Too Many Toddlers is too easy
Before anyone points this out, I know Too many toddlers is a time-limited scenario and thus, giving commentary on it specifically is a little silly. My commentary for the challenge is more for the ...
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@Strangelovekraft Yeah, in this case, I would say something like:
Easy mode: 3 toddlers.
Medium mode: 5 toddlers.
Hard mode: 7 toddlers!
Conversely, the scenario could check what lifespan settings you're using as part of the challenge. I started it with aging off (because that's how I had it for the last game I started?) and then realized that was BAD for the challenge, ROTFL, and changed it.
I think the issue is partly that I don't know if the game knows whether you're neglecting your toddler or not beyond whether they eat or not. Someone posted here a month or so ago to suggest that the best way to handle toddlers was to put them in their high chairs and never take them out and only have the parents interact with them to feed them, and to set the parents to making bar drinks so they wouldn't autonomously help their child. So... there would have to be some kind of new coding that detects that, and how would they know the difference between incompetent and malicious parenting? My triplets, which I had when I wasn't very used to playing with toddlers, were perpetually filthy because I panicked and had grandma and grandpa move into the house to help with them, so grandma would put the kid on the potty and start potty-training them and Mom would come and pluck them off the potty before they were finished and put them in bed, etc.--basically too many adults stepping all over each other trying to autonomously care for three toddlers. So if toddlers were taken away for being dirty, I would have definitely lost those triplets. It's clear to a human, the difference between putting your toddlers in a "toddler dungeon" and well-intentioned parents and player flailing, but from a code standpoint it's hard to tell. (Is that a micro home or a toddler dungeon? Is the toddler dirty because Mom decided he was too tired to be potty trained and plucked him off the potty, or is the toddler dirty because Mom is playing Blickblock? Add in autonomy, where Mom might decide to play Blickblock if she has low fun even if her kid needs a bath, and...)
Great points!
I agree the issue overall is mainly the game mechanics. The game does not really have a metric for "child wellbeing" or "child abuse" beyond hunger level or freezing etc. and I whole-heartedly agree that since the game has a lot of issues such as different adults taking countering parenting actions, "innocent accidents" like a toddler being smelly for a while should absolutely not result to having a child taken away.
I guess my best solution to all this would be to make it more like aspirations, which is I guess a controversial take in itself since this was created to add dimension past just aspirations... While this may divide opinions, at least it would make the challenges a little more challenging and a little less game mechanic grind? The scenario could consist of a checklist of various things, which I have understood the Well Rounded -scenario already does? In the case of child care, instead of just "toddlers reach X level skills" the challenge could be to read to them Y times, serve Z home-cooked meals to them, potty train a toddler A times and play with them with a dollhouse B times, that kind of a thing.
I guess the real finishing line still is: Are the challenges "worth playing" if they present you with a very barebones or perhaps unbalanced challenges and reward you with only reward points that are in themselves underused and underdeveloped in the game and tied to a whole gameplay system the developers seem to have partially given up on, whims.
As imagination starters? Sure. For people who already enjoy making their own stories, this adds a great spin! I see this being the scenario concept's greatest strength.
As challenges? In the "challenging" sense, not really. The level of "challenge" itself is not very challenging, and a completely arbitrary challenge like "just make a million however" feels incredibly bland. The purpose of player-made challenges has always been about giving players satisfying "puzzle games" to play with, stretching their play styles and overcoming odds. As an introduction to challenges, though? Absolutely! This would be a great way to perhaps prompt new players to discover new styles to play.
For the reward? Absolutely not. As said, the reward point and reward store system has been on it's death bed for years with the whim system seemingly abandoned and the reward store only rarely touched with new improvements, Paranormal being a refreshing exception.
