QSP Girl Life [v0.9.3.1] [community project]

[HoodedSilence]

I tried the photography work available at the city mall. If i remember correctly, accepting work used to send MC on the job right away, now it sends the job in to the next year, literally. It's early December in game time, but jobs (that btw i can schedule seemingly limitless amount) get dates in January, April or even October next year. Is this intentional? I think a job within next 7 days is good, 14 seems like a bit of a stretch, but 315... i can appreciate the job stability and all, but Sveta needs a new pair of shoes.

I tried looking if that's just a WIP, but couldn't find anything. Ignore me, if i just suck at searching.

It's work in progress as it's part of the new event system being implemented. I'll explain what's going on. It's part of the event and zero hour job overhaul system and pay scales with photography skill (as it did before). Wages are bracketed random but I'll change that in the next dev cycle to be more consistent along with restricting the hours. All jobs are booked on a monthly basis, usually a month in advance at the weekend currently at least for the shop.

I was going for a semi-realistic approach instead of being a high paid hot shot which means you'll have to work your way up as this is a multi-year game. I'll also be looking at expanding the photography career down the line as these are simple tasks and generally low paid jobs. It's mostly a straight port of the existing system before shoe horned into the new events system. There will be a punishment system in place as well if Sveta fails tasks but that's not implemented at this time.

The events system was created for writers to book events or ad hoc jobs in the future without knowing the exact day/dates will fall on and allow the player to manage their own tasks/events. It was ported across from the mod I'm creating to create events around being a ballerina and shows. It's also part of a larger project that's still being planned which will affect the City in uni years.

As to booking a year in advance if you're in late December it should be booking for January if it's not let me know.

 

[HoodedSilence]

I do wish there were a reservation option available for the special photography jobs though.

I'm not responsible for Aphrodite, but the new system I mentioned above can allow for that but it's up to the writer/coder to implement it. Jobs are changing and I'll probably be adding date based events and I'll be reviewing a lot of the jobs over the coming months once I've finished overhauling the Natasha questline.

 

[DemiArc]

It's work in progress as it's part of the new event system being implemented. I'll explain what's going on. It's part of the event and zero hour job overhaul system and pay scales with photography skill (as it did before). Wages are bracketed random but I'll change that in the next dev cycle to be more consistent along with restricting the hours. All jobs are booked on a monthly basis, usually a month in advance at the weekend currently at least for the shop.

I was going for a semi-realistic approach instead of being a high paid hot shot which means you'll have to work your way up as this is a multi-year game. I'll also be looking at expanding the photography career down the line as these are simple tasks and generally low paid jobs. It's mostly a straight port of the existing system before shoe horned into the new events system. There will be a punishment system in place as well if Sveta fails tasks but that's not implemented at this time.

The events system was created for writers to book events or ad hoc jobs in the future without knowing the exact day/dates will fall on and allow the player to manage their own tasks/events. It was ported across from the mod I'm creating to create events around being a ballerina and shows. It's also part of a larger project that's still being planned which will affect the City in uni years.

As to booking a year in advance if you're in late December it should be booking for January if it's not let me know.

If we are talking about realistic approach, shouldn't modelling be divided into professional (full-time) and job-by-job amateurs? I mean, I personally happen to know multiple job-by-job models who still earn good paychecks due to their accumulated fame within the local industry & across the Internet, whereas there are always a lot of professional models finding it hard to even make a living.

 

[HoodedSilence]

If we are talking about realistic approach, shouldn't modelling be divided into professional (full-time) and job-by-job amateurs? I mean, I personally happen to know multiple job-by-job models who still earn good paychecks due to their accumulated fame within the local industry & across the Internet, whereas there are always a lot of professional models finding it hard to even make a living.

As I said I'm not responsible for the modelling content or system as that's before my time, and the code has only just been released so it's going to take time to percolate through the game and the photography shop (and my mod) will be the only areas using it initially. I chose the photography shop as it was limited content and as shown by the dev cycle something that not many people played with. I got no feedback during the dev cycle about the shop, otherwise I'd have addressed those concerns before release.

One of the things I'm trying to do with the codebase is make it more modular for writers to tie into and that's going to take time for them to adjust. As a side note I worked within the modelling industry for several years, and I'll be trying to adapt my experiences into a game format from a photographers perspective. Especially as I'll try make it as a viable career for the eight year plan for the game and I've not got a clear idea how to keep it interesting over such a long period because most photography jobs are boring as hell and can be mind numbingly repetitive.

Both the event and employment system documentation are over on the Wiki if anyone wants to know how they work.

