Life is like an 8-bit game: Manual

Life is a game that literally everyone plays. This article is your guide.

The basics

You may not even guess, but real life is a strategic game. It has fun mini-games — for example, dancing, driving a car, running, and sex — but the key to winning is simply managing your resources.

Most importantly, successful players spend their time on the right things. As the game progresses, money appears in it, but the correct use of time should always be your main priority.

Childhood

Life begins with getting a random character and a random starting position:

The first 15 years go on boring training missions (tutorials). Missing them is impossible.
')

Youth

As a novice player, you will have a lot of time and energy, but almost zero experience. Most of the buns (such as good work, things and partners) will be blocked until you get some experience.

This is the best time for pumping your skills. So much time and energy you will never have.

Now that you are playing correctly, your main goal is to distribute your time correctly . Everything you do affects your condition and skills:


It would seem that everything is simple - but the snag is that you will not always know which tasks to choose, and the body will not always obey your commands. Let's deal with this.

How to obey your own commands

Many players notice that when they are going to do something — for example, “go to the gym” —the body completely ignores them.

This is not a bug. Each player has a condition that cannot be seen directly, but it looks like this:


If any indicator of a condition falls, your body will ignore orders until you figure out its needs . Try to learn when you are tired and hungry - you will not have time to blink an eye when your attention switches to Twitter.

Especially important indicator will. Willpower melts during the day, replenishes slightly after eating, and is fully restored after a good sleep. When will power is low, you can only do what you are really interested in.

Every decision that is made requires willpower, and decisions in which you suppress an attractive option for the less attractive (for example, to study instead of watching TV) require a lot of effort of will.

There are a few tricks to control yourself:

1. Maintain good condition. If you are tired, hungry, or you lack a lot of entertainment, your will will go to zero. Constantly monitor the status of the character
2. Do not require too much will from one day. Distribute the most difficult tasks for several days and alternate them with less difficult ones.
3. Start with the most important tasks. This will make other tasks more difficult, but will increase the chances of solving the most important task.
4. Reduce willpower costs by limiting choices. If you are trying to work at a computer where you have access to Facebook, you will need more willpower, because you are constantly choosing a more difficult task (work) instead of an easy one (Facebook). Eliminate such distractions.

The key task of the game is to maintain a balance between your various priorities and the state of your body. The main thing - do not turn on the autopilot, otherwise you will never do anything.

Choosing the right tasks

In general, the game comes down to choosing the right tasks at the right time. Some tasks affect your condition, for example:


Others affect skills more:


You need to spend time on things that maintain a healthy state — in particular, on food and sleep — to maintain a high level of willpower. After that, pump your skills using what is left.

Some skills are more valuable than others. Good skills can open up a whole path, such as this technology tree:

Others will lead to a dead end:


The greatest efficiency is achieved by a combination of skills. It is very difficult to pump one skill to become the best. In fact, it is almost impossible. But you can quite easily master several related skills that add up to something more, for example:


See how psychology just helped you become successful and attractive? It is worth exploring.

Location

Your environment constantly influences your progress, condition, and chances of passing to the next level.

Yes, the game can play well almost anywhere, but in some places it is much easier to do it. For example, if you are a woman and play in the wrong country, many achievements will not be available to you.

Each player has almost zero chance of being born in the optimal place, so study your options and think about moving as early as possible. Environment is a multiplier of all your skills and states.

Partner search

Attractiveness is in itself a challenging mini-game, but basically it is a by-product of how you play. If you have a great condition and high skills, you are already very attractive. A tired, irritable, stupid player is unpleasant and, perhaps, should not look for a relationship.



Already in the early stages of the game, participants often reject themselves and are rejected by other players. This is normal, but, unfortunately, can deplete your condition, since most players are experiencing rejection. You will have to use willpower to continue the game, and willpower replenishes with sleep - so time will cure you.

80% of the search for a partner comes down to showing off their best sides, which - like so much else in life - means using your time on the right things . If you train, socialize, watch yourself and move ahead in your career, you will automatically radiate attractiveness. The remaining 20% ​​is just going to places where you can meet the right people.

Money money money

In the next stages of the game you will have to manage a new resource called “money”. At first, the majority of players will increase their money, but in reality this will create only more problems for them.


The most important rule of money is to never borrow, unless it helps to get even more . For example, education or mortgage may be worth it (although not necessarily dependent on education and mortgage). But borrow for the purchase of new shoes is not worth it.

Depending on your financial ambitions, there are several strategies:

1. Do not bathe about money. Low-stress strategy: just live on income and save a little for a rainy day. Make sure, however, that the time you save is spent with meaning, or you will regret it.
2. To live in prosperity. Carefully choose a career and environment, and be prepared to move to move on. You will have to seriously invest in the necessary skills that will cost time. Do not forget to monitor your condition as well, otherwise you will undermine your health.
3. Grow rich. Open your business. It’s almost impossible to become rich by working for someone else. Wealth does not come only from work, it comes from owning things — assets — that give more than they were worth. Your own company is a powerful asset that can be created from scratch. Invest your income in other assets, and in the end you don’t have to work at all.

Late life

Your options will change as the game progresses. Marriage and children will reduce time and energy, add more random elements to the game (“Emergency Diaper Change!”). It will become more difficult to engage in self-development.

Older characters usually have more skills, resources and experience, and gain access to previously blocked quests such as “buying a house” or “writing memoirs”.


All players die after approximately 29,000 days, or 80 years. If your condition and achievements are good, you can stretch a little longer. There is no cheat code for renewal.

At the beginning of the game you did not have control over who you are and what's around you. By the end of the game, it becomes true again. Your previous decisions determine where you will end up, and whether you will be happy, healthy, implemented (or not) - in the last days you can do little about it.

That is why your strategy is important.

Now let's play.