I had a couple suggestions. In the year 13 nephew/niece scene, would it be plausible (for high Education children) that the child actually was studying (working ahead or something)? Would that change the parent’s blackmail into a bribe (ex. If you comfort him/her, you get a holiday from chores)?
Also, I would like an option to send the kid to summer school even if they passed the diorama event. They need a head start on foreign languages/advanced math/ advanced science!
Also, do you think Edgewick would offer bilingual lessons at the elementary level ( higher-end schools in my area do that)?
5 Likes
I would have to reread that bit from Niece to See You Again to see if that would work, but possibly. I would have to see how much rewriting the summer school scene needs, since at least some of it assumes that the kid trucked up to get there. Not a guarantee of doability but at least worth a look. As for early language stuff, I doubt it. It’s not going to be a major gameplay component, just a small thing to maybe help their future employability or something.
New chapter is officially the first to cross the 10k mark, at 10700 and going strong. Friggin’ trip.
6 Likes
Kind of similar thought- would it be at all possible to implement a bilingual parent? Like, I know while this isn’t implicitly set in any specific location, it does feel very Western at least, but many parents were raised to speak another language, or have a language that isn’t English as their native tongue. I know for myself, I was raised in a household where we spoke three languages commonly. Could having the parent speak another language and raise their child with it ever be done? Or would it affect all the years growing up- thereby being too big of a change to implement?
5 Likes
I’m new to this forum, but registered just to post this. Sorry if this isn’t the right place!
I was really enjoying reading through this until I got to a certain part about the dog. The choice was to have your child take over training, take the dog to obedience school, or discipline the dog yourself. I chose doing it myself, assuming it meant training the dog, but it had me HIT the dog! I felt physically sick and immediately quit the game. I don’t feel like that result was AT ALL CLEAR from the choice text. “Discipline” doesn’t mean “hit”! 
10 Likes
Wow. I will be honest, I did not expect that reaction. While physical discipline has fallen out of fashion with our mini-humans (my own included), I guess I just assumed that the predominant form of potty training for dogs still involved a rolled-up newspaper or the equivalent.
2 Likes
I thought the reason the pet needed to be trained is because of the barking and running off. 
2 Likes
Man, I barely remember what I wrote last night. I was just assuming it was pee-related. Either way, if there is a more commonly-used method of dog training than physicality I am fairly ignorant of it.
5 Likes
For the bathroom issues, the new common dog training method is “crate training”: basically putting the dog in a crate, then taking them out at regular intervals (extending the length of the intervals as time goes by) to go to the bathroom. The dog sees the crate as a den, and would rather go to the bathroom outside than poop/pee in the den. However, the dog is not permanently kept in the crate. If done properly, it works well.
@hustlertwo
I know that foreign language will be mostly flavor text and little else. But there should still be options for what languages are available at which school (ex. Public school has Spanish/French/German, Edgewick has Chinese and Latin as well as the languages offered at public school, TSS would depend entirely on MC).
4 Likes
That’s not that new. The pup in my avatar was trained in a similar fashion. Popping him was just saved for the accidents when he couldn’t make it from the pen to the door. And for those times he kept eating inappropriate things, too, like Blockbuster’s VHS copy of The Lost World or car bumpers.
3 Likes
I almost never actually use this word but this game is delightful! I started the demo to kill time at work but it blew past any expectations I had. Couldn’t wait to finish when I got home and look forward to its completion!
And I couldn’t leave a comment without mentioning how much the Archer reference made me smile while reading it!
(Sidenote: though it doesn’t really matter it also makes me smile inwardly knowing I’ve got the same last name as the author. Especially since I like the book so much! Doh!)
3 Likes
I sorta got the hint of hitting the dog with a newspaper from some of the text on the choices following the “make Lucas discipline the dog” choice. In all honestly, it might be wise to write that scene a bit differently. Hitting dogs, even with newspapers, is pretty icky. I’m willing to suspend disbelief and accept that verbal scolding is enough to teach a dog not to do something.
4 Likes
My dog, a former show dog in the agility competition circuit was trained by positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement was never used.
Embarrassment at having an accident during potty training was enough for him to learn what he needed to do and this embarrassment is what we end up fighting against because a show dog needs confidence.
Also, his safe place is a place he has all to his own (his den) and the only time he is bothered if he is in there is if he needs to go to the vet or other such events that we have to move him.
We never had chewing issues or other bad behavioral issues with any of our dogs, although this one that I talk about above loves to squirrel his way out of our hotel rooms and go exploring - once he made it to the indoor pool and had a splash of a time.
Edit - @hustlertwo - I’m not going to demand anything but if you do decide to rewrite the scene, I do suggest using a positive reinforcement regime with the dog - reinforce with a reward for waiting until being outside as an example. I dunno, I’d be happy to talk over the scene with you if you want but each dog is an individual, so you know what would be best for the dog in your story.
7 Likes
An option is they could be your sibling’s spouse. All the convenience of familial ties without any of the weird.
Glad I’m not the only one who gets it lol
Damn… that’s dark. In an awesome way!
Lol that goes to show how people view the game. When you’re so invested in a fictional child that you want to “speak to the manager” about them getting a heads start on classes. Too awesome haha
That’s always been my view of things. A good compromise to consider is the spray bottle. Still, I never once had a negative reaction to that scene. Depends on how “G” rated you actually want it. I’m sure someone could be triggered by your kid bullying/ getting bullied, having the option to dunk your kid, etc. Food for thought.
It’s almost like the way it’s been done for literal centuries is no longer kosher just because. Oy vey!
1 Like
@hustlertwo
I agree with @Eiwynn, I’d prefer if the method of toilet training was positive reinforcement.
And if disciplining the dog meant telling it off. That way the child could still be reluctant to discipline the dog, because they don’t want to tell the dog off.
5 Likes
I definitely think I’ll have to look at the pet scene again. I don’t know if I’ll remove the option to physically discipline entirely; after all, it exists for your child, albeit in a limited capacity. But if nothing else I will add a non-physical discipline option so there’s more choice that just beat the dog or let 'em run wild.
@TheLazyKnight A fellow Simpson! Only you can understand the joy and frustration of this name, and the various jokes that follow. Especially in the 90s after the O.J. thing. Which was made worse for my sister, as she was named Nicole, but if Dad had gotten to name her she would have been Lisa so she was screwed either way. I’m glad you enjoyed the story and very enthused my pop reference hit the mark. One of my favorite reviews for Nuclear Powered Toaster is the guy who said he left five stars based solely on the Jake from State Farm joke. That may sound deranged (in fact, it is deranged), but somehow knowing one joke tickled someone that much that they specifically mentioned it above everything else makes me smile.
Oh, also, update. 12,401 new words. No big deal.
6 Likes
Oh shit, 14 is done!
Gonna be playing this to work, thanks for the update!
1 Like
Change (aname) to the name of the pet, between “disciplining” and “for”.
Also, does allowing your kid to argue their case for greater internet freedom always increase the education stat by 2? Or is it the choice to buy the graphing calculator that impacts education?
2 Likes
If they successfully argue it, it goes up. It’s possible for them to fail. I think the shopping thing only impacts popularity.
1 Like
@hustlertwo
Typos, in year 14.
But fine, I guess I can go and try to give it a chance.[.]"
Remove the bracketed full stop.
Let’s fine the ${ptype} now
Find
and this could be a goof opportunity to use some of it.
Good
Or if ${ahe} were to get too
snotty, hazardous to ${ahis} health.
Snooty (?)
It’'ll be a great time to get away from it all for awhile.
It’ll
3 Likes
