US Debt Game

[VagaDragon]

US Debt Game

See if you can get the USA out of debt, or at least make it until the year 2031. The game starts in 2010 with current economic conditions and broadly models the overall economy. Do you have what it takes to navigate your way out of Debt?

Res: 700x500
SWF: http://usdebtgame.com/game/DebtGame.swf

Playable Links:
http://apps.facebook.com/usdebtgame/
http://usdebtgame.com/

Feedback Would be appreciated!

[Mistery]

I've just quickly tried out the different game modi, and have read on what it's based etc.
You seem to have put a lot of effort in making this game

What I as player find difficult is that I have no "status quo" information about the different "features" (taxes, wages, costs, amounts etc.) - neither as numbers nor in another way. This throws me off.
I'm not sure if I can explain it well, but if I only have the options to increase or to decrease certain "features" without having an overview what is how high at the moment, then I just get confused. You understand what I mean?
Or do I miss something?

[VagaDragon]

There are visual clues within the landscape that describe most every input into the game. Some are obvious like the signs saying "No Jobs, No Gas, Stop Taxes, Low Wages". Others are not so obvious, if you go through the help screen Uncle same will explain some of the visual cues, but I'll outline the biggest ones bellow.

Street - This actually represents the economy itself, walking uphill indicates economic expansion, downhill equates to contractions.

Grass Hills - Government Income
Redish Brown Hills - Government expenses

Clouds - These are tricky as they represent inflation, short term interest rates and long term interest rates. If you see the first cloud layer (inflation) overtake all the other layers there is a problem with inflation.

So when you perform an action (like raise taxes) it will have an effect these lines. In the case of raising taxes it will slow economic growth (the street) while raising government revenue (the green hills).

This "tea leaf" reading is intentional, though it might not be bad to provide solid (but lagging readings as are given in the real world) on values such as the tax rate, unemployment, fed funds rate, maybe gas prices. Not sure what others should be included.

[Mistery]

Ah I see, thanks for the info
I'll be checking those out.

I guess that those visual clues are certainly suitable for a part of players who tend to prefer visual inputs, I'm more the math/numbers type

I'll post later again how well I could cope with the visual clues when I have time to play it a while

EDIT
Okay, your explanation and reading the game hints helped a bit.
But I'd still be more comfortable with numbers, lol, simply because I can't keep in mind what I have raised and lowered
Anyhow, not really doing well in this game

[EscapeGirl]

Anyhow, not really doing well in this game

Neither is my country.

[Mistery]

You can be happy that I'm not your President

[VagaDragon]

Anyhow, not really doing well in this game

Don't feel too bad, most people aren't, so far only one game played has ended in success and 4 have made it to 2031.

I tried to make the simulation accurate, not easy.

[Mistery]

Hmmm, yes it's pretty hard.
Accuracy is good of course, but maybe frustrating for beginners

I'll practice some more to see if I can get any better

And there are certainly others who might have better skills for this game
As soon as the game will be added to our Games Page on gamershood.com, there will be more players.

[tipper75]

I like this game, I'll give it another go later. Very interesting concept.

[VagaDragon]

So, what's the verdict, should I add a little display to indicate the current tax rate, unemployment, gas price (updated monthly with a 1-2 week lag) or things good as is?

[Mistery]

I think it's too early to give a general verdict. A little display about those would help me personally, but that's just me.

As I said as soon as the game will be added by an admin to gamershood.com, there will be more players.
And then hopefully other players will post their own experience, too, and upon that feedback you can decide what changes you will make if any

[Mindsmasher]

hi, I haven't start playing yet because I try to read "how to play" section so so far I have only one comment on technical issue - the text after couple of seconds vanishes and I have to ask Sam again and click through all pages with text to get to point where I stoped reading.

Ok, now off to play

[dalveen]

Bankrupt!

Everytime I saw a signpost which said "Stop Taxes" I took this as being a hint and pressed the down arrow taxes. Not sure if this was correct but without hints this game would be too hard for me.

A novel idea though!

[Mindsmasher]

Hm, success on second time but not complete - still having a debt.

I actually managed to stabilize dept between 11.000T and 12.500T for about 10 years but I really don't know what to do to win this game with 0 debt...
yet I think I should again try to read the instructions because I wasn't sure what some icons mean

by the way I tried twice and got the same score on the list on the end of game and first time I bankrupted so... I think - cause I can't find any score list elsewhere than on the end of game.

anyway I really enjoy this game

edit: oh, after playing for third time I saw my score updated.

[VagaDragon]

hi, I haven't start playing yet because I try to read "how to play" section so so far I have only one comment on technical issue - the text after couple of seconds vanishes and I have to ask Sam again and click through all pages with text to get to point where I stoped reading.

Thanks for the bug report, it's been fixed. I forgot to reset the fade out timer when more/back was clicked. I've uploaded a new version that solves this problem.

Glad to hear you guys are enjoying the game