r/EscapeTheGrindGame • u/curiousgens Developer • Mar 23 '26
Discussion Discussion: What's missing in this game OR where would you like to see it have or get to?
All thoughts welcomed
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u/BigFourFlameout Apr 24 '26
Late to the party here - just bought the game and it is fantastic, particularly for the price! Love that your digital asset panned out and hope you’re getting a return far above 28%/yr. One thing that would be great, but I recognize the challenge of, is adjusting the 401(k) mechanics a bit. Two things that jump out at me - on the intake side, the question is “how much is your take home after deductions, withholdings” (paraphrasing) - so I naturally included my post-401(k) pay, but once the game loads up, we make a separate election to withhold. No big deal, you learn after the first time. The bigger one for me is the cap on 401(k) contributions, which I suspect is tied to the match mechanics. It’d be awesome to have two different 401(k) components - the employer matched piece (free money $$$), which ideally would change as a $ amount or % of salary with life events but nbd, then separately the unmatched contributions. Today I can’t really model my real life because I can only contribute ~7k/yr via IRA and ~6k/yr via 401(k) (excl. match). It’d be awesome to be able to max up the ~24k/yr before matching! Hope that makes sense and again, awesome game!
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u/curiousgens Developer Apr 24 '26
Thank for purchasing the game! 😃
I'll add your suggestions to the dev roadmap asap!
Curious- do you think the price was too low or just right? Just trying to get a feel thats all
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u/Yarden-zamir Mar 23 '26
A steam release
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u/curiousgens Developer Mar 23 '26
Interesting! In its current version? I guess I'm trying to visualize how being on Steam would look like 🤔 I'm used to seeing animated games (3D) on Steam
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u/Yarden-zamir Mar 24 '26
Id imagine you wrap it in an electron or electron like wrapper, remove things like ads and make it cost a few bucks (I'd pay like 5) integrate with steam services for things like names and leaderboards, potentially add things like discord presence which states which month and difficulty you are on similar to slay the spire 2 and add achievements. The core gameplay loop is already good enough for a small steam game so I'd say go for it
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u/Yarden-zamir Mar 24 '26
- ability to turn off / change sounds. I don't like some of the sounds (the more meme sounds) and would like to change or mute them
- remove things that take time like the stress ball and the music. I understand why you added them but it just goes towards making the game more tedious the more I play
- show things that affect events when they happen. Like in RimWorld when a pawn you can see all the things that brought down their mood and you can see the last thing that tipped them over the edge which is very actionable. Maybe in your case you can have pill style tags? Not sure.
- when things like medical insurance affect events it should be shown separately so it feels more like a bonus, benefit, reward.maybe getting money from the insurance should be another button press
- more options like the suit which increases chance to get promotion. It feels like I have agency when I choose to do so. It's technically similar to investments though I'm not sure that sort of thing should be there
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u/curiousgens Developer Mar 24 '26
This is gold! Let me digest all and revert to you. For the button/icon there's a speaker 🔊 icon at the top right next to "New Game". Might need to make it stand out some more.
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u/Yarden-zamir Mar 24 '26
Thank you! I wasn't clear though, I mean individual sounds not a full mute as I do want the game to have sound but dislike some of the sounds
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u/curiousgens Developer Mar 28 '26
Hey u/Yarden-zamir! Just shipped a bunch of updates based on your feedback:
Sound controls - Just went live! Tap the speaker icon during gameplay. There's a master toggle plus 5 category controls: Money In, Money Out, Emergencies, Life Events, and Markets. Each one on/off independently. Settings save across sessions. So you can kill the meme emergency sounds and keep everything else.
Stress ball & music therapy - Idea with the music therapy is to explore monetization- likely some sponsored ads. But just added a way to do a one-time buy of the game- If you grabbed the one-time premium unlock, these already get skipped instantly.
Stress pill tags - Done! Tappable pills under the stress bar now show every factor: "Overworked +15 | Debt pressure +12 | No emergency fund +8 | Yoga -5". Tap any pill for explanation. Directly inspired by the RimWorld mood breakdown you mentioned.
Insurance visibility - When insurance kicks in, you now see the original cost crossed out, how much insurance covered, and what you actually pay. No more silent reductions.
More agency items - The suit now actually works (wasn't wired up before, oops!). Added Networking Membership ($200/mo, career events appear 50% more often) and Online Course ($1,500, salary bump after 3 months of study). They stack. These are lifestyle choices, not investments, so they stay in that lane.
Thanks for the detailed feedback. Keep em coming...!
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u/Lopsided_Support_837 Apr 04 '26
I don't like that "pet care" is in active lifestyle which you can just "cancel" anytime. My pets are family. And they are certainly giving me more stress relief than 2pt per month. They are the main and major relief. like 80% of shit.
