Quick question what year can our kid tryout for the school’s football team and it would be nice if we could pick the position we want our kid to try out for for example HB or QB
3 Likes
Sports team tryouts will be Year 15 (since that is when the kid is 14 years old and going into high school). To be honest, you probably won’t be able to choose their position. I’d like to say it’s because that’s a choice most kids would make for themselves, but it’s also because that would become almost impossible for me, especially since I would have to do it for each sport, and making the full number available for all of them would, without exaggeration, be more than thirty options (and that’s still only going to cover half the activity people!). I will likely have a position pre-picked for each sport. I’m leaning toward kicker for football; since most schools don’t have a separate women’s team for football like they do all the other sports, I need a position that’s fairly gender-neutral. Women are kickers at the high school or even college level with enough frequency that the kid would not stand out so much that I had to devote a lot of space to explaining it.
Now, with the other sports having gender-separated leagues, there’s more freedom for what that position could be. So if anyone has suggestions, I’m open to them. Probably steering clear of center in basketball, though. There’s certain height expectations with that position that might not gel with the kid a reader has envisioned, whereas a point guard or a forward wouldn’t work the same.
6 Likes
Is there any way for the child to get the lead role in the play without any “help”?
3 Likes
Yes. Offhand, I remember you can practice to the point that you skip your activity, and you can also get there by having high Pop and Education (which is my rough approximation of charisma given the stats available).
3 Likes
Maybe have the possibility to start a family with a second child and see how the child would react at that possibility?
My next suggestion would the dread first girl/boyfriend and seeing if you approve of them. That would be funny!
5 Likes
@hustlertwo
In year 13. In the Niece to See You Again scene.
I chose to have Lana visit and I have the country home.
I chose the option:
“Lighten up, we have rooms enough for everyone.”
While Jennifer sleeps well, sleeping on the couch is a young person’s game, and you are sore and fatigued by the time morning rolls around.
I think my mc shouldn’t be sleeping on the couch if Jennifer and my MC have their own rooms, and Lana and Lucy are sharing a room.
3 Likes
Honestly, the best idea would be to consider making 2 options and having it based off of Athletics and Popularity. If those combined have a certain score, they can be QB and if they are under that score, they can be Kicker. I don’t know about other sports but I do know that Football in particular treats QB as a pretty highly regarded position. Having that as an option for a kid that excels in sports & works well with a team would be really cool…
… that said, my kid is into soccer so it doesn’t really matter to me personally lol
That isn’t coming until book 2
6 Likes
Can we change our nationality in the beginning? (I named my child in a Japanese name along with my parent)
3 Likes
I’m not sure if nationality should be brought up – since the game is often steeped in American culture, like @Quincy pointed out, I think it could make the choice feel shallow if the setting pretended to be whatever the reader chose as their nationality and nation without any changes.
However, I totally think ethnicity/ancestry/etc. could be brought up in a fun way – maybe not in this game, but in the sequel, I could totally see a scene at school where you choose a more distinct background and the kid(s) have to do a project about the culture or even the parents visit bringing foods and stuff. 
