Summer Job is a game about Dexter, a young man who just graduated high school. He has always been bullied because he is poor, effeminate, and bisexual. After graduating the parents of the girl he had a crush on since second grade ask him to watch their house for the summer while they go to Europe with their daughter to celebrate her graduation. Unbeknownst to anyone, including the owners, the house contains a secret. A secret that could change a poor boy's life in more ways than one...
This is a remake of Jaradlichlord's House Sitting. It is being made with explicit permission from her and I can provide screenshots of our conversation if asked for.
If you run into a bug or other issue while playing the game feel free to visit the discussion page and follow the instructions for submitting a bug report. If you can follow those instructions, I hope to be fairly successful in squashing them.
Dexter is asked to watch his rich friend’s house while she and her parents take a trip to Europe. On his first day there, Dexter discovers a mysterious pawn ticket that leads him to an even more mysterious set of challenges that promise to make him rich. The only question is: how far is he willing to go to get the gold?
Dexter: The main character
Mr. Frank: A plastic surgeon rumored to be connected to one of the 5 big mafia families in Nevada.
Mrs. Frank: Mr. Franks wife. She is a stay at home mom.
Madison: Mr. and Mrs. Frank's daughter. Dexter has had a crush on her for years.
Abril: Madison's best friend.
Hana: Owns the local adult toy store.
Yumi: Hana's little sister.
Sky: New in town. She is opening a Muay Thai gym.
Tony: Dexter's best friend.
Cameron: Dexter's #1 bully.
Julian: Former quarterback and captain of the HS football team. A cinamon roll
See the hints tab in the phone located on the left UI bar in the game.
V 0.1.1 Hot Fix
Fixed several typos
Corrected a bug that prevented the hints section from firing correctly.
Added tutorial text to direct the player to look at the phone after cleaning.
Corrected an issue with workouts not firing properly.
Corrected an issue where time would not advance when watching T.v. after the first chapter.
Corrected an issue where the # of stat points in the character creation page did not display for the player.
Added max value indicator for stats during character creation
Corrected details element not dipslaying correctly during character creation.
Added some missing backgorund images.
Corrected the [[Object]][[Object]] error that occured when you walked away from Abril.
Corrected missing macro for talking to Sky.
Corrected an issue that would lead to referencing of certain events before they occurred. (There might be more of these as I only had a 2 specific reports.)
Corrected a logic issue that would throw the player into the wrong passages in the Hidden Room at the Appearance Door.
Corrected a logic issue that would display tutorial text for leaving the house at night when it was infact evening.
Corrected the shaving code so that it will fire properly and allow the player to actually progress correctly.
Added some text to the first cleaning section to improve immersion.
Corrected logic between the makeup and clothing passages to accurately fire no matter the order they are visited in to ensure both are seen.
Corrected errors in the wallet that prevented money, coupons, and gold from displaying properly.
Corrected repeated text in the opening "drive" and "permanent parking" passages
Clarified the meet the cast page so that it is clear that name changes will not appear on that page, only after that point.
Removed unecessary details so from meet the cast passage and will be moving them into the codices.
V 0.1.0 Initial release.
Character creation
Walkthrough across initial 2 chapters
Skeleton of open world simulator
Yet another attempt at remaking/redesigning/revisioning of the old classic The Gold Rush.
I am going to try and be hopeful of a completion of some sort. :)
This game is a more eloquent an well written version of my disasterpiece. Yes it is a rough start, but the developer is trying to adapt, rewrite, and improve my terrible attempt at coding. I took a look under the hood and while I can see the inspiration there are several things that I think are better done. There is less fluff, the logic is better organized and the tutorial if this is indeed the end of it is more concise than mine was(2 "chapters" here versus 5 "days" in my version)
As is my style I will review this game with categories.
Narrative
The story is more refined than anything I produced but I want to see it develop into it's own thing and to feel less empty before I adjust this ranking.
2/5
Graphics
The graphical integration is clear. I can definitely see the choices throughout the game. Are they truly cohesive not yet, but they are definitely not an afterthought. If they continue to develop and improve then this game will be something to look at. This rating unfortunately cannot be higher due to the use of some AI assets.
2.5/5
Mechanics
After the bug fix I think this game has a solid text base feel to it. The navigation feels clunky at times which could be improved.
3/5
Overall
I am probably a little biased as this is someone taking over my work and making it their own, but I am none the less impressed and proud of the work that has been done here. I think this is a solid first release with room to grow and improve as the dev learns more about the development and testing process.
2.5/5
Well it's a bit broken at the moment, but I do see all the bones of the previous games this one is following on from.
I do enjoy the concept so I hope that this one will be able to go somewhere with it.
I'm going to echo DToxie and add that currently there are a lot of broken mechanics.
Some of the narrative follows the previous game, but in order to do things like go to the pawn shop and obtain the item you needed, you had to actually find the pawn ticket first. In my initial start of the game, i didn't find the globe, the hidden room or obtain the pawn ticket, but when I left the house I was talking about going to the pawn shop to find out about the pawn ticket I never found.
Also, though you have character points to use at the beginning of the game, it isn't explained why there is a cap on some, nor how many you actually have or have used since there is no mechanic that shows you have character points, how many are available to use, nor how many you have used.
You wash the thong in the laundry even though I don't know where it came from. There's also lots of broken links and errors. These kinds of careless development issues should have been worked out before the initial release, especially since you were relying on an already existing game. That said, I wish you luck, since I liked the original game and was sad it was abandoned.
To the dev:
Your heart's in the right place, but you're making game design decisions that don't make sense. The original game wasn't really something that would work with stats since it's very linear and makes you choose specific answers. Stats work in games like TSGE and Secretary since they provide alternative answers to problems. If you choose to pursue this further, I recommend adding choices that reflect that stats you've added. Perhaps you could use strength to force open the hidden door. Something like that. As it is, you're essentially remaking the same game with different visuals and stats that are entirely cosmetic.
As for the game itself, it is essentially the same as what it aspires to be a remake of, however, some aspects are broken. I often got prompts for choices I already made such as shaving in the shower, and I was able to get into the hidden room without even needing to get the key.
