Show HN: I made a sandbox game to help with financial planning(simulator.money)
simulator.money
Show HN: I made a sandbox game to help with financial planning
https://simulator.money/
144 comments
This may well be an en-gb locale specific bug. Also, who's mum charges rent?
Mine charged me rent (once I was finished highschool and was working), saved it, and then gave it all back when I moved out.
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.
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.
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.
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.
You must have lived the good life.
My mum didn't charge me rent, she charged me a ... "contribution".
My mum didn't charge me rent, she charged me a ... "contribution".
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.
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.
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 £230 per month to their parents in rent – 65% less than the £690 median rent in England in 2018.
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 £230 per month to their parents in rent – 65% less than the £690 median rent in England in 2018.
Everyone I know living with their parents after university pays "bed and board".
Most people I knew got free lodging up until they were 18 or still in education, after that you had to chip in.
Mine did :). Or rather, I volunteered to do so, once I landed my first proper job during university years.
I've hear quite a few people do this.In most cases it's a way to show your kids that it's time to pack up and start living on your own,or simply explain that everyone has to chip in.
Mine did when I was working :P
LOL
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.
- 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.
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!
Just like real life!
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pushups and squirrel parties? Sign me up! :-)
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.
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.
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.
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.
But more importantly they require time away from working/studying/optimizing for bank account balance.
No doubt, those things are great. But if the reason you're doing them is because you refuse to spend the money you do have, then those start to feel pretty finite. I think it's particularly obvious during the pandemic. The first 5 times you go for a walk are great, and then you propose getting some food in the park to change it up a bit. Maybe you need to rent a car or get a minimum kind of shoe to get to different hiking spots, and your miserly friend doesn't join just because they'd rather excessively save their money. Or you don't live somewhere with hiking, or you just want to sip coffee at a cafe but they won't buy anything. Or you want to invite them to a party but they choose to never bring anything to drink or eat. It's just kinda lame.
Again, this is more about choice rather than necessity. Carries a different vibe if you're trying to do whatever you can reasonably afford, and that may mean not spending anything extra. Good friends will accommodate, but if it's obvious you're making over 100k a year (without significant dependents etc.) and won't split gas, well that doesn't lend itself well to collaborative fun times.
Edit: Also, I don't mean to suggest saving money in general is inherently bad. Obviously not. But you need to be able to find that balance. I personally tend to place higher value on the chance to hang out or have a drink than having 20 more dollars in the bank. But many drinks over many weekends maybe not as much.
Again, this is more about choice rather than necessity. Carries a different vibe if you're trying to do whatever you can reasonably afford, and that may mean not spending anything extra. Good friends will accommodate, but if it's obvious you're making over 100k a year (without significant dependents etc.) and won't split gas, well that doesn't lend itself well to collaborative fun times.
Edit: Also, I don't mean to suggest saving money in general is inherently bad. Obviously not. But you need to be able to find that balance. I personally tend to place higher value on the chance to hang out or have a drink than having 20 more dollars in the bank. But many drinks over many weekends maybe not as much.
I find I do that just great with friends and no money, until I want to do it far away
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.
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.
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.
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.
Personally I value my time at $13.50 am hour because that's what I'm paid (part time retail while I go to school).
There's many different kinds of people on this site.
There's many different kinds of people on this site.
If decently socializing with you requires me to spent extra money, you definitely are a snooze to be around.
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.
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.
This was pretty much my point. If you have some spending money, and almost never are willing to spend it on things like this, then you shouldn't be surprised about significantly reduced social activity. Anyone who thinks hiking is free probably hasn't gone further or higher than their neighbourhood park.
Decently socializing with me would require a modicum of effort on each of our parts to engage in stuff. If the activities tend to cost something, and you choose only to conserve your money, then you wouldn't really be doing that would you?
If all the activities were costly, and I didn't put effort in to do other cheaper/free stuff to socialize with you, then I'd be the asshole.
If all the activities were costly, and I didn't put effort in to do other cheaper/free stuff to socialize with you, then I'd be the asshole.
I’ve just had a year like that and I can’t wait to spend money on nights out again
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"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.
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.
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.
Hopefully, the world has improved somewhat since the game was written.
I don't think it has. Not for the majority, anyway. Maybe it has for members of the "lucky sperm club."
