[HN Gopher] Show HN: I made a sandbox game to help with financia...
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       Show HN: I made a sandbox game to help with financial planning
        
       Author : pattle
       Score  : 362 points
       Date   : 2021-04-22 08:01 UTC (14 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (simulator.money)
 (TXT) w3m dump (simulator.money)
        
       | iso1631 wrote:
       | So you're assuming you're lucky enough to get a fairly high
       | paying job (for 2002) straight out of school within walking
       | distance of your mum's house, first job you applied for too? The
       | rent is tiny, the expenses seem really low too.
       | 
       | For comparison my first job which required a uni degree and was
       | in central london in 2003 was PS18k a year. Rent on a bedsit was
       | PS520 a month, transport was PS120 a month, student loan PS59 a
       | month, leaving PS100 a week for food, bills (internet,
       | electricity, tv, council tax, laundry+dry cleaning, etc), travel
       | to see families, etc
       | 
       | It's a great way of showing the massive leg-up that people who
       | have parents living in the London commuter-belt get though.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | cudder wrote:
       | I tried to buy a property, they took my money but I never got
       | anything for it. :(
        
         | dddddaviddddd wrote:
         | This happened when I tried to buy in cash (without a mortgage).
        
         | Rinum wrote:
         | Scams exist in the real world too, so realistic!
        
         | lelanthran wrote:
         | Me too :-(
        
       | benja123 wrote:
       | This is really really cool and is the kind of thing schools
       | should use to teach kids about money management.
       | 
       | I would make the next turn button a bit more prominent as I did
       | not notice it at first. I would also maybe add a bit more of a
       | tutorial. Really cool and keep it up.
        
         | pattle wrote:
         | Thanks, that's kind of my end goal. In the UK we really aren't
         | taught how to manage our finances in school but it's an
         | invaluable skill.
        
         | alexf95 wrote:
         | Concept wise I would agree with some tweaks of course.
         | 
         | However, I think the style of the browser game might be a
         | little off-putting for kids as they are not familiar with the
         | "old windows" and generally more pixelated style.
        
       | euph0ria wrote:
       | It simulates real life pretty well:
       | 
       | - I have an unread email in the inbox but I can't find it
       | 
       | - The banks send me emails with no content in the body, some
       | email glitch on their side
       | 
       | - I tried to buy a property, lost my solicitor's fee but never
       | got the property
       | 
       | - There are no good jobs available except one underpaid junior
       | position
       | 
       | - I pay way too much in tax compared to what I make
        
         | azalemeth wrote:
         | This may well be an en-gb locale specific bug. Also, who's mum
         | charges rent?
        
           | joshxyz wrote:
           | LOL
        
           | astura wrote:
           | Most of the people I went to high school with? In my
           | neighborhood/school, most children, when they become
           | teenagers, are expected to get a job to help with the family
           | bills. Personally, my parents didn't expect that of me, but
           | theirs expected it of them and they both did. Most of my
           | peers at school/work did so too. This is probably mostly a
           | poor person thing.
           | 
           | However, once you're done with your education entirely,
           | unless there's extenuating circumstances like severe
           | disability, you absolutely should be mostly paying your own
           | living expenses, even if you're living with someone else.
        
           | LightG wrote:
           | You must have lived the good life.
           | 
           | My mum didn't charge me rent, she charged me a ...
           | "contribution".
        
           | euph0ria wrote:
           | I think it's pretty common in Sweden at least to pay rent to
           | your parents that cover your cost (food + symbolic rent) if
           | you have a job and you're done with high school + uni.
        
           | recentdarkness wrote:
           | Mine did when I was working :P
        
           | sefrost wrote:
           | Everyone I know living with their parents after university
           | pays "bed and board".
        
           | Smaug123 wrote:
           | Indeed, it's pretty normal, though it's usually not at the
           | rate you'd extract from a formal lodger.
           | 
           | https://www.onefamily.com/talking-finance/finance/should-
           | you...
           | 
           | > According to a survey by My Job Quote people over the age
           | of 18 and living with their parents pay on average PS230 per
           | month to their parents in rent - 65% less than the PS690
           | median rent in England in 2018.
        
