Hello Lottery-teers,
First off, updates:
Rent is no longer astronomical. That debtor's prison was all but inevitable was not intended, but the work of an extra, unintended zero (although one might argue that leaving it as it was fits the overall negative critique of class struggles).
More articles added (shortly)
More images added to end game content
[Note that all of the above updates were server-side, and did not trip an update of your local files.]
Known issues:
The game doesn't always transition well to the end game (being sent to prison when you run out of money). If you find yourself still in the apartment with a negative balance, your game was over anyway and you should restart your character.
Release Date Set:
I plan to release the game on the Ides of October. The game's two main points of interest, a working lottery simulation, and a dystopian newspaper, are fully implemented and have shown to be stable. While I'm not happy about having a known issue on the table (it's like I'm inviting negative reviews!), I'm not optimistic that I would redress it anytime soon. I haven't really touched the game since I got a new teaching job. I made promises to my team - a talented group of folk who did a lot for the project and helped me through the pandemic - that this game would be released in the summer, which ends this week. I'm sure they'd understand if I was holding off while I made improvements, but keeping the project in limbo without putting in such work doesn't seem fair to them. Should any of these contributors ask that I hold off, I'll change it, but, otherwise, the 15th of October it is.
Should this game gain a following, I will return to it on some school break.