 

[DriveBy]

Blank screen after date with Vladimir (sugar daddy, not step daddy).

Game ver 0.8.9.2., no mods. Changed main home to city house before date.

Edit:

Dropoff after his dates worked before, but was always a litlle messy.
First 2 dates (main res was univ dorm): dropoff was Pavlovsk, apt house stairwell. Annoying, but only takes a train ticket to fix. At least Misha didn't see my cum covered ass.
Next 10 or so dates (same main res): dropoff was dorm elevator (the "take elevator" or" go out" question). Oooookay, nearly were I'm supposed to be post sex.
Then came the main res change to city house (see above).

 

[Creamed_Cookie]

Blank screen after date with Vladimir (sugar daddy, not step daddy).

Game ver 0.8.9.2., no mods. Changed main home to city house before date.

The guy you meet at the fair in the city park?

 

[DriveBy]

The guy you meet at the fair in the city park?

Yes.

 

[Odious]

As to booking a year in advance if you're in late December it should be booking for January if it's not let me know.

date is 4th Dec 2016, some jobs landed as far as October 2017

As for making it more interesting over the long haul, one of things that immediately come to mind is how reputation could influence the job event itself. Low rep photographer would be just a push over, that could end up in humiliating/submissive situations. Especially in the beginning, when Sveta still has low rep and lands a relatively high profile gig, she might be forced to do kinky shit, if she wants to finish the job and get payed. On the flip side, when she accepts a low profile gig with high rep, she might be able to influence or straight up force events to go in whatever crazy direction. The bigger the discrepancy the crazier the outcome.
One example would be a boring wedding photo shot. Low rep Sveta gets a job at local celebrity wedding as a last minute replacement. She then gest to choose, do whatever crazy rich people demand from her or leave without money and maybe damaged professional reputation. Agreeing means a increased paycheck and some other reputation. Discrepancy in the other direction would mean that ordinary people get to have a hot shot photographer to do their mundane gig, but if they don't obey Sveta, she just leaves. So possibly influence/manipulate/force them to get nude or do some humiliating poses, have sex with one of them in front of the other, or simply just use them for sex - whatever writers can come up with.
A you can imagine, low rep + lor profile gig = would be just a boring job that you simply skip through. But the high rep +high profile gig can be interesting on it's own, like glamour parties, yacht photo sessions etc. that could be arranged as a job itself, or if you want it to be modular, just a possible after event triggered by any sort of reputation (professional, sexual, sport? - sky is the limit .
As you imagine, the usual fashion photos, can get steamy, but Sveta has to reach a rep+beauty threshold. So the low rep model will do anything for high rep Sveta, but also low rep Sveta can do anything for a high rep model, to get the higher rep bump after the shoot (but that's another spinning wheel in the mechanics, i suppose)
As a story side of things, as Svetas photographer rep is increasing and she's in the modeling agency, she might be asked to help out in the beginning, then take over photographers job, get some kinky (maybe dom/sub depending on rep and character) time with other models and possibly the young upcoming ones, so leaving aside kinky shit, by the end you've got your own top 10 models, or even take over the whole agency by cunning and manipulation. Or be a free use bitch, if that's your jam. Yeah, ideas galore, no one to do the dirty coding. Kudos to you HoodedSilence for fighting it out down in the trenches.

 

[HoodedSilence]

date is 4th Dec 2016, some jobs landed as far as October 2017

OK that's weird, during testing with my mod that didn't happen and it should have been a straight integration. Will need to investigate why that's happening. Currently it should be set to up to month in advance search for appropriate weekend(s).

I'm not a writer, and I have my hands full creating the ballet content so will need someone to step up to the plate to create more content for the photography shop. I'll do one or two photographic jobs to give more variety but no plot lines, as I'll be getting the MC being able to buy new equipment as she gains more work and/or experience with potential to other work opportunities again this is mostly spit balling until it's in code.

 

[Odious]

OK that's weird, during testing with my mod that didn't happen and it should have been a straight integration. Will need to investigate why that's happening. Currently it should be set to up to month in advance search for appropriate weekend(s).

Well, it's pretty consistent. Included the save file in case you had any use for it. Or the time to dig through.
One thing that might be a clue, is that after I switched to the new version Sveta had to show her portfolio again. I think it was already done in this play through and she also did a couple of gigs, but i might be confusing it with a different one.

Anyway, hope that helps and let me know, if there's something else i can check.
One suggestion, from my personal viewpoint, booking month ahead might be realistic, but I'm not sure it's going to work gamewise. Like i said, i'd be happy with 7 days (or next weekend). Plus, maybe give player a choice, if they want jobs booked during weekends, weekdays or both.
Keep up the great work, cheers.