           | TeMPOraL wrote:
           | Mine did :). Or rather, I volunteered to do so, once I landed
           | my first proper job during university years.
        
           | bengale wrote:
           | Most people I knew got free lodging up until they were 18 or
           | still in education, after that you had to chip in.
        
           | p1necone wrote:
           | Mine charged me rent (once I was finished highschool and was
           | working), saved it, and then gave it all back when I moved
           | out.
        
             | theluketaylor wrote:
             | A friend's parents had a similar system I thought made a
             | lot of sense. While you were in post-secondary schooling no
             | rent. They collected rent if you were just working or
             | laying about, but that money was available for tuition
             | whenever you want it.
        
             | baq wrote:
             | _scribbles down notes furiously_
        
               | teekert wrote:
               | Haha, yes, this is a good tip!
        
             | cssinate wrote:
             | Similarly, when I did post-secondary, my parents paid for
             | all of my books but made me pay for my own tuition. When I
             | graduated, they wrote me a cheque for the amount of all my
             | tuition combined.
        
               | drewzero1 wrote:
               | Wow! That sounds like my experience, except minus the
               | part about the check. I feel like my parents did as well
               | as they could for me though, and they taught me to save
               | money in a healthy way after college.
        
         | tut-urut-utut wrote:
         | The list goes even further:
         | 
         | - I paid off the mortgage, but the bank just kept taking money
         | from me every month
         | 
         | - After some time, I noticed that there's again rent to mum in
         | addition to the mortgage. The property is still there.
        
           | mpeg wrote:
           | I have two properties, still live at home with mum since I'm
           | paying her rent and both my properties sit empty while the
           | bank keeps taking money from a fully paid off mortgage.
           | 
           | Just like real life!
        
       | digitalsin wrote:
       | Plugged in my printer and got a BSOD :(
        
       | jermaustin1 wrote:
       | This is exactly my type of game. I love the concept. There are a
       | lot of bugs though. Do you have an issues page or anything? And
       | are you open to working with other developers on it?
        
         | pattle wrote:
         | Not really open to working with anyone else on this, I prefer
         | to work alone.
         | 
         | No issues page but I'm going to work through all the bugs
         | highlighted in the comments.
         | 
         | I think my email is in my profile if you want to report
         | anything specific / request a feature.
        
       | bendtb wrote:
       | This was surprisingly fun.
        
       | DocTomoe wrote:
       | The idea is great, but it gives some very weird ideas, like
       | having 4% interest p.a. (not something I think still happens in
       | the west). Maybe add a stock market fonds aspect in there (which
       | may rise and fall), have more risky, more potentially lucrative,
       | and less risky, more stable fonds in there.
        
       | logikblok wrote:
       | Great work. I was surprised to see it UK based but it was good. I
       | think it'll help reinforce ideas of saving, pensions and forward
       | thinking. Things you may want to consider:
       | 
       | - Gain graph? Some type of means to show how the gains have
       | earned. Understand you're opting for a simulation of reality but
       | it might help with understanding what is going on.
       | 
       | - Economic changes / opportunities? New stock, new financial
       | products or travel opportunities. The email inbox is quite neat
       | and it allows perhaps for these events to be introduced.
       | 
       | You may also like some of the mechanics from:
       | https://thefounder.biz/play/ https://graebor.itch.io/sort-the-
       | court
        
       | trickstra wrote:
       | I changed job and suddenly started paying rent to mum even when
       | I've had my own house for 2 years... payment for mortgage and to
       | mum are right next to each other.
       | 
       | It would be nice if the houses showed the energy expenses and
       | fees. And mortgages show the interest rate and the expected
       | monthly payments.
       | 
       | Oh, and every property still shows the green "Purchase
       | successful" message since I bought the first property.
        
         | jermaustin1 wrote:
         | Mum better be refunding all this rent she's been stealing over
         | the years since I moved out!
        
         | callamdelaney wrote:
         | Mum ran out of money..
        
         | trickstra wrote:
         | Ok, buying a second house fixed the rent to mum, but getting a
         | second mortgage caused the first one to never finish. Now I'm
         | paying forever, lol.
        
