Hikikomori Manager 2012
made by VDZ for Ludum Dare 22

In this game, you are a hikikomori. You will live your daily life, struggling against depression and trying to live off what little income you have.

There is no set goal in this game. However, you may wish to try to survive for as long as possible, or try to break free from your problems
as quickly as possible. Even though there is no clear goal in this game, there are four endings which can be reached:

*You become so depressed you commit suicide.
*You are evicted from your room and commit suicide.
*You die of poor health.
*You break free from your problems and manage to join society once more.


You have the following stats:

Cash
Cash is used to pay for rent, food, anime, manga, games and MMO subscriptions.
Money from your parents and welfare money (if any) is given to you every week.
Likewise, rent and MMO subscriptions are deducted from your cash every week.

Depression
Depression is your worst enemy. If it reaches 100, you will commit suicide.
You will become more depressed by the day, and the longer you remain a hikikomori, the more depressed you become.
There are also a lot of things that can happen that can make you more depressed.
You become less depressed by watching anime, reading manga, playing games and MMOs. Usually.

Courage
You need courage to perform certain actions which are difficult for you.
Anime, manga, games and posts on textboards might inspire you to become more courageous.

Hope
If you lose hope in the future, you will become depressed much more quickly.
Like courage, hope can be inspired by anime, manga, games and posts on textboards.

Health
If your health drops below a certain point, you will get sick.
If you continue to neglect your health, you could even die.
Make sure to eat properly every day!

Social contact
Your social contact is important if you want to return to society.
Limited social contact can be gained through textboards and MMORPGs, but if you truly want to recover you will have to go outside.


During the day, you can choose what to do that day. Every action except for buying things and viewing your items ends the day.

Buy things online
You can order food, anime, manga ands games through webshops here. For some inexplicable reason, delivery is instant.

Browse textboards
Raises your social interaction and may raise your courage and hope.
(Your social interaction can't go above 20 from textboards alone.)

Watch anime
Watch anime you've bought. Anime can give an expensive but powerful boost to your happiness, courage and hope.
Anime can only be watched once; you can't even buy the same anime from the shop again (but you can wait for its next volume and buy that).

Read manga
Read manga you've bought. Manga is cheaper than anime, but it usually also gives less of a boost to your stats.
The same rules that count for anime also count here; you can't re-read your manga.

Play games
Play games you've bought. Games are very expensive compared to anime and manga, but unlike anime and manga, you can play a game
for multiple days. How many times you can play the game varies per game.

Play MMORPGs
Playing MMORPGs lowers your depression and raises your social interaction (to a maximum of 40).
Once you start playing, you will automatically get a subscription which you will have to pay every week from that point on.
If you don't play for a full week, your subscription is automatically cancelled.
Be careful not to get addicted to them!

Go outside
This impossible step is required if you want to become a functioning member of society again.
Raises your social interaction, but at what cost?

Do internet work
If you really need money, you can try to find small jobs you can do over the internet.
However, it is a very unreliable source of income, and the work is often terrible.

Apply for welfare
Ask the government for welfare money so you won't starve.
Unfortunately, it is harder than it sounds...

View items
Gives you a list of all food, anime, manga and games you possess and haven't eaten/seen/read/finished yet.


That is all that can be said about the hikikomori life. Beyond this, you are on your own.