 

[yoyodyne]

View attachment 2525365
Well, it's pretty consistent. Included the save file in case you had any use for it. Or the time to dig through.
One thing that might be a clue, is that after I switched to the new version Sveta had to show her portfolio again. I think it was already done in this play through and she also did a couple of gigs, but i might be confusing it with a different one.

Anyway, hope that helps and let me know, if there's something else i can check.
One suggestion, from my personal viewpoint, booking month ahead might be realistic, but I'm not sure it's going to work gamewise. Like i said, i'd be happy with 7 days (or next weekend). Plus, maybe give player a choice, if they want jobs booked during weekends, weekdays or both.
Keep up the great work, cheers.

The pay scale is very low. 400₽ for 8 hours? I would argue you were losing money. Photographic equipment costs money. IIRC the gme camera alone costs 20,000₽. That's an entry level digital camera in 2016. Nothing fancy and not even a pro level one at that. If you have equipment breakage, 400₽ isn't even going to pay for the repairs. The original assignments were going for 3,000₽ a gig. That was a *reasonable* rate for a low level photographer. Better equipment would cost even more money. A professional level camera is in the range of 1000-5000 USD. Lenses can go for even more as high end glass can cost more than the camera body itself. Photography should be treated as a skilled occupation, so if Sveta is making less than 500₽ on a multi-hour assignment, it wouldn't be worth taking.

 

[Odious]

Can't argue with any of that, but as one of the devs mentioned above it's pretty much a WIP, so I suppose it's going to be adjusted. In this version there is also no "photography" reputation, i think, I can't say for sure, but given that she made just a couple of gigs her probable pay multipliers are somewhere around 0.

I had the same thoughts around stripping, tho i never sent her that way with good dancing skills, but she's not bad either, so counting in the 200 attractiveness, i expected her to make a little more than 24 in tips.

On the other hand, a lot of the time this game revolves around fuckin Sveta over, mostly literally, but this too is not out of tune.

 

[HoodedSilence]

The pay scale is very low. 400₽ for 8 hours? I would argue you were losing money. Photographic equipment costs money. IIRC the gme camera alone costs 20,000₽. That's an entry level digital camera in 2016. Nothing fancy and not even a pro level one at that. If you have equipment breakage, 400₽ isn't even going to pay for the repairs. The original assignments were going for 3,000₽ a gig. That was a *reasonable* rate for a low level photographer. Better equipment would cost even more money. A professional level camera is in the range of 1000-5000 USD. Lenses can go for even more as high end glass can cost more than the camera body itself. Photography should be treated as a skilled occupation, so if Sveta is making less than 500₽ on a multi-hour assignment, it wouldn't be worth taking.

When I started out I barely made 30 an hour often less, and the initial camera I bought gear cost nearly 6k and that was semi-pro SLRs and then I transitioned to a dSLR to reduce film costs was around 2k for the body. I had to work my arse off to build up a portfolio and establish myself and I had to hold down another job to pay the bills. The average time for a photographer to be recognised is around 3 years, it took me 5 and over 20k in gear to meet client expectations (excluding computer hardware and other costs) and I still only earned between 300-1k per session. That was late 90s/early 2000s. In 2016 it would increasingly become difficult to get paid gigs with the explosion of capable phones. Photographers get screwed, always. That's the first thing you learn. We're often the last consideration on anyone's budget.

A professional camera (say 1D or a D1 for example) is either around 6k for a dSLR or 3k for something like a D3 or a 5D and 20-30k for a digital back on a medium format body. Lighting starts around 1,000 for a decent head. Things may have changed now, but those was roughly the figures when I was involved in the industry. Realistically if you're doing this professionally or semi-professionally you'd have duplicate bodies, redundant focal lengths, back up media and more racking up gear costs to astronomical levels.

Also rates go up to 4k a session in game, you just got to suck it up to get there like real life the only difference in the shop is the randomness the rates are still roughly what they was previously based on skill set. As I said, it's a 8 year game plan and it'd be crazy to have the player earn unrealistic cash amounts when they have minimal photography skills. Part of my plan is to give career opportunities to expand on the photography shop and have evening classes to build up skill levels before even buying a camera or maybe hiring a camera to get gigs. This is the first iteration of the code, and no-one complained throughout the dev cycle despite it being there at the beginning otherwise I'd have addressed those concerns at the outset. As it stands it's mostly on the backburner until I finish the Natasha overhaul.