       | parksy wrote:
       | Kinda fun idea and with a bit of polish could be great. If you
       | enter a negative amount when you transfer between accounts it
       | does weird things...
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | usgroup wrote:
       | Please think of a way to make a board game that teaches folks the
       | consequences of all the typical life decisions we have in common.
       | I think it'd be a considerable service to society.
        
       | tux3 wrote:
       | Friendly tip: Do not transfer negative amounts! They get
       | substracted from _both_ sides =)
        
         | pattle wrote:
         | Oops, I will fix that
        
       | Aeolun wrote:
       | This is fun. It's pretty buggy though.
       | 
       | I bought two properties so far (hindsight is awesome), but I'm
       | still paying rent to mom, apparently I didn't move in.
       | 
       | Now I cannot sell or rent them out.
       | 
       | Also, not much happens? I just sit here watching numbers go up.
        
         | jokethrowaway wrote:
         | Sounds exactly like life in this past year of prisony
        
         | yreg wrote:
         | I cannot select variable rate on my mortgage, is that a bug?
        
         | killtimeatwork wrote:
         | > Also, not much happens? I just sit here watching numbers go
         | up.
         | 
         | That describes past 10 years of my life. Fortunately, I'm
         | (early) retiring this year.
        
           | tom_mellior wrote:
           | > I'm (early) retiring this year.
           | 
           | That's the most important missing feature. After 20 years in
           | the game, I have a house, a pension fund, and a savings
           | account with a montly growth twice my monthly expenses. At
           | this point there is zero incentive to continue working for
           | ~30 more years.
           | 
           | IRL I hope to be there around age 50. No matter how much I
           | enjoy my job, 40 hours of "enjoyment" per week is a lot more
           | than I want.
        
       | ricardobeat wrote:
       | I played for around 10 minutes, quite fun. Some comments:
       | 
       | - how would you get 4% gains in real life? it makes a massive
       | difference, but you're unlikely to reach this unless the money is
       | put into the stock market
       | 
       | - was unable to sell my property (the "request valuation" button
       | does nothing)
       | 
       | - the university option never showed up
       | 
       | - there were no further jobs after ~12 years of career (stopped
       | at something like engineering manager at ~45k/year which is very
       | low for London)
       | 
       | - advancing month-by-month is pretty slow. there should be a way
       | of fast-forwarding to important events (new job, promotion,
       | housing market goes up/down, etc)
       | 
       | - had to transfer $ to savings / pension in batches every year or
       | so, losing out on a lot of interest. should be possible to set a
       | monthly amount
       | 
       | - the expenses are way too stable to reflect real life
       | 
       | I ended the simulation at 35 years old, with EUR200k savings,
       | EUR60k mortage equity, and EUR80k on a pension fund. Living on a
       | EUR100k house, no car, no gifts, no travel, no family. It's not
       | bad, but for someone saving fiercely from 18 years without any
       | major expenses it's not a great result. Getting a high-paying job
       | (80k+) around your 30s will land you in the exact same place,
       | while giving you 12 years to live more liberally.
        
         | llimos wrote:
         | It starts out set in 2002. You could absolutely get 4% on a
         | savings account in 2002.
        
           | SilasX wrote:
           | That's not what I remember. I couldn't find data for 2002,
           | but this[1] shows that savings accounts paid 0.6% at the end
           | of 2003. Savings rates also generally track short-term
           | Treasury rates, and those were below 2% for all of 2002. [2]
           | 
           | Edit: Never mind, OP said this for the UK (which, nice rates
           | btw). Leaving this comment for the links to US comparisons.
           | 
           | [1] https://www.ncua.gov/analysis/cuso-economic-data/credit-
           | unio...
           | 
           | [2] https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-
           | center/i...
        
         | pattle wrote:
         | The interest is set at 4% because that was typical for a
         | savings account in the UK when the game starts (2002) but I
         | need to make it change over time
         | 
         | Yes I need to add more jobs and different career paths. Once I
         | add universities the type of job you can get will depend on
         | your degree.
         | 
         | I'm going to add a dating aspect to the simulation so you can
         | start a family and see the expenses associated with that.
         | 
         | Setting a monthly savings amount is a good idea.
         | 
         | Still a very early stage, rough round the edges simulation at
         | the moment
        
           | iso1631 wrote:
           | Why can't I buy Amazon shares from the start? :D
        
             | pattle wrote:
             | Ha, I want to add investments but it would have to be
             | random-ish. No point in using historical data for share
             | prices because that would make it a bad simulation if you
             | already know the result.
        
