion.

This has nothing to do with my utter and complete inability to deal aptly with money in real life or in fiction, of course.

#350

That’s how I am leaning. It would be interesting to do a detailed budget situation, but it would force you to make a lot of parenting decisions based on money. That is sadly realistic, but perhaps not ideal given the focus of the game.

Also, we do have some help with monetary woes: The Free Money (Advice) Thread!

#351

I know this might be too “gimmicky” or too “convenient” but I personally would set up a fund for the child that would be drawn on … the reasons for this fund can be many… but by setting up such a fund it will give you the artistic freedom to create the game you want.

The parent would not be benefiting from this fund per se … if set up as many of them are but to afford diapers, clothing and other essentials, it might be a way to provide realistic freedom but still add the constraints on the parent you are looking for.

Do you go out on a “date night” or spend 5 bucks on Starbucks every morning this month …

#352

I’d go with this option to keep it simple.

#353

FYI, never spend on Starbucks. It’s such a waste. Drink crappier free coffee at your place of employment, if such is available. Or just avoid the stuff.

I think it might be best to go the simple route. I work in finance; if I start trying to make this realistic, I won’t stop, and it’ll be a budget-balancing game where you also occasionally talk to some kid that lives in your home. Rent-free, I might add. Once I had regular income I’ll also need regular deductions (for care and feeding of a pet, for example, or dues for the activities). I’ll have to display all that on a separate stat screen. Offer money earned for ‘interest’ and probably the option for loans. It’s a slippery slope I don’t trust myself to walk.

However, the money saved will have a lasting impact on some endings. Particularly college. So it is a college fund in a sense; without a decent balance, the kid will have to get the money some other way.

#354

If you raise the kids education/Athletics into the 90s, could the kids get an athletic scholarship/into a highly-selective school with generous endowments?

#355

Of course! Scholarships won’t just be for those superachievers, but the best ones likely will be. Just keep in mind that it doesn’t guarantee a ‘good’ ending to get them into a great school. Mostly because, if I do this right, there will be no good endings. Though potentially a few that are objectively bad.

#356

What does objectively bad mean?

#357

I was going to make a Parenthood joke about how if you made them play second base they would go up on a bell tower with a rifle, but that joke isn’t as funny as it was 28 years ago thanks to all the people that basically have done that.

#358

So if you do get the best scholarships and schools for a superachieving child, will they
a: have to move away from everything they know and truly forge their own path, or b: work themselves so hard to get there that they are almost too exhausted to even react properly? And if they aren’t superachievers, will they likely stay closer to home, but at the cost of opportunity and future prospects, as well as debts?

#359

I just realized that putting a link in spoilers sounds clever but is actually a no-go, since it makes clicking it hard to do.

#360

@hustlertwo
In year 6.

However, if you give ${ahim} the ability to buy what he wants, are you prepared for what that might entail?

${ahe}
#361

Thanks!

Also, an update about when there should next be an update: I finished pretty much everything on my checklist, although I only have like ten achievements because I’m waiting to find the best spots for them to go. No sense going in all willy-nilly with it. Cash is implemented (and since it was mostly just deductions, I added a $500 a year increase to make sure that you didn’t constantly go negative), and the de-randomization choice will present at the beginning of Year One. Also, I think I have finally gotten through the pet event, which is easily the largest scene in the game and one of the most complex things I have yet done in ChoiceScript. It’s over 7,000 words all by its lonesome, but you won’t see too many per playthrough more than likely. I decided to pair it with just a short event about actually taking care of the pet, which I will hopefully finish soon, allowing me to upload everything to Dashingdon. This also means if you choose to get no pet you will breeze through Year Nine in mere moments. But I doubt many people with choose to do that.

Year Ten will also be large, more than likely. I have two events totally written, but not sure if one may not scoot back to Year Eleven. Right now I have people picking between a school play and a theme park visit, but I wonder if that will be an even split or if everyone will just want to do the play and leave all those poor theme park words unread.

#362

Screenshot_20181219-183653_Samsung%20Internet
Screenshot_20181219-183653_Samsung Internet.jpg720x1280 306 KB

My child never injured his arm.