Edit: The Ballet Mod will also follow similar principles where you'll have to work long hours with little pay to get accepted into a corps de ballet, as again I'm intending it to a long term career not a get rich quick. I'm not building another whore mod, but something that actually has a story behind it and purpose.

 

[yoyodyne]

When I started out I barely made 30 an hour often less, and the initial camera I bought gear cost nearly 6k and that was semi-pro SLRs and then I transitioned to a dSLR to reduce film costs was around 2k for the body. I had to work my arse off to build up a portfolio and establish myself and I had to hold down another job to pay the bills. The average time for a photographer to be recognised is around 3 years, it took me 5 and over 20k in gear to meet client expectations (excluding computer hardware and other costs) and I still only earned between 300-1k per session. That was late 90s/early 2000s. In 2016 it would increasingly become difficult to get paid gigs with the explosion of capable phones. Photographers get screwed, always. That's the first thing you learn. We're often the last consideration on anyone's budget.

A professional camera (say 1D or a D1 for example) is either around 6k for a dSLR or 3k for something like a D3 or a 5D and 20-30k for a digital back on a medium format body. Lighting starts around 1,000 for a decent head. Things may have changed now, but those was roughly the figures when I was involved in the industry. Realistically if you're doing this professionally or semi-professionally you'd have duplicate bodies, redundant focal lengths, back up media and more racking up gear costs to astronomical levels.

Also rates go up to 4k a session in game, you just got to suck it up to get there like real life the only difference in the shop is the randomness the rates are still roughly what they was previously based on skill set. As I said, it's a 8 year game plan and it'd be crazy to have the player earn unrealistic cash amounts when they have minimal photography skills. Part of my plan is to give career opportunities to expand on the photography shop and have evening classes to build up skill levels before even buying a camera or maybe hiring a camera to get gigs. This is the first iteration of the code, and no-one complained throughout the dev cycle despite it being there at the beginning otherwise I'd have addressed those concerns at the outset. As it stands it's mostly on the backburner until I finish the Natasha overhaul.

Edit: The Ballet Mod will also follow similar principles where you'll have to work long hours with little pay to get accepted into a corps de ballet, as again I'm intending it to a long term career not a get rich quick. I'm not building another whore mod, but something that actually has a story behind it and purpose.

My experience differs from yours. I would say on average, it would take about a year to start to make a name for yourself, if you were doing it full time. A lot of it would be networking and such. Who you know is just as important as what you know. Word of mouth also offers new opportunities. Once in a while you do catch a lucky break that can change everything. I did this professionally for over 30 years beginning from the mid-80s.

i agree with you there, photographers often get screwed, usually when it comes to the payout. There are clients that will take forever to pay. Advertising agencies are notorious for this, in my experience.

I don't disagree with what you've said, I just find that if these are the starting payouts, they appear extremely low, even for a novice in Санкт-Петербург. When I started out, a minimum of $50-$100 (equivalent) for an assignment wasn't uncommon. Coming from a developing nation, that's why I think Sveta agreeing to 400₽ ($5) for an 8 hour gig is unrealistic. No matter where you are, equipment costs are still going to be approximately the same.

Portfolio build-up is great for getting the initial assignments and then adding bigger ticket assignments such as fashion shoots, advertising, celebrity portraits/weddings/events ups your service fees.

 

[Nutluck]

Keep in mind pay is not based on RL, we gave up trying to do that. It is now set to a internal economy.

For example everything is based around your average job, working in a retail story, fastfood, entry level factory etc, all those jobs pay around 20-25k a month. Since it cost about 20k to barely make ends meet living in the city renting the apartment. So 25k is pay all the bills and have some spending money.

I only mention this because there is comments about what people make in RL which is a nice guideline but the goal is to balance it against the in game economy.

I don't want to speak for Hooded, but my understanding is the intent is the job even full time(aka 40 hours a week) will not come close to being enough to live on at first. Once you get better and more established the pay will slowly go up, eventually turning into a good pay job. As the game is designed to last about 8 years. So it taking a year or two to earn enough to live on(aka 20-25k range) fits those goals of the game. As the job goes on longer it will start paying what the good paying jobs pay(30-40k), then eventually near the end of the game it will be a great paying job.

 

[1naughtyalien]

How to progress with Fabi or Ashot in the Roadhouse (City Residential). Previously Sveta could be convinced to fuck the owner, but now the owner just talks vanilla.. Is there any way to start a sexual relationship here?

 

[DriveBy]

Question: Are there any partys at the university/in the dorms? I mean, I didnt come here to study

 

[yoyodyne]

Keep in mind pay is not based on RL, we gave up trying to do that. It is now set to a internal economy.