       | eMGm4D0zgUAVXc7 wrote:
       | Is it correct that the mortgage keeps on billing me even though
       | it is in negative balance = paid off, and the 1 year I have set
       | it to has also expired?
        
       | ComodoHacker wrote:
       | Not sure if all of these are bugs, but:
       | 
       | - I was able to purchase a property for only PS1100
       | 
       | - To buy without mortgage, you should explicitly enter 0 as
       | mortgage amount
       | 
       | - This purchase didn't appear in my current account as a
       | transaction, only the balance decreased correctly
       | 
       | - The property didn't appear on Property tab (but I started to
       | get utility bills)
       | 
       | - No interest on pension account
        
       | xjlin0 wrote:
       | Very fun game! Some observations:                 1. don't know
       | why it need to calls to get https://simulator.money/img/windows-
       | xp-bg.jpg and dings/chimes.mp3 on every month.  (Although cached
       | by browser)       2. After purchase a property, it does not
       | listed under properties tab in the bank, even with monthly
       | utility bills.       3. Some missing mails there, maybe associate
       | with mismatch unread count.       4. As a player, I am not sure
       | what is the unit of "mortgage last", is it month or years?
       | 
       | Very looking forward to other options such as college/cars/jobs,
       | etc. Great work!
        
       | paulpauper wrote:
       | this look like a vps
        
       | fallat wrote:
       | I would love to play a more refined version of this.
        
         | pattle wrote:
         | You will be able to, just give me a month
        
       | staticelf wrote:
       | Pretty fun.
       | 
       | If you want unlimited amount of money:
       | 
       | Get any job, then edit the "next turn" button to include an id.
       | 
       | Then just run this in the console:
       | 
       | const but = document.getElementById('theidyoupicked');
       | 
       | for (let i = 0; i < 500; i++) { setTimeout(() => but.click(),
       | 1000 * i)}
       | 
       | You can lower the amount of time on the timeout, but it seems
       | like there is some logic to prevent too fast calls.
       | 
       | But be gentle, it seems like it does a http request each time you
       | click on "next turn" (I hope the author has some stable hosting
       | because people who play will spam this button anyway).
       | 
       | I have hundreds of thousands of money but I cannot see a single
       | property or car. It seems like there are a few bugs still.
        
         | duggable wrote:
         | Even easier, just apply to the same job an infinite number of
         | times at the beginning of the game, and receive multiple
         | paychecks per month.
        
           | xyos wrote:
           | or even better, modify the annual payment that is sent on the
           | request
        
       | npsimons wrote:
       | Neat looking, but I've already been playing this "game" IRL for
       | the past couple of decades; I really don't feel like grinding all
       | over again from scratch.
        
       | sireat wrote:
       | Very cool idea and look!
       | 
       | Read the first few emails, checked out the bank and web and
       | started advancing next turn.
       | 
       | And... nothing.. just calendar advancing month at a time.
       | 
       | No new e-mails warning me of unemployment, no warnings about
       | expiring bank balance.
       | 
       | You'd expect that your bank account at least would go down.
       | 
       | Hopefully, I am not considered dead - incidentally it would be
       | realistic to add some actuary data to the game. Not everyone
       | makes it retirement.
        
       | szhu wrote:
       | Love the theme! Honestly, I would play this game just to spend
       | more time in Windows XP.
        
       | josh_carterPDX wrote:
       | Great build! I won't go through the glitches that people have
       | found since they seem to be pretty common.
       | 
       | I would, however, like to have the ability to automate my
       | contributions to savings and the pension (like in real life).
       | Other than that, I am going to park this in front of my high
       | school senior to see what kind of decisions he makes. Thanks for
       | building this!
        
       | rkalla wrote:
       | I know this is typically not a well-received style HN comment,
       | but the name of the Pension website made me spit out coffee...
       | this is a wonderful creation.
        
