LifeSim

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Inspiration

For a lot of recent graduates, moving onto the real world is a challenging situation. We may have to manage student debt, figure out what to do with the first paycheck, and navigate unfamiliar corporate responsibilities. I wanted to reduce that stress by creating a simulation of word prompts with choices you can make, and at the end of 6 years, you will reach a certain conclusion. My main goal for this was to make financial related experiences simpler and kind of teach financial literacy and corporate travel policies by an interactive game.

What it does

LifeSim is an interactive, simulation-based game where users can simulate life after graduation. Users should take notice of their Bank Balance, Student Debt, Career Level, and Stress. Over the course of 6 years, players face real-life financial choices and a few curveballs. It also incorporates the idea of Lockton Travel Companion, where players can use a digital company app to successfully navigate corporate travel scenarios.

How we built it

I built it using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I tried to keep the simulation as simple as possible. For the structure and style, I used CSS. And as for the engine/main program I used JavaScript.

Challenges we ran into

The main challenge was choosing the structure of the game, what would make sense for a beginner who doesn't know how to animate characters and objects? The option that I have left is using word prompts and options to interact with the user. Once I got it working, I realized that I set the student debt a bit higher, so it was kind of hard to reach the end of the game successfully within 6 rounds. Finally, I had to make a few changes to the stress status bar, so that it didn't wrap into a new line for smaller screens.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I was impressed on how neat I could format it, using basic language skills. I was able to create a status bar that could change colors based on how high my stress was, and if it went too high, the user is in Danger Mode. I am really amazed in what I did, in the given time.

What we learned

Building LifeSim was a beginner's project, I learned how to code front-end fundamentals, how to piece things together, and how I can use multiple scenarios. I gained practical experience with Git, and basically all the 3 languages. I just learned those during this semester, and I was impressed in what I could do with it.

What's next for LifeSim

If I have to modify the game, I will expand the "CurveBall Engine", maybe include different career paths (each of them having their own salary, debt, and specific travel guidelines). I would also learn how to make it more interactive, perhaps learn how to animate objects and make it an actual visual simulation for the situations.