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(+1)

Thank you for the incredibly detailed feedback!

I did intend to build the tutorial to be fully interactive and chunk the game up, but ran out of time. I agree it is definitely too dense and wordy in its current iteration.

Good catch on Profit vs Revenue, I changed around the labels, and it looks like I never corrected that! I also have Demand listed twice, even though one should be Loyalty. Do you have other examples of where the information is incorrect? The economics are admittedly very rudimentary  and gamey (production increasing demand doesn't make much sense, but it is a way to reward players for completing research), and rely too much on random numbers, but I might be able to make some minor tweaks if there are big issues.

As for the previous quarters starting at 40ish, that's a good point. I just have it generate numbers around 50, I honestly didn't think anyone would pay much attention to the information from before their start! I could bring that more in line with the player's likely first quarter!

It is intentional that you can win by just Submitting Quarter repeatedly. Since this was made as part of the Fuck Capitalism Jam, I've tried to stick to that theme (potentially to my own detriment), so I actually tweaked numbers until you could win by default (basically making a joke about CEO being unnecessary).  I probably should've added something to call the players out for doing it!

For the story elements, that was actually in the original plan, but got overlooked along the way unfortunately.

I think you bring up a really interesting point that I haven't seen yet, I may have made something that's neither realistic nor fantastical enough, and put the game in a kind of weird limbo! If I ever dig back into it, I'm definitely taking a good chunk of your feedback in with me!

(+1)

Happy to help! I think you hit on a core area to unlock for the game, what type of game do you want to make? Are you shooting for a story driven, satire with some simulation elements, or are you shooting for a simulation, with satirical elements? I don't think one is necessarily better than the other, but right I think you're half-way in between which makes it a bit confusing to the player. 

For example, giving a ton information about demand that doesn't do anything either can be a way to heighten the satire, or it could be a useful way to make decisions, but it would require some sign posting (maybe delayed by a couple quarters) that it's not working to not confuse the player. (Personal I did this poorly in my project) A great game that does primarily a simulation but also satire well is the Tropico Series. A great game that did satire well with a bit of simulation would be Papers Please.

If you want the experience to be more story driven and satirical, than I would pull back a little and simplify the simulation elements & ui to focus on your impotence as CEO. If you want to make a more simulation focused game (perhaps still with a satirical overtone and message), you'll need to do so more research and make sure you can use the numbers to make good decisions and maybe give a bit more player agency (so it's clearly the players fault if they fail, or clearly the boards fault they fail etc).

For better simulation & making it more real, you can look at company earnings reports (like Tyson Foods for example), and look at the metrics they use in quarterly reports, and then you can use investopedia to understand what each number is and how it is calculated to help make the numbers make sense. (you can always also simplify it a bit if need be, but at least reading through it will help a ton). 

The other thing for the economics you could do is use a random range like you're doing, but then multiply it by a curve so every quarter demand grows x% * random_number. This will help things feel more real. For example, the amount people will buy is a curve and at any given price only a certain amount will be bought, and if you produce more the price goes down.

You have really neat idea here! I don't think I've ever seen a game that turns quarterly earnings reports into a CEO simulation game, so I'm excited to see which direction you go and how unlock the potential!