http://store.steampowered.com/app/349500/
OLDER LINKS:
Kickstarter Campaign
Game's page
Game's forum
ORIGINAL POST:
Would anyone be interested in playing a game based on ERE principles? Based on the composition of this forum, I doubt it will be many people’s cup of tea, but I enjoy this kind of creative project for its own sake from time to time. If anyone is interested, I’d welcome feedback.
The game is called Cubicle Quest and I previously mentioned it in this thread. Since then I've gotten the majority of the work done. Now that I have free time at work again, I intend to finish it over the coming few months.
Meet Bob. He graduated a few years ago and is stuck in a dead end job with mounting credit card debt. Broken down and on the verge of depression, he reimagines his life in a fantasy framework to try to regain control.
The Kingdom of Bob is under siege! The Debt Alliance, a vicious horde of college debt monsters and credit card undead, has conquered Free Time Mountain and driven to the gates of Castle Sanity. Bob needs to do everything in his power to fight them back and destroy their master, somewhere within the Fortress of Discontent...
You get the idea, I think. This is a light-hearted game about finances that has a lot to do with this forum. I'm hoping to make a legitimately fun game, not repackaged financial advice. Making the equivalent of good life decisions will help you win, but it's not going to browbeat you with advice - you're going to be fighting monsters that represent Bob's mental and financial weaknesses.
Many people here have written about how slow the road to financial independence is, because so much life happens in between paychecks. With this game, I tried to capture the fun side of the process, going from a financial wreck to stable or FI in hours instead of years. The core game mechanics beneath the surface reflect plausible finances, so you can view it as a financial simulator if you want, or you can ignore those and just focus on the fantasy quests.
Here are a bunch of examples of how the game works:
- The Kingdom of Bob's army has soldiers equal to Bob's salary (dollars = workers, after all).
- Most of your soldiers are busy fighting the Expense Monsters that plague your kingdom. Bob can defeat them himself, permanently freeing up soldiers, but only if he has the frugality muscle to beat the bosses involved.
- You can increase your salary by clearing new floors at the Dungeon of Work.
- You can set up mining operations at the Financial Mine. Based on how many soldiers you commit, you get monthly interest based on real savings account or investment numbers.
- A cast of characters is available to enter into a Roommate Alliance - or later on, a Marriage Alliance, if you want.
- Your friends and family fight in battle with you, but they bring different strengths to the table. One character might be strong against emotional enemies like depression, but less useful when you're challenging work or financial enemies.
- After you acquire a ship to sail the Sea of Ambition, you can do things like start a business.
- Instead of swords and shields, you equip ideas. You attack with your current goals and are shielded by your support communities. You can also equip books, virtues, and other items to provide other benefits.
I'm wrapping up work on the game now. The basic mechanics are solid and I've finished almost all the dialogue and graphics. I still need to fine tune the enemies to create the right level of difficulty, and there's a page filled with minor things to be finished up. Once I've created a playable experience, I'll need some beta testers to help root out bugs and the like.
I'm having fun with this and I'd welcome any feedback. If people are interested, I'll keep you updated on my progress. If not, I’ll only mention the game again once it’s done.