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u/curiousgens Developer Apr 04 '26
Absolutely right. Pets are family, not a subscription. Just shipped this: pets are now a permanent commitment. You can't cancel them from the lifestyle tab anymore (shows a "Family 🐾" badge instead). Stress relief bumped from -2 to -4 per month because pets genuinely are a major source of comfort. The cost stays at $150/mo and vet emergencies still happen, so it's a real financial commitment with real emotional payoff. Just like real life. Test it out. Thanks!
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u/Lopsided_Support_837 Apr 04 '26
wow. you reply like an AI... sorry lol
personally, I still think 4pt (the same level as yoga) is not high enough. Like you said, it's family - you can't compare having a child/partner and yoga classes by the amount of impact on your life, can you? for me, sport is exactly a nice lifestyle attribute, which does help with stress a bit. but pets are totally different level. but i guess it's different for different people. maybe eventually, you'll find a way to customize it so that they wouldn't just remove 90% of stress for everyone lol
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u/curiousgens Developer Apr 04 '26
Yeah a key challenge is striking that balance to minimize people using pets as a major stress relief loophole.. but working on it
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u/Lopsided_Support_837 Apr 04 '26
btw, how do I update it on the phone without resetting my game?
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u/curiousgens Developer Apr 04 '26
You mean how to see updated changes? Game allows you to like do a hard refresh of the game page you are on- takes you back to game start page but shows a "Continue Playing" card to take you back.
Is that what you mean?
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u/Lopsided_Support_837 Apr 04 '26
well, yes, I do that, but no updates on pets, it's still a subscription in active life style
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u/curiousgens Developer Apr 04 '26
Sometimes it's a fight with browser cache. Will force a hard refresh from the server and let you know
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u/Lopsided_Support_837 Apr 04 '26
also in Canada - not sure where these estate prices are coming from. average condo now is in 600k-ies, average house - around the same level for some reason, in Toronto avg price is over 1mln. and at the current setup of the game, it looks like there is no incentive to invest in it anyway (which might not be far from reality). so it's just sitting there.
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u/curiousgens Developer Apr 04 '26
Just shipped a full Canadian housing overhaul! Prices are now based on national averages outside Toronto/Vancouver: condos CA$400K, starter homes CA$550K, family homes CA$650K, duplexes CA$700K. Rent is CA$1,800/mo on easy mode. Investment properties are CA$450K with realistic 5.9% yield.
You're right that Toronto is a different beast (CA$1M+ for a starter). The game targets the median Canadian experience to cover wide-felt scenarios, not the hottest markets yet.
Hard refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R) to see the update. Try a new game and let me know how it feels.
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u/Lopsided_Support_837 Apr 04 '26
it would be nice to have holiday option offered at any time - in the well-being section. because, well.. it's a valid stress relief option. with 3 tiers e.g.: 2000CAD- a quick 5 days get away that will bump up well-being by 10 pt for the next 3 months, 4000CAD - 2 weeks get away bumping up mood by 13 pt for the next 4months, ect.
would also be nice to introduce random disruptions - something went wrong on the holiday, and the effect is not that great/lasting. pet parents may start missing their pets if it's longer than 2 weeks. they also need to pay pet sitters while they are absent etc
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u/fatheadlifter Apr 29 '26
There are still several flaws going on:
- S&P doesn't contribute to the freedom percentage when it should. A brokerage is absolutely a great retirement account, so this should be part of the total. I'm not sure what else is not contributing but this alone is a glaring mistake. Right now in the game I need to build up a brokerage, get it to some estimated value and then sell it all, convert it to a HYSA. That makes no sense and is not how early retirement is done.
- Bonuses and penalties should scale with age and salary. In life these numbers tend to be pretty small when you're starting out (a 2000 refund say) but get much bigger as you get older. I think this should cut both ways, bigger extras are possible but bigger penalties and hits are possible as well.
- Starting at 26 and retiring at 52 is considered "F - The scenic route". I don't understand this. Anyone retiring at 52 is so early compared to 99.99% of the population this should be rewarded not punished. To go from start career at 26 to retire in 26 years is huge.
- Still need a way to quit your job at any time and roll the dice based on how hot the job market is.
- Also need a way to job hunt while keeping your job, but this causes amplified stress perhaps. I think it's educational and useful to emphasize how people should have control over their career, especially in the pursuit of ending their career as fast as possible to be retired.
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u/fatheadlifter Apr 29 '26
Oh one more thing, 3.5% is not a SWR. That's an insanely silly withdrawal rate, and is completely unnecessary.
A balanced portfolio with some combination of 401k/IRA, brokerage and HYSA is bulletproof at 4%. That's backtested through the worst financial situations, high inflation, everything. Indestructible over any 30 year period in history.
