It looks like we’re not going to meet the Kickstarter goal, I guess I went into this without a big enough fan base. I’d still like to say a big THANK YOU to those of you who have shown support for the project.

I’m still going to finish This Grand Life, but with a different timeline and priorities. I’ll be ditching the scenarios, which would have required the most custom art assets that the Kickstarter was to partially fund. Instead, my efforts will go towards adding features to the custom game mode that require a minimum amount of new art. As an example, one of these new features I’m currently working on is an auction system and the ability to invest in real estate.

Once I’ve updated the current tutorial and made the custom game playable from start to finish, I’ll be entering Alpha development. The game will then be purchasable from Itch.io. Alpha will be about adding more content, features and improving the core game. More in-game music will also be added if we get enough funding during this stage.

So that’s the plan. I feel like I have something special here, and I hope you’ll join in the development journey with me! For regular updates, you can follow me on Twitter and for major updates, sign up to the newsletter.

In this article I will talk about the research that went into creating a realistic job market for This Grand Life.

Just as in real life, there are different careers and occupations you can pursue. Some are harder to enter than others. As an example, to become a University Professor you need a PHD and years of experience, while a Janitor requires no experience. Of course, this difference in requirements is reflected in their respective salaries.

The first step – work out the career path from the entry level position all the way to the highest and most presitigious occupations. This was pretty straight forward, just visit careers websites and read some of their advice. For example, the education career path in the game goes something like this: Tutor -> Lecturer -> Research Scholar -> Professor. The next step was looking for the relative real life salaries of each occupation. I used websites like SalaryExpert which provide a nice overview of salaries in the US.

Based on these salaries, I could tweak the requirements and opportunities of each job to balance gameplay. For example, did you know a Janitor gets paid slightly more than a Kitchen Hand? I could bump up the experience requirements for a Janitor slightly to reflect this, or make the Kitchen Hand -> Chef career path more rewarding. I came across some pretty obscure sounding occupations during my research, like the Digestor Operator:

Some jobs even have multiple career paths. In the banking career path you can get an entry level position as a Credit Analyst with a Finance Degree. Or you could start as a Loan Officer if you don’t have a degree yet, but have lots of sales experience. Eventually you will need to get that qualification to progress to higher tier occupations, but in the meantime you could start off earning a higher wage while studying at the same time.

To further make things more interesting, your Fun need decreases at a faster rate the more stressful and higher paying your position. So if you still have a crappy TV but work as an Investment Banker, expect to spend a lot of time each week satisfying the Fun need. Consider buying an expensive VR headset to satisfy that Fun need, or go watch Sports Games at the Stadium more often. It’s OK, you can afford it!

You can download the free prototype from Itch.io, IndieDB or MediaFire and give it a try.

It’s been a while since I’ve written an update, I had to take a break from writing after the roller coaster of releasing my last game on Steam. I’ve been busy working on the prototype for my next game in the meantime. At first I experimented with making a business simulation game. In this game you were a corporation. You would build businesses, purchase goods and try to sell them for a profit. It would be backed by a deep supply/demand and economic simulation. It was an interesting concept, but not immediately and obviously fun. I also realised the scope was too big for a solo dev, so put that project to the side.

I was still interested in making some sort of economic simulation game, and was inspired by a game from my childhood, Jones in the Fast Lane. So I ended up with another prototype, this time with the player represented by a single person instead of a corporation. The player travels around a map based on a real life city, trying to satisfy their needs (hunger, fun, health, etc). At the same time, they must work in order to afford shelter, pay their bills and achieve their Life Goals.

Now this was a prototype I found interesting to play, and so This Grand Life was born.

This Grand Life is a tactical life simulator with a focus on personal finances and time management. Cruise your way through life with a silver spoon, or struggle endlessly to find employment as a convicted felon. You cannot control your past, but you can change your future.

Your life is divided into weeks. You try to accomplish as much as you can each week while economic conditions and special events create interesting choices to think about. Do I go to work this week, or take part in the Hot Dog Eating competition at the park? Should I spend time looking for a better job, or stick with my current job until economic conditions improve? There are lots of choices you can make that will determine your path in This Grand Life.

I will be releasing the free prototype some time in the next few weeks. In the meantime, you can sign up for the mailing list to receive news!