A cleaning-business game needs a decision between accepting a job and getting paid. The player must decide whether the available team can finish the contract, and whether equipment or another worker is worth the cost. Start with one job and one day; let the player see the capacity shortfall before committing money.
This guide builds a fictional, deliberately simplified business simulation. Its coins, work points and customer behavior are game rules rather than real-world costs or productivity estimates. Use the example to specify a prototype, then check how your chosen AI game maker implements it.
Make a contract the center of the loop
Offer one office-cleaning contract. The player accepts it, assigns a cleaner and chooses whether to rent equipment or hire help for that day. The job completes when assigned capacity meets its required work points. Pay the reward once, show the closing balance and allow a fresh game.
| Stage | Player choice | Feedback to show |
|---|---|---|
| Choose a job | Accept or leave the available contract | Required points and reward |
| Plan capacity | Assign the cleaner and an optional extra | Available points, cost and cash remaining |
| Complete work | Start the assigned job | Progress and an understandable completion state |
| Review | Consider the next investment | Costs, reward and closing cash |
Keep the first version deterministic: show the requirement before the player chooses, and do not introduce hidden penalties. A clear shortfall is more useful than letting the player guess why a job cannot finish.
Compare equipment and an extra cleaner
Suppose the business starts with 100 coins and one cleaner who provides 6 work points for the day. The contract requires 8 points and pays 100 coins on completion. Renting equipment costs 30 coins and contributes 2 points that day. Hiring another cleaner costs 40 coins and contributes 6 points that day. The two extras are alternatives in this first version, and neither persists after the day.
| Choice | Capacity | Up-front cost | Cash after a completed job |
|---|---|---|---|
| No extra | 6 points | 0 | No payout: the 8-point job is incomplete |
| Rent equipment | 6 + 2 = 8 points | 30 coins | 100 − 30 + 100 = 170 coins |
| Hire help | 6 + 6 = 12 points | 40 coins | 100 − 40 + 100 = 160 coins |
For this single known job, equipment meets the requirement with the lower cost. The extra cleaner leaves four points unused. That is a consequence of the example's rules, not a claim that equipment is always the better business investment. No wages, travel or other costs are included beyond the stated daily option.
Write a build request with explicit state changes
Specify what can be selected, when money changes and what finishes the day. SEELE's capability catalogue describes creating a game from a written idea and producing coordinated 2D characters, scenes and interface elements. Those categories can inform the project direction, but they do not prove that this particular contract system has been generated or tested.
Create an original small cleaning-business management game.
Start a day with 100 coins, one cleaner and one available office contract.
The cleaner provides 6 work points. The contract requires 8 and pays 100
coins only when completed. Show the requirement, reward, cash and capacity.
After the player accepts, offer one optional daily choice: rent equipment
for 30 coins to add 2 points, or hire a second cleaner for 40 to add 6.
Only one option may be selected; do not subtract money for a failed choice.
Do not start work unless the assigned capacity meets the requirement.
On completion, pay the reward exactly once and show cost and closing cash.
Daily extras expire after the job. Provide a restart that restores the
initial cash, one cleaner, available contract and no selected option.
Use original illustrated characters, an office and clear readable controls.Ask for the contract and cash calculation first. Once the states are correct, add room illustrations, a progress animation and sound. If the result makes a wrong deduction, provide the exact starting cash, selected option and expected balance; keep the correction focused on that transition.
Show why an action is unavailable
Before starting work, display the job's requirement alongside assigned capacity. With no extra, the example shows a shortfall of two points. If cash is insufficient for an option, explain the cost and leave both the balance and selection unchanged. If the player chooses the other option after paying, either block the change or define a refund explicitly; do not silently charge twice.
Show a completed contract separately from one that is merely accepted. The reward belongs to the completion transition, not to the button being clicked. A small end-of-day summary can list the starting balance, selected expense, payout and closing balance, giving the player enough information to understand the result.
Check the sample day
- Initial state: confirm 100 coins, one cleaner, one available contract and no selected extra.
- Shortfall: accept the job and try to start with 6 points. The game should explain that 8 are required and should not pay a reward.
- Equipment: rent the 30-coin option, confirm cash is 70 and capacity is 8, then finish the job. The closing balance should be 170.
- Alternative: restart, hire help for 40 and confirm 12 points and 60 coins before completion. The completed job should leave 160 coins.
- Repeat and reset: click the completed job again and confirm that it does not pay twice. Restart and verify that cash, contract and daily options return to their starting state.
If a check fails, tell the assistant the starting state, action, expected result and observed result. For example: “After renting equipment the balance was 70. Completing the job twice raised it to 270; the reward should be applied once and the final balance should remain 170.” Repeat the failed check and the restart check after the fix.
Plan an iteration with two contracts
For a hypothetical next version, offer two jobs on the same day: one needs 8 points and the other needs 4. Treat daily capacity as a shared budget rather than allowing the same points to be spent twice. The hired cleaner gives a total of 12 points, enough for both in this example; the equipment option gives 8, enough for only the first if it is assigned all eight.
Specify each job's reward and whether it can be partially completed before balancing the choice. Show points remaining after each assignment. If a player changes an assignment, restore the released capacity before applying the new one. This proposed extension has not been tested and needs its own checks for over-allocation and duplicate payouts.
Frequently asked questions
How many contracts should the first version include?
One contract is enough to test acceptance, capacity, expenses and payment from start to finish. Add a second only after the first resets and pays correctly. A second job is useful when it introduces a genuine allocation decision instead of repeating the same interaction.
How can equipment and hiring feel different?
Give them different costs and capacity effects, then show those effects before the player chooses. Later, equipment might persist across days while staff have daily costs, but those are new rules to define and test. Do not imply persistence in the initial one-day example.
What happens if the team cannot finish a job?
In the sample, work cannot start until assigned capacity reaches the requirement, and an incomplete contract pays nothing. Show the shortfall and available options. If a later design allows partial work, specify how progress carries over and whether the customer pays in stages.
How do I prevent a player assigning the same capacity twice?
Maintain one daily capacity budget and subtract points when they are committed to a job. Display the remaining amount, reject an assignment that exceeds it, and return points when an assignment is canceled. Test two contracts together as well as each contract separately.
Build one job before expanding the company
A visible contract requirement, a limited team and a meaningful equipment choice are enough to create a first management loop. Use the fictional numbers to verify your rules, then add competing jobs or persistent upgrades one at a time. Develop your own scenario in the SEELE AI Creator Game Maker, then test the consequences of each investment. For a broader workflow, read how to create a game with AI.
