Finances Screen Part 1

 

Introduction

After creating the new UI system, I have been working on the finances of the game.

Requirements

In life simulation games, money can usually be earned through a career, and then spent on rent, food, entertainment, investments, charity etc. This is not different to how money will work in Pocket Life. Of course, in order to display this information I had to work out what the requirements were in the first place.

Finances will be displayed on the finances screen, which can be accessed through the money counter UI element:

This screen will show information about finances, such as the careers the player has, school they go to as well as any skills. These will be displayed in what I like to call "widget form", which involves wrapping each piece of information in a box.

Balance Sheet

The first "widget" is the balance sheet. This lists all of the income and expenses that affect the player.

This will update as new financial decisions are made.

Careers

I have been working on the ability to get a career in game. This involves applying for a job at a particular location, similar to The Sims 3. For example, the education career can be applied to at the local school. This is where teachers will work.

I have made a distinction between careers and jobs in the game. Where a career is made up of 10 jobs at different promotional positions.

Most careers have not yet been added to the game, but if the player gets a career that exists so far, it is also displayed in the finances screen.

In this widget, you can see information about the current job, in this case "Background Prop". A to-do list is shown with a list of requirements to get a promotion. The performance is measured below that and is scaled from -100 to 100.

If the player reaches a performance of 100, they will be promoted; -100 will lead to termination of the job.

You can also see your boss. This is a peep who works the same career as you. Like all peeps, your boss will also be living their life; working on their career. And as such, can also be fired and a new boss will be assumed; if no other peep works is in the occupation, then no boss is assumed.

Raises can be given if you are consistently getting a high performance in your job. Conversely, pay cuts will also be given out for low performance.

Skills

Skills are also displayed in the finances panel, as they are intrinsically linked to your job.

Skills are ranked from 0 to 100. If the player has 0 in a skill, it is not displayed. Skills will assist the player in all parts of their life, especially in your career. For example, the social skill is useful for talking to peeps around town.

School and Assignments

Like your career, your education is also displayed in this screen. This consists of your school, current grades and the school assignments, which are given separately during your school life.

Completing assignments is key to increasing grades. And better grades will help out later in life as well, as they will increase the chance of getting a job and a promotion.

Development Pictures

Here are some development pictures of the finances screen.

Original plan for the budget

Updated plan of the budget p1

Updated plan of the budget p2

Original plan for the occupation screens

Final appearance of finances screen