       | adamrezich wrote:
       | the pixel font looks really bad on Windows 10 in Chrome, Edge,
       | and Firefox, at 1080p.
        
       | gabereiser wrote:
       | You should put a warning that it does not work on mobile. The UI
       | isn't compatible. I'll check it again from my laptop later.
        
         | pattle wrote:
         | Yeah I as going to do that but never got round to it,
         | definitely a desktop experience
        
       | spyke112 wrote:
       | Clearly still a work in progress, but the idea is really fun, if
       | you're into this sort of thing... I guess I am! One thing though,
       | the font is cool and stuff, but really hard to read.
        
       | doublej818 wrote:
       | Didn't take me long to figure out the api endpoint to skip to the
       | next turn, and after writing literally 3 lines of code in an
       | infinite loop...
       | 
       | - The year is now 2030
       | 
       | - I have 300,000 in my bank account
       | 
       | - I own two houses worth 200k
       | 
       | - I'm still paying monthly mortgage payments to a house I fully
       | own
       | 
       | - 100k in pension
       | 
       | - All this with just 55k/yr
       | 
       | - Still paying mum rent
        
       | Oberbaumbrucke wrote:
       | You can tell its not made in Australia. The bank only let's you
       | borrow 4x your income.
        
         | jokethrowaway wrote:
         | Tried a calculator and it's 7x? Wow
        
         | pattle wrote:
         | Yeah, maximum in the UK is 5x I think but most banks will only
         | go up to - 4.5x
        
       | mbielski wrote:
       | Interesting, fun. Would be a good idea to put a Settings option
       | in the Start menu so that we could change things like bank
       | interest rate (4% is nuts, nearly everything in the US is .01%)
       | and the currency type, among other things.
        
       | whydoineedthis wrote:
       | where is the option to 'become depressed from that long career
       | you stuck with and blow all your money on booze and cigarettes?'
        
       | thomasfl wrote:
       | Kudos for the realistic user interface!
        
       | nopcode wrote:
       | Woah this is just as boring as figuring out in real life. kudos.
        
       | Maofan wrote:
       | Really liked the idea and spent 15-20 mins playing it. Would be
       | good to save your progress. To be more realistic I shouldn't be
       | able to buy a house after about 5 months of salary. Make the
       | house prices 10 times more expensive if you want it to more like
       | real life!
       | 
       | Also It's not clear to me if I take the job I can't go to
       | university? I took the job in the absence of another choice, like
       | real life if I got a great alternative offer I would leave the
       | job and do that instead.
       | 
       | Nice work :-)
        
         | ricardobeat wrote:
         | > I shouldn't be able to buy a house after about 5 months of
         | salary
         | 
         | Why not? If you have the cash for the downpayment, a fixed
         | contract, and the property is within 4-5x your yearly salary,
         | you can definitely get a mortgage. I've seen people do that
         | within _a month_ of arriving in a new country  & job, depending
         | on the local market it's a very smart thing to do.
        
         | trickstra wrote:
         | Also, to be more realistic there should be some unexpected
         | expenses and disasters, forcing people to have some emergency
         | funds available.
        
       | Benlights wrote:
       | Why did it start paying rent to mum after owning a property. Also
       | why did student load deductions start after taking a better
       | paying job?
        
       | pentae wrote:
       | This reminds me a bit of "The game of life" back in the 90s
       | 
       | Optimizing life for filling the savings account as fast as
       | possible at the expense of everything else has consequences and
       | your game should reflect this.
       | 
       | You should have stats including your characters age, health,
       | happiness and social skills and have some kind of social media
       | app with your friends constantly trying to invite you out for
       | concerts, nights out, dating? and so on so that you have constant
       | distractions to spend your money on to make it more challenging.
       | Not building up the happiness and social skills stats should have
       | consequences. You should be able to buy a gym membership to keep
       | your health stat from deteriorating.
       | 
       | The consequences of not building up those stats early in your
       | life is poor health, shit social skills and no friends except for
       | the people you work with. But yay, you're a millionaire I guess?
       | 
       | The real game of life is that it's all a balancing act between
       | having your financial house in order while also having a
       | fulfilling social life, health, and happiness
        
         | scotty79 wrote:
         | I think you vastly overestimate consequences of not spending
         | money on things beyond necessities.
         | 
         | One might argue that by spending money on concerts, nights out
         | and dating you buy more damage to your health and well being
         | than benefit.
         | 
         | You can have friends without money. And you can keep healthy
         | for free.
        
