The Wizardry College v0.35

[KuarterBound]

Hi all!

This game represents my effort in making a deep and complex realistic management game in our genre. The game is text-only and far from complete, but already has a full and extensive game loop. I release a preliminary version here to receive feedback before the final gain jam version. Please let me know what you think! Also, please let me know if you find a bug!

In this game, you are the new headmaster of a prestigious all-female wizard college. The college is in huge debt, which needs to be paid within an 8-year period (96 rounds). To be successful, you need to

• Find a way to balance income and cost to sustain the college!
• Expand the horizons and waistlines of the students!
• Alter the thousand-year traditions to be profitable!
• Prevent the arrogant chief priestess from firing you (and even fight back)!
• Interact with the outside world and exotic cultures!

How will you save the College? There are six endings currently (2 bad, 3 good, 1 great).

Here is a question for you: is the game too difficult or too easy? Please let me know so I can balance the game better.

Also, I will be adding more content by the gain jam deadline. The following are some thoughts, but I won’t be able to add everything by the deadline. What would you like to see?

• More on Student IQ mechanic
• Influencing the outsiders (so, you are not the only one being influenced)
• A tourism mechanic
• More random events (Feel free to suggest!!!)
• More advanced gym, restaurants and IQ mechanic
• A major theology update
• More traditions to break

Here is the link: The Wizard College by BetaMarx (itch.io)
After the gain jam, I will continue the development here: The Wizardry College v0.4 - A college management game

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Changelog:
v 0.35 – Gain Jam Final Version –
– One more event
– Bug fixes
– Balance improvement
– The accountress now also gets a name and record
– When you win, you will get a history of the college weight from Candra

v 0.32
– More advanced teaching system (now it is actually useful, and your balance can depend on it dramatically)
– Bug fixes
– Difficulty reduced (oops, v0.3 was way too hard)

v 0.3
This is perhaps the second-to-last update before the deadline. Please report bugs! Also, because there are so many things updated, please let me know if you find the game too easy or hard.
– Talent system is now up (Choose from 5 different buffs at the beginning)
– Student roster system is up (now, you will have a roster of students, and you can track them!)
– 4 new extensive events (and all old ones are updated)
– A new “lovehandle” body fetish is added
– One more tradition to break (please suggest more!)
– More interactions with Candra
– The theology system is updated to make it less of a grind
– Balance sheet!
– A minimal IQ system is implemented (more to come!)
– Teaching and learning are now more useful (as more and more events depend on IQ)

v 0.2
– Three new extensive random events
– One more tradition to break
– Classroom added (along with the new teaching policies)
– “Greed” is now added as a hidden parameter
– The actual standard of beauty can now change as the game evolves
– Bug fixes

v 0.11
– Better balance. The game is now slightly more challenging to play

[Morte_Nera]

More events would be nice for sure, but a text-based adventure also needs descriptive scenes. Like a close look at a character’s body as they’re growing fatter, with the description changing each time they reach a certain treshold

[adamlambarki2317]

I would like the iq parameter but i only if i’m able to raise it other than lowering it and about the game difficulty i would say that it is slighty too easy right now(unless you are trying to remain in the standards of beauty)

[KuarterBound]

Thanks for the comment! I agree, though I want to do this while keeping the game away from focusing on story of single individuals in the game. Let me try to improve on that

[KuarterBound]

Thanks for the feedback!

I would like to hear how you think the student IQ system can add to the game, and why you want to see it added? Ideally, I want to make it a complex and dynamic mechanic and also contain some fetish flavor.

Also, thanks for commenting on the difficulty! Could you please let me know which ending you reached and through what strategy?

[adamlambarki2317]

I started by abolishing two out of tre traditions(i let the night study on for 10/15 more months before abolishing that too) i just alternated betwen upgrading the restaurant and the gim(i halved the cost just once when it costed 6 gold) i almost didn’t pay atention to the reputation(i tried for 6 months to mantain it at 60 by spending 4000 gold in total but after that i just tried towards the end to mantain it at a number higher than two), i ended the game with 15 of vegetable quality 25 vending machines 41 gold entrance fee for the gim 17 snackbars
Weight 75 opinion 5

And about the iq i think that if you raise the iq the students don’t need to study as much in order to mantain the reputation of the school as an high level magical school(could add a little of opinion every month based on the iq) but being smarter they know the unhealthynes of the food and how to avoid going out of the standard of beauty( harder to fatten and maybe more time passed at the gym) the opposite for a low iq

[adamlambarki2317]

This is the final i found

[adamlambarki2317]

In this event the weight is not shown as an integer

[KuarterBound]

@adamlambarki2317

aise the iq the students don’t need to study as much in order to mantain the reputation of the school as an high level magical school(could add a little of opinion every month based on the iq) but being sm

Thanks for the feedback! I will try to incorporate in the next version!

