The first day

You wake at 07:30 on a Monday, in a furnished home on a street where you already know a few of the neighbours, with $120 and a fortnight before the rent starts.

When a new game starts you’re asked two things: where you’re coming from (a background — it tilts your starting stats and hands you a trait) and what you want to work toward (an aspiration — a goal you can change any time). Pick both or take “decide later”. Then the screen above is yours.

Moving, and how time works

Walk with the D‑pad, or swipe across the map. Hold a D‑pad arrow to keep going. One step is one minute of game time. The clock only moves when you do — while you sit reading this, nothing in the game changes. An activity (a meal, a study session, a shift) advances the clock by however long it takes, and your other needs quietly drain across it.

Doors

Your own front door glows green. Step onto it to go in or out. Roads run out of town, across the countryside, to the next town — the world doesn’t stop at the edge of the screen.

Everyone else’s door is shut. Walk into one — or tap Use beside it — to knock. They might be out; they might not ask you in. The better they know you, the better your chances. You can’t use a stranger’s things; a close friend’s home, though, is open to you like your own.

Using things

Tap Use next to a piece of furniture — or just walk into it, or tap it on the map — to use it. A desk to study, a stove to cook, a bed to sleep, an easel to paint. If it does more than one thing, a little menu opens. Some activities are mini‑games you can play for a better result — or tap skip for the standard one.

Three buttons you’ll live in

Along the bottom of the play screen, the contextual buttons include:

you

Your character sheet. Six tabs — Subjects, Skills, Life, People, Goals, Log; tap a tab, or step through with the D‑pad. close leaves it.

map

The wider world, and a fast‑travel list of everywhere you’ve been. Tap a place to go.

phone

Always in your pocket, works anywhere. Call and text people, browse, play a game, order books and food, sort out housing and bills, look for work, enrol at the college, make plans, buy a bike, adopt a pet, check your manuscript, look at the map.

Menus

Tap the choice you want. A long list wraps and scrolls; tap any line of a choice to pick it. Or step through with the D‑pad and OK. back (or Esc) leaves.

Letting it play itself

auto

Hands‑off autopilot. It walks to and uses whatever need is lowest, does freelance, studies, roams a little — at a watchable pace, with a line along the bottom saying what it’s up to. If you haven’t set an aspiration it picks one, works its milestones, and moves on to a new one when it lands (or when it’s plainly stuck). A tap anywhere takes the wheel back.

goal

Give autopilot a standing goal — make money, build a skill, study a subject, get closer to someone — which it leans into while still keeping your needs met. This overrides the aspiration it would otherwise chase.

rest

A quick routine: head home and, only for the needs actually run down, use the toilet, cook and eat, take a nap — then hand control straight back.

The pause menu

The pause button opens it: resume, save now, the story so far, how to play (this manual), the week in review, look back on your life (once you’ve a couple of years behind you), and back to the title. The game saves itself as you go and picks up exactly where you left off — one slot, one life.

Staying alive

Six needs drain all day. Keep them healthy and your mood stays up; let one bottom out and there are consequences.

Energy and the evening

Energy drains at a flat rate through the day, then climbs steeply from about 7pm — roughly two‑and‑a‑half times as fast by 11pm, and deepest in the small hours. Staying up late is a losing battle. Sleeping in a bed from 8pm skips the night entirely and you wake at 05:30 rested — but starving and desperate for the bathroom, so keep groceries in and the toilet close. Save your real sleep for the night; a nap is a stopgap.

Mood, and why it runs everything

Mood is roughly the average of your six needs, nudged by a long list of smaller things: where you live and whether the rent’s paid, a cold or a bright morning, the calm of the library, the season, the weather, a shelf of your own work, a happy pet, your wardrobe, being burnt out. It runs from about ×0.4 to ×1.35 and it multiplies almost every good outcome — XP gained, money earned, fun restored, words written. Letting your needs slide quietly makes everything else less effective.

Health

Health sits at 100 and mostly looks after itself. It drains while hunger, energy or hygiene is at zero, and recovers when your core needs are all above 30 (faster with Wellness). If health gives out, that’s the end of the run. You can also collapse from exhaustion — you’ll sleep where you fall and lose the time.

Weather

Each day has a condition — ☀ glorious, clear, fair, overcast, ≈ fog, ☂ rain, a storm, ❄ snow, a blizzard, a heatwave — shown in the top bar. Rain and worse make being outdoors more tiring and cost you hygiene; a storm or blizzard shuts every public building. Weather leans on the season: heatwaves in summer, cold snaps and snow in winter.

The rough stretches

Burnout

A hidden strain meter fills when you do demanding things (long sessions, big energy costs) while already tired or low, and empties when you rest or have fun. Max it out and you’re burnt out for about a week: mood drops hard and everything you do earns less (XP ×0.7). You’ll get a warning first — running on fumes. Ease right off and it lifts early.

Injury

A hard fitness session — or an unlucky misstep event — can leave you with a turned ankle, a pulled muscle or a bad back: no fitness training for five to seven days, a small energy penalty, and a clinic bill ($30–90) the next day. It always passes.