           | JackuB wrote:
           | I've just had a year like that and I can't wait to spend
           | money on nights out again
        
           | vorpalhex wrote:
           | In a simulator, I can live with my parents forever. In real
           | life, I might get about a day or two.
           | 
           | Most people want to date and find a spouse. Most people want
           | friend groups they have a connection to. Most people want
           | hobbies that are interesting and fulfilling.
           | 
           | Being healthy is not free. Socializing, reasonable physical
           | fitness, food variety.
           | 
           | Sure you could live in the mountains socializing with
           | squirrels and doing pushups all day which would save you a
           | lot of money - but it would not be the life most people want.
        
             | mcguire wrote:
             | Pushups and squirrel parties? Sign me up! :-)
        
           | brailsafe wrote:
           | Ya, it's technically possible, but boring and tenous. If you
           | won't spend any extra money on socializing, you're going to
           | be a snooze to be around.
        
             | cpfohl wrote:
             | Sorry, kinda wanted to respond sarcastically, but I'll be
             | direct instead:
             | 
             | Hiking, cooking together, playing board games, card games,
             | playing music together, exploring, and just talking are all
             | inexpensive or free. The most interesting people I've known
             | in my life focused on those things anyway.
        
               | learc83 wrote:
               | If you're poor, most of those things require some non
               | negligible percent of your income---if only just in
               | gas/transportation.
               | 
               | But more importantly they require time away from
               | working/studying/optimizing for bank account balance.
        
               | scotty79 wrote:
               | You can't have friends by just paying them to keep being
               | your friends. You have to put in the time either way.
        
               | learc83 wrote:
               | I don't see anyone talking about paying people to be your
               | friends.
        
               | astura wrote:
               | This is hacker news where everyone values their time at
               | at least $100/hr. If you're socializing you, at the very
               | least, aren't working.
        
               | chakerb wrote:
               | That assumption is definitely wrong! Not everyone in HN
               | is making around $200k per year. The average in the US is
               | about $110k. And still not everyone in HN is in the US or
               | being payed US rates.
               | 
               | Of course if you value your time more than what your
               | employer is paying you then you either need to leave your
               | current job or rethink what's the value of your time.
        
               | mcguire wrote:
               | Aside: the HN average in the US may be $110k. The median
               | household income is around $60k and the median personal
               | income is $35-40k.
        
               | ludamad wrote:
               | I find I do that just great with friends and no money,
               | until I want to do it far away
        
             | jstummbillig wrote:
             | If decently socializing with you requires me to spent extra
             | money, you _definitely_ are a snooze to be around.
        
               | learc83 wrote:
               | People like to drive outside the city to hike, travel, go
               | to restaurants, movies, bars, ballgames, museums etc...
               | 
               | You don't need to spend a huge amount on social stuff,
               | but if you are _only_ willing to do completely free
               | activities, you are vastly limiting your social circle.
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | jokethrowaway wrote:
           | Most people feel the need to have friends.
           | 
           | We're social animals.
           | 
           | For a minority of people that's not the case and keeping up
           | with relationships is a chore - even then, keeping some
           | friends can be desirable, given we anyway live in a society
           | of other human being.
           | 
           | In both cases, generally you spend more money with friends,
           | for one reason or another.
        
             | jcpham2 wrote:
             | Not all of us are social
        
               | aisofteng wrote:
               | A strange comment to leave on a social media site.
        
             | ryandrake wrote:
             | OP is not arguing that you don't need friends. Instead: You
             | don't need to be constantly spending money in order to have
             | a social life.
        
               | mcguire wrote:
               | Don't know about you, but much of my social life happened
               | over lunches and dinners.
        