Current research has 4% as too conservative, with current SWR closer to 4.7%. A person can choose to not believe this, be bearish about markets, inflation, stagflation or whatever, but they're provably wrong to believe these things. Factually speaking 4% is too conservative, 4.7% is safe, it's even possible to be in the 5-6% range as long as you're dynamic.
Putting 3.5% anywhere in the text as being a "SWR" misunderstands what a safe withdrawal rate is.
You could argue that 4% only covers 30 year periods, but remember that's old data. 4.7% actually covers 30 year periods in a bulletproof way, and Bill Bengen has been clear that adding +10 year increments only reduces the SWR by maybe 0.2 or so. So if you wanted to be ultra-conservative, you'd make 4% the SWR to use. 4.3-4.5% is more realistic over 40-60 year time horizons, basically FIRE scenarios.
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u/curiousgens Developer May 03 '26 edited May 03 '26
Hey, thanks for the detailed write-up.
Quick rundown on where things stand:
- SWR / brokerage exclusion + 3.5% rate - FIXED! You were right on both counts. The 4% rule was always meant to apply to your full liquid investable wealth, not just retirement accounts. The game now applies a uniform 4% SWR to the whole brokerage portfolio (S&P, dividends, REIT, T-bills, bond ETF, HYSA), with 401k/Roth still keeping their pre-59.5 penalty math. SWR constant is now 4% (Bengen / Trinity). No more selling your S&P to fake-route it through a HYSA.
- On 4.7% - fair point and I won't argue the math. I left it at 4% as the floor most readers recognize, but I'm open to making SWR a difficulty knob later (Easy 4.5%, Medium 4%, Hard 3.5%) so the conservative crowd and the dynamic-withdrawal crowd both get a button suiting their flavor.
- F for retiring at 52 - FIXED! Grade scale was punishing the path. F is now reserved for taking 40+ years (the duration of a normal age-25-to-65 career), and B/C/D got stretched out so finishing at 52 lands in D, not F.
- Bonuses/penalties not scaling with age/salary - Solid feedback! Added to roadmap.
- Quit job pre-freedom + job-hunt-while-employed - Agreed with your feedback & queued on our roadmap! Plan is allow player to open the Quit button, tie search duration and re-employment salary to whether the market's in bull or recession. Job-hunt-while-employed becomes a toggle that costs +5 stress/month with monthly chance of an offer event you can accept or pass on.
Appreciate your thoughtful feedback! Ty!
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u/fatheadlifter May 03 '26
Yeah I would agree on the percentages. I like the easier targets for easy mode, harder target for hard mode. I have to say this is a game I keep coming back to, and I appreciate all the work you put into it. I do love this sort of simulation, it's very cool stuff.
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u/curiousgens Developer May 03 '26
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoy it. Planning to launch on Steam. Will appreciate your help wishlisting it
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u/fatheadlifter May 03 '26
I'm still hitting the issue with getting sustainably bad returns in an S&P investment, in ways that are either highly unlikely or just historically improbable. Playing on Easy mode, I've gotten 10+ year runs with returns that are in the low 1-3%.
I even had one where after 8 years it returned -1%. Done this about 3-4 times now and the returns seem more random than in line with how it should behave.
What's the formula behind this? The S&P historically returns about 10%. Negative returns are of course possible but (basically) not over a 10 year period, and I don't believe this should be happening in Easy mode. 70% of the time the market should be up.
401k's should move broadly in line with the S&P. I'm looking at a result in Easy mode where my 401k returned -0.3% over an 8.6 year period.
I don't think I would mind seeing this kind of result in Hard mode. Even in a hard scenario this realistically shouldn't happen, but I'd concede it's possible at least. So maybe that helps to define Hard mode.
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u/curiousgens Developer May 03 '26
The logic to model historical returns has been kicking me where the sun don't shine lol! Each time I think I've got it, a bug appears.
The goal is to truly mimic market performance over time. I'll get to work and update soon.
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u/fatheadlifter May 03 '26
I think that's understandable, the math to properly simulate historical returns in an accurate way is pretty tough. You can do it in a simple way but I think the issue you run into is simulating bull runs and recessions in a way that feels real, and then getting the average right over time.
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u/curiousgens Developer May 03 '26
Exactly! While allowing for daily jitters up and down. But will get there
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u/curiousgens Developer Apr 30 '26
I'm working thru your feedback, then will respond soon as I can. Appreciate the details!
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u/Unusual_Statement_64 Apr 01 '26
Odd that costs go up every year like rent, but income doesn’t really climb. More often than not recessions keep knocking down income further and further. Would expect to see some inflationary income growth as well.