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.
Just wanted to get something basic working for the moment as I know adding all that will get pretty complicated.
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 €200k savings, €60k mortage equity, and €80k on a pension fund. Living on a €100k 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.
- 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 €200k savings, €60k mortage equity, and €80k on a pension fund. Living on a €100k 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.
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
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
Why can't I buy Amazon shares from the start? :D
It starts out set in 2002. You could absolutely get 4% on a savings account in 2002.
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...
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...
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 £18k a year. Rent on a bedsit was £520 a month, transport was £120 a month, student loan £59 a month, leaving £100 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.
For comparison my first job which required a uni degree and was in central london in 2003 was £18k a year. Rent on a bedsit was £520 a month, transport was £120 a month, student loan £59 a month, leaving £100 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.
Sorry curious, 18k works out at 1'500 a month, your expenses were 1100, was the rest tax?
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.
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.
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.
Mum better be refunding all this rent she's been stealing over the years since I moved out!
Mum ran out of money..
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 :-)
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 :-)
> 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.
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.
Also, to be more realistic there should be some unexpected expenses and disasters, forcing people to have some emergency funds available.
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
- 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
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
- 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
How do I do this in real life?
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.
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.
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.
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.
> 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.
That describes past 10 years of my life. Fortunately, I'm (early) retiring this year.
> 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.
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.
I cannot select variable rate on my mortgage, is that a bug?
Sounds exactly like life in this past year of prisony
I tried to buy a property, they took my money but I never got anything for it. :(
Scams exist in the real world too, so realistic!
This happened when I tried to buy in cash (without a mortgage).
Me too :-(
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.
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.
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!
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!
Not sure if all of these are bugs, but:
- I was able to purchase a property for only £1100
- 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
- I was able to purchase a property for only £1100
- 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
Woah this is just as boring as figuring out in real life. kudos.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?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
Wonderful work. Did you use XP.css? (https://botoxparty.github.io/XP.css/)
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.
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?
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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).
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).
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.
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Most of the features don't work, and there is no guidance at all.
I can't declare bankruptcy (the spelling is also incorrect), buy a car, sell a property, request valuation, etc...
It was a good idea, but it doesn't do what is meant to do.
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.
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"
Yes unexpected "life events" is definitely something I want to add in the future. Still a very early stage MVP at the moment"
I get it. I was in the same boat, and played around with Vue and React for a couple projects, but since I've discovered Svelte, it's blown me away. It has the best of ALL worlds :) and it's super easy to use.
Good luck!
Good luck!
You can tell its not made in Australia. The bank only let's you borrow 4x your income.
Tried a calculator and it's 7x? Wow
Yeah, maximum in the UK is 5x I think but most banks will only go up to - 4.5x
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.
the pixel font looks really bad on Windows 10 in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, at 1080p.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
This is great and shows real promise, do you have a mailing list so we can be subscribed for updates/when you reach 0.5?
also I'm paying my mum rent after I bought property wtf?
also I'm paying my mum rent after I bought property wtf?
Kudos for the idea and execution. Microsoft Windows layout is a killer. I'm not sure about saving the game progress though. Bookmarked the app. Will play it again.
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...
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.
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.
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
Trying to implement performance fixes
What's the database for?
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.
If it's a matter of storing state, you could improve performance by storing all of that in localStorage and only periodically flushing it to the database backend.
This is an awfully harsh critique for a free browser game made in someone's spare time.
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.
Would be cool if you could do a "quick" game that was year-by-year steps.
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?
I spent an hour on this game. And it seems like people here also spent good time on it. Safe to say this may be a valid product idea @op!
where is the option to 'become depressed from that long career you stuck with and blow all your money on booze and cigarettes?'
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.
Yeah I as going to do that but never got round to it, definitely a desktop experience
Plugged in my printer and got a BSOD :(
Love the theme! Honestly, I would play this game just to spend more time in Windows XP.
This was surprisingly fun.
this is super cool... i want to have my kids do it, but it's a bit too buggy - it has to work for teenagers, with zero bugs... open a patreon, and I will donate!
Kudos for the realistic user interface!
Any intentions of open sourcing?
this look like a vps
The UI isn’t compatible.
ou should put a warning that it doe
- 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