         | qPM9l3XJrF wrote:
         | "Real Lives" is another interesting game. You get born in a
         | random country, weighted by actual rate of births in that
         | country, and go from there
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Lives
         | 
         | https://reallivesworld.com/gamers/index.html
         | 
         | Looks like their website is kinda crappy which is a shame.
         | Anyway, my parents bought it for me and my siblings when I was
         | a kid. And playing it definitely helped me appreciate the fact
         | that I was a member of the lucky sperm club compared to the
         | vast majority of the global population.
        
           | alexgmcm wrote:
           | Yeah, I also played that game and had pretty much the same
           | experience as you.
           | 
           | Hopefully, the world has improved somewhat since the game was
           | written.
        
         | pattle wrote:
         | Thanks for the feedback. Yep I'm planning to add dating /
         | social features where you can build a family up over time and
         | see how that affects your finances etc.
         | 
         | Just wanted to get something basic working for the moment as I
         | know adding all that will get pretty complicated.
        
       | eitland wrote:
       | When I read the comments I immediately thought about "Jones in
       | the fast lane" from the 90ies, but this seems to be something
       | entirely different.
       | 
       | That said a few of you might like to see that game. It is
       | available on internet archive, can be played online and is quite
       | unusual for its time.
       | 
       | At least I was happy to find it and played it once against the
       | Jones AI (it is way funnier with friends).
        
       | gnrlst wrote:
       | Interesting to see KnockoutJS still being used in the wild! Cool
       | game. Would like some more unexpected events to happen, and the
       | Mortgage and Pension emails don't load, and neither does the
       | "request valuation" of a bought property.
        
         | pattle wrote:
         | Haha yeah, I've been using KnockoutJS since 2015 and use it on
         | all my projects. I should probably learn React or something but
         | if it does the job I don't see any reason to change yet.
         | 
         | Yes unexpected "life events" is definitely something I want to
         | add in the future. Still a very early stage MVP at the moment"
        
       | WesleyJohnson wrote:
       | Any intentions of open sourcing?
        
       | jarin_tasnim wrote:
       | ou should put a warning that it doe
        
       | prezjordan wrote:
       | Wonderful work. Did you use XP.css?
       | (https://botoxparty.github.io/XP.css/)
        
       | jarin_tasnim wrote:
       | The UI isn't compatible.
        
       | imtringued wrote:
       | There are too many problems to count. I got a message with the
       | subject "Mortgage in principal" and no text. Same with pensions.
       | 
       | The browser opens new pages without hiding old ones.
       | 
       | Inbox count is wrong.
       | 
       | Buttons aren't responsive (no, I don't mean mobile design). They
       | give no indication that something is happening.
       | 
       | Dragging windows is buggy.
       | 
       | There is no loading animation on clicking "next turn", nothing
       | that indicates that the month has passed. Just add a dark overlay
       | with a black and white loading bar and show the date afterwards.
       | 
       | I tried this in Chromium and Firefox and the problems are the
       | same.
        
         | rkimb wrote:
         | This is an awfully harsh critique for a free browser game made
         | in someone's spare time.
        
           | ryandrake wrote:
           | Hopefully the author takes the critiques as validation that
           | the idea is so interesting that rando Internet people will
           | provide free bug reporting. The game concept is good, and it
           | was brave to release it in an unfinished state to get
           | feedback. Hope author stays encouraged and buckles down to
           | fix the bugs now. Cool concept. The Windows UI isn't my cup
           | of tea but that's subjective. I like the idea of a personal
           | finance simulator/sandbox.
           | 
           | Would be cool if you could do a "quick" game that was year-
           | by-year steps.
        
         | pattle wrote:
         | I think part of these problems is that my server and database
         | are really struggling with the traffic I'm getting.
         | 
         | Trying to implement performance fixes
        
           | bovermyer wrote:
           | What's the database for?
        
             | pattle wrote:
             | Storing mail, transactions, jobs, savings, pension etc. You
             | can't at the moment but I was to add the ability to save
             | your progress soon.
        
       | elil17 wrote:
       | I'm really glad I read the disclaimer and didn't make financial
       | decisions based on this game! I wouldn't want to count on no
       | inflation, 4% interest, and a junior dev job straight out of high
       | school
        
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       (page generated 2021-04-22 23:01 UTC)