10 Likes
If that’s the case then I’ll just pretend that my child has ehh Japanese ethnicity or ancestry from my blood because ehh let’s say that either both parents or just one parent from the MC’s side is from ehh Japan and fled from Japan in WWII and from there that’s how the MC and the child have some Japanese ancestry
2 Likes
It’s your character so you can envision the family as whatever nationality you want. @hustlertwo has alluded a few times that since it’s your kid, they can be from wherever you mentally see them. It’s just probably not going to be expressly stated
@hustlertwo it would maybe be worth considering allowing us to name our sister. I’m a black guy with a black son, and the sister’s name (Lucy, Lisa or Lana, i can’t remember) IS kind of immersion breaking. Again, just a suggestion since for people with more exotic names, the preset name can be a bit jarring potentially
3 Likes
True. I have always been a big believer of not introducing variables unless you intend to do something with them. Both because it makes sense, and because some people (rightfully) rake you over the coals when you do. Physical characteristics and such are left largely undefined because they aren’t going to be referenced, and I figure headcanon should be left alone as much as possible. Once I start introducing options I must, by necessity, limit those options much more than if they remain unrestrained by anything except the reader’s imagination. The MC and child could have their nationality specified. But I can’t put all the possible ones out there (or, if I did, I couldn’t possibly introduce unique text or gameplay modifiers for all of them, rendering it effectively meaningless), so someone who comes from Lichtenstein or Cote d’Ivoire or some other place feels left out when they wouldn’t have to if I just leave that area up to the reader to determine and do my best not to step on their toes (like removing the blue eyes mention from the baby chapter after someone suggested it would unintentionally exclude a lot of people’s character ideas).
I must admit, I find the Lana thing a bit funny. She’s actually named for a black character, and was given that moniker almost solely for a pop culture reference that leads to an achievement in year 13. Still, if y’all think it’s too potentially limiting, I can always consider cutting it out or making it a name option. I had actually done it this way in part due to criticism earlier in the thread about not having enough pre-named NPCs, so it’s likely true that either way I go someone won’t be happy.
Oh, small update with most or all of the typos and fixes suggested. No new text, aside from one line to explain the home = 3 option for year 13. Which is 9,792 words, I had forgotten to mention the total. Intended to write with my time this morning, but West of Loathing interfered in the best way possible.
5 Likes
That is kind of funny. For me though, I’ve never come across a black Lana before (not saying there aren’t) and we were named after prominent black figures (Malcolm X, Maya Angelou, etc) so it does throw me off a bit. Again, it’s immersion breaking but only so much as when I’m dealing with her.
Also for the nationally situation, one potential way of futzing around with it is having an option for very broad and general ethnic backgrounds.
Sure, but in a game where you are going out of your way to allow people head cannon, suddenly having a sister with a predefined name slightly undermines that imo. I’d imagine while there would be a number of people that aren’t happy that a name isn’t preset, a lot more would potentially be annoyed that she has a name that they don’t like. Ex. Lana is a decidedly English Speaking name, so your Hispanics, Africans, and Asians are going to potentially have a break in immersion. Same with people that just don’t envision their sister named “Lana”.
That might mess with the alliteration you had going with the “Lana/Louis” thing so ultimately the decision is up to you and again, despite my lengthy post about it, at the end of the day we spend so little time with her it’s not that pressing
2 Likes
I think you should keep the sister name the same as it is at the moment.
It feels strange allowing the mc to pick her name, as the mc’s parents would have named her.
2 Likes
You could potentially be an adopted child, or Lana could be, which could be a headcanon reason for any disparity in names, as many adopters keep the adoptees names if they adopt an older child.
2 Likes
@hustlertwo This game is truly one of my favorites! and I saw you were looking for suggestions for new ideas and may I suggest something like the daughter maybe dealing with womanly issues like her body maybe developing now. (her breast, hips, body hair all over her, having to shave now, hormones.) and maybe not knowing how to deal with the new way she feels and looks or how people (boys) are looking at her differently and maybe liking it or not liking it.
Maybe more fighting with mom/dad because of stress. maybe a camping trip with our friends and pet. Maybe having more cute random moments like the clay turtle one! I loved that so much! I think everyone has already made so many good suggestions! 
But this game makes me so happy and I love my little child alot! So I cant wait for year 14! 
4 Likes
Wrong person lol. I WISH I could take credit for this masterpiece.
The guy you’re looking for is @hustlertwo
2 Likes
I’m so excited for this app!! 
It’s so lovely
3 Likes
Can i make my structured and high education level kiddo into an introvert? Somehow when i discourage all her social contact and promote awkwardness and stuff, she still has a high popularity. I just want a shy nerdy bean 
6 Likes