For example everything is based around your average job, working in a retail story, fastfood, entry level factory etc, all those jobs pay around 20-25k a month. Since it cost about 20k to barely make ends meet living in the city renting the apartment. So 25k is pay all the bills and have some spending money.

I only mention this because there is comments about what people make in RL which is a nice guideline but the goal is to balance it against the in game economy.

I don't want to speak for Hooded, but my understanding is the intent is the job even full time(aka 40 hours a week) will not come close to being enough to live on at first. Once you get better and more established the pay will slowly go up, eventually turning into a good pay job. As the game is designed to last about 8 years. So it taking a year or two to earn enough to live on(aka 20-25k range) fits those goals of the game. As the job goes on longer it will start paying what the good paying jobs pay(30-40k), then eventually near the end of the game it will be a great paying job.

I appreciate this.

I was also comparing it with in game fees. Sveta earns more than 400₽ for an online modeling gig: 1,000 - 2,500₽ for about 3 hours of her time. Music livestreaming with a decent following, upwards of 3,000₽ for an hour of her time (although it's a really random amount). So getting $50-$100 an assignment isn't unreasonable. The thing with photography, as a freelancer, those jobs aren't everyday.

The 3,000₽ assignments the shop doles out on the weekends is a reasonable amount for a beginning pro. The problem in game is that these assignments run out after 6 jobs (as of 0.8.8.6). At that rate, Sveta makes 12,000₽ a month from the in game photography assignments so she still has to hustle for more income.

A decent camera has a shutter curtain that is rated to about 150K cycles. A high end pro model even more (and justifies the price too). The point is every time Sveta takes on an assignment, there's wear and tear on photo equipment. There's always the risk of something breaking, getting stolen, what have you. So earning 400₽ in 8 hours? Her first DSLR already costs her 20,000₽ and that's not even a pro model. I would pass on something that pays that low because of the cost of the equipment itself.

My suggestion is many 500₽ assignments, some 3,000₽ gigs as a starting photographer and then improve the pay/assignments over time so it's a viable occupation that generates a decent income. This would also entail in investing in better equipment. I can see Sveta investing some hard earned 500,000₽+ going pro.

Speaking of job opportunities, what about the possibility of Sveta becoming a YouTube sensation or even a TikTok (2017 onwards) star?

 

[HoodedSilence]

I appreciate this.

I was also comparing it with in game fees. Sveta earns more than 400₽ for an online modeling gig: 1,000 - 2,500₽ for about 3 hours of her time. Music livestreaming with a decent following, upwards of 3,000₽ for an hour of her time (although it's a really random amount). So getting $50-$100 an assignment isn't unreasonable. The thing with photography, as a freelancer, those jobs aren't everyday.

I get what you're saying, but most people go to uni, college or go out spending a lot of money on what's a hobby. If they start a business they get a business loan. Rarely do people have the cash, then go out buy a camera and start earning 2k+ (average profit margins of a wedding business is less than 5% when I last checked). God even pro's struggle to get work look at the proliferation of photography/retouching instructors and videos. How I built up my skills was freelancing as a retoucher, photographer and I had a day job on top of this until I was established enough and was able to secure the funds to buy and fit out a studio even then I still did freelance consulting when the photography business was slow to pay the bills. That's a similar career path to many photographers. Maybe Sveta gets lucky and starts photographing friends weddings, but again we'd need weddings in game to make that realistic. If I was to make it even harder then I'd integrate the boom/bust cycle that's so prevalent in the industry where almost all your work is in the summer with little work in the winter months.

It's a given fact all jobs start with crap pay and treated worse, and if you want to make money GL has always made it clear that you can whore yourself out. This plays into that, if you want easy cash go whore but you've got to pay the piper somewhere whereas here you can be a photographer and at least you keep your dignity by building up a slow profitable careers. In any case careers are not fleshed out in the game and this is the first step of introducing them into this life simulator.

Is it a popular choice? No, but it's a semi-realistic approach to it and it stops the player being bored by having too much cash at the start. Even busking and on-line gigs have been nerfed from the 5-6k you could earn in a weekend on the streets of Sankt Petersburg between the sports, streaming and busking I used to be able to make 10-11k in a weekend that's also unrealistic.

 

[HoodedSilence]

Speaking of job opportunities, what about the possibility of Sveta becoming a YouTube sensation or even a TikTok (2017 onwards) star?

If you want to write the content then we'll integrate it problem is we have too many writers and not enough coders to handle what's being written at the moment.