Buy the way, I just released version 0.2, which has been significantly updated. Please try if you have time!

[Claude_Speed]

I for the life of me cannot figure out how to properly balance the costs of everything to beat the game. Even if I do manage to get enough to mantain a balance around months 20-30, I end up having the Magical Comission pissed off at me by 50 months, and by that point, I also end up losing too much money every day no matter what I do. Any tips? I’ve done like 10 runs and every single one has ended around month 50-60.

[KuarterBound]

Thanks for asking! May I first ask which version you are playing and what is your current strategy?

[Claude_Speed]

Version 0.2 One of the first things I do is break off two of the traditions, namely the no visitors rule and adding a shop. I then begin improving the quality of the lessons and the vegetables, I stop improving the lessons when I get to 15-20 or so, and then I start focusing on the vegetables and the vending machines, prioritizing the vegetables and subsequently removing the night curfew. Around this point, the magic comission starts cracking down on the weights of the students, so I begin improving the gyms and add one or two snack bars. This is enough to get me at a comfortable economical level by month 30. However, after a certain point, I end up losing more than I gain again, the magical comission steadily becomes angrier because of the weights being around 55-65, and I end up dooming myself to failure by month 50-60 because I lose too much money and the magical comission is very angry at me. I never bother with the option to add aesthetic magic lessons because they never seem to be worth it.

[Morte_Nera]

I’ll just comment on how it’s baffling that sometimes the game goes from 8% exercise to over 30%, it’s like you’re being punished lol

[KuarterBound]

I see!

Since I do not want to spoil the underlying mechanisms. Let me only say that there are many traps in the game. Putting the balance issues aside, you need a capitalism to make money, and teaching good lessons on its own does not feel like good capitalism. Try to find a way to start making good money as early as possible

[KuarterBound]

@Morte_Nera

I’ll just comment on how it’s baffling that sometimes the game goes from 8% exercise to over 30%, it’s like you’re being punished lol

Hahaha, thanks for the comment. First of all, to exercise is not really a punishment. Secondly, could you please let me know when you see these large jumps? I feel that large jumps should only happen when the Theologians take action – and the game should warn you when this happens

[adamlambarki2317]

I think that by capitalism you intend making the student train by halving the price of the gym after improving it and puting some bars (i think it works this way because when the price for the gym was 26 by halving it two times i managed to almost add 1000 gold of gain per month)

[adamlambarki2317]

I managed to succeed in this version too but i actually lost the game once and i still don’t really comprehend what does cosmetic magic class do(i had 7 at the end of the game i don’t know if you need to have more in order for it to be useful)

[Altair123]

Just tried the game, and I think right now it’s a solid 8/10, a couple notes from me tho.

1. Balance sheet, The accountant should be more transparent with the cost and profit of the college, i mean ffs if the real world can have that I think a wizarding school would too XD

2. More control over standard of beauty weight, I.E I think bribing the Theologians should also either increase or have a chance to increase standard of beauty, since 2000 is already a lot of money just for 10 points and nothing else, and since I’m trying to fatten the school up, it’s more annoying then fun to just go along with the theologians wishes with no way of fighting back against them influence wise. I think decreasing theologian opinion loss w/o decreasing campus weight as a reward for the defeat of the dragon (“Clearly your bullshit didn’t work, they’re getting results so leave him be!”) would make it alot more enjoyable.

I do think this game overall does have an issue with communicating to the player how their choices are impacting the game world and more transparency will help there.

[Ayurn]

I need a strategy for the new version. The version before I was fine, but I keep getting into an Opinion spiral that I can’t get out off in the new one. I legitimately think that it needs a nerf, cause once you get below 50 there’s almost no recovery and it’s better to just reset and try a new strategy.

[Ayurn]

Following up on this, the problem is compounded by what Altair said. The game doesn’t give you a lot of information, which is fine since too much information can lead to Spreadsheet: The Video Game. But when I repeatedly get myself into the Opinion spiral by doing three different strategies. I wish I had a better idea of what I did wrong and how to improve.