Getting better

Fourteen school subjects and twelve life skills, each a number from 0 to 10, raised by doing the right thing in the right place.

The curve

A level costs XP on a square curve: cumulative XP for level L is 12 × L². Level 1 is one or two focused hours; level 10 is well over a hundred. Every stat caps at 10.

The multiplier stack

The XP an activity gives is its base rate times, all stacked together:

• Mood — ×0.4 to ×1.35.
• Momentum, from a streak of consecutive days growing any stat — +2% per day past the first two, capping at ×1.25.
• Logic, if the activity studies a subject — +5% per level, on every subject.
• Focus, on long work like study and freelance — +4% per level.
• A venue perk — the gym multiplies a workout by 1.45, the library multiplies study by 1.3, the museum multiplies art history by 1.35, and so on.
• A trait — Bookworm reads 1.22×, Gym Rat trains 1.2×.
• A degree — 1.12× on its subjects, for the rest of the game.

Two skills are pure force multipliers and worth raising early: Logic (faster studying, everything) and Focus (deeper long sessions). Fitness slows how fast energy drains; Cooking fills more hunger per meal; Wellness recovers needs faster and lifts your mood floor.

Momentum

Grow any subject or skill two days running and a streak starts; keep doing it daily and Momentum climbs, capping at +25% to every XP gain. Miss a whole day with nothing to show for it and the streak resets — the next qualifying action starts a fresh one at day one. Check the Life tab to see the current streak, its best, and the live multiplier.

Where you learn each thing

Books

Every subject is a category of books. A shelf runs:

intro

Cheap, short, gentle. Good for getting going.

core

The steady workhorse — and it often builds a helper skill.

advanced

Dear, a slog, and needs a few levels first — but teaches fastest once you can use it.

reader

Low and slow, cross‑subject, and genuinely fun.

Buy them online (phone or computer — delivered next day, price varies by subject), off the rack at the Corner Shop (a $4 markup, but instant), or read any of the forty‑seven titles free at the Public Library without owning them.

Mini‑games

A lot of activities are playable rather than automatic, and every one is optional. Tap skip and you get the activity's plain result — exactly what autopilot gets, no penalty (you still spend the time and do the thing). Playing it through raises the reward: a finished flop is worth about 1.1×, a clean run 1.65×, scaling with your score from 0 to 1. Finishing also counts toward your mini‑games won tally (a score of 0.6 or better) on you → Life. Difficulty rises with your relevant skill level — higher level, harder round, higher ceiling. Each mini‑game puts the buttons it needs in the bottom row; the typing ones bring up the keyboard with ⌨.

The community college

At the college (always the town due east of home), enrol in a programme for $220:

Natural Sciences · Humanities · Computer Science · Business & Economics · Fine Arts · Health Sciences

A term runs 56 days. Go to 16 classes at the noticeboard and get every one of the programme’s subjects to level 4, and you graduate with a degree — a lasting 1.12× to those subjects, a title, and the credential for the lecturing job. Fall short and the term ends without it; you can re‑enrol.

Mastery

Take any skill or subject to level 10 and you become a Master of it — a permanent title, and the standing to teach it (phone → Tutor someone) to people you know: $40 an hour and a step closer.

Money

You start with $120 and two rent‑free weeks. After that, $121 a week comes out whether you’ve earned it or not.

Groceries and meals

A proper meal — cook, sit down, or takeout — fills hunger completely, so keep groceries in. Order them from a computer or the phone ($24 for six), or from the Corner Shop instantly. A cooked meal also trains Cooking; leftovers and snacks don’t.

Freelance

On a computer. Pick a field, then a job. Jobs run from tier 1 (needs no skill, pays least) to tier 5 (two skills at high level, pays a lot). The list leads with the best tier you can currently do, and every job grows at least the skill or subject it asked for — so working your way up a field is self‑sustaining and never leaves you stuck needing to go train elsewhere.

Software and Research jobs open the Debug puzzle; Writing and Media jobs the Typing sprint — do well and the pay nudges up. Each job shows a pay estimate; the amount you actually get wobbles a little.

Salaried jobs

Steadier than freelance, and with a ladder. Apply from the phone; the interview is a charisma check (there’s a “prepare first” option — +22% odds, but it takes the afternoon). Then you work shifts on a schedule. Walk into your workplace during the shift window and you’re offered the clock‑in. Miss three shifts and you’re let go. Promotions at roughly 20 and 30 shifts bump your title and pay by a quarter to a half.

Rent and bills

Your deposit covers the first two weeks. From Day 15, every seven days: $88 rent + $22 utilities + $11 phone = $121, paid automatically. Check phone → Housing & bills for where you stand.

• Can’t cover it → arrears stack up and the warnings escalate.
• Three missed weeks → evicted to a rented room across town: cheaper ($42/wk) but it wears on you.
• From the room, a clean payment record plus some savings gets you a proper lease again.
• Buy the place outright for $6,000 → no rent ever again, and a standing lift to your mood.

Getting around

Fast‑travel from the map button to anywhere you’ve been; time and energy scale with distance. On foot it’s slow. Buy wheels from phone → Get around:

a bike

$180 — roughly halves every trip, and it’s free to run.

a car

$2,400 — cuts a trip to about a third; the whole map opens up. Trades your bike in.

The manuscript

At the desk, Work on your manuscript — a word count that grows across sessions, faster with Writing, Creativity, Focus and a good mood. Around 40,000 words is a full draft; send it out from phone → Your manuscript for a cheque and a book with your name on it, on your shelf for good. The next one runs a little longer.

People

Every house has someone living in it, with a life of their own. You begin knowing the neighbours on your street.

The rapport scale

Meeting people, and their schedules

Knock on doors to meet more. Whether someone’s in depends on who they are: a grafter is out through the working day, a retiree is usually home, a socialite is out most evenings. Whether they ask you in depends on how well they know you.

Calling and texting

From the phone. A call is worth more than a text; Charisma makes both land better. About a third of the time you’ll get someone talking about their thing — extra rapport, and if they’re a mentor (a scholar, an artist, a retiree — teachers, researchers, illustrators, potters), a little of what they know rubs off and you gain some of their field.

Your rival

Once you know four people, the one you’re closest to who isn’t a mentor becomes your rival in their field. Their level climbs steadily with the days; you’ll hear about it when the standings shift one way or the other.

Plans

Someone you call might suggest getting together — coffee, a meal, a walk, the gym, a proper catch‑up — one to three days out. Say yes and it’s in your diary (the ◆ line on the HUD, and phone → Plans). You can propose plans yourself, too.

• Turn up at the right place within about 75 minutes of the time → a good hour and a real step closer (+8 to +12 rapport).
• Let the time pass without showing → you stood them up (−6 rapport).

Friend groups

Friends who live on the same street know each other. Once you’re friendly (rapport ≥ 30) with three or more in one group, phone → Get the group together for an evening in — big fun and social, everyone a step closer.

When a friend’s going through something

About once a week, someone you know hits a rough patch — drowning at work, unwell, low, a big decision. Call them and choose to really turn up for it: two hours of your time, +16 rapport, and they owe you one. Ignore it for a fortnight and it passes without you, and the friendship drifts down a little.

Birthdays

Yours comes round once a game‑year — a card, $45, a lighter day, and you turn a year older. Friends have birthdays too; remember one with a call and the rapport jumps.

The world

Infinite, and grown from a single number. Coast, farmland, woods and hills; a town in most directions, roads linking them, and — for every town — its houses and the rooms inside each one.

Your home town

Four public buildings you just walk into. No knocking — but they keep hours, and a storm or blizzard shuts them all.

Out in the country

Around every town, a few points of interest — walk onto the ◆ marker to find one. Some are refused in the rain.

Other towns

Each has one thing worth the trip: a bakery, a record shop, a museum, a climbing centre, a playhouse, a lake — and the community college due east of home. With a car, they’re all an easy hop.

The long game

A game of Terminal Life spans a life — several game‑years — and there are threads that run its whole length.

Aspirations

A goal you pick (at the start, or any time from you → Goals) as a short ladder of milestones, checked against your real progress. Finishing pays a cash reward and a title. You can only chase one at a time, but you can swap freely.

Backgrounds

Chosen once, at the start. Each tilts your opening stats, adjusts your wallet, and gives you a starting trait.

Traits

Standing perks. You keep your background’s one for good, and earn more by living a certain way — they quietly multiply the right XP, slow how fast you tire, or cut what shops charge.

The calendar

A month is 28 days, a season three months, a year 336 days. Firstlight, Thawmarch, Greentide are spring; Highsun, Longday, Goldfall are summer; Emberfall, Mistmonth, Frostgate are autumn; Deepcold, Stillwinter, Lastfrost are winter. Summer lifts your mood; deep winter drags and you tire faster. Weekends help a little. Some events are fixed to a day — the farmers’ market on Saturday, open mic on Thursday.

Events

Roughly every third day, something happens: you find $20, a neighbour brings food, you catch a cold (energy drains faster for a few days), a heatwave, a cracked phone screen, the café needs a shift covered, a street festival. Windfalls and small setbacks resolve themselves; the opportunities ask you to choose.

A bit of life

A pet

Adopt a dog ($60) or cat ($45) from the shelter. Feed it and spend time with it each day, or its happiness slides — and a happy pet lifts the whole house’s mood while a neglected one drags it down.

Wardrobe

Four tiers to spend on, each a small standing lift to your mood.

Scrapbook

Your outings and milestones collect here — read it back from the phone.

Week in review

Every rent day: what your money and levels did, and the week’s highlights.

Build Mode

Tap build at home. Time freezes and you become a free‑flying cursor — move it with the D‑pad through anything. The bottom row becomes wall, door, grab (pick up and move furniture), sell (things back for half), buy (anything the house is missing, from a catalogue), and done. Edits that would seal a room off are refused. Remodels are saved with the rest of your game.

Growing older, and the look‑back

You start somewhere around 20 to 25 and age with the calendar. From the pause menu, after a couple of years, you can look back on your life — a score across five parts, an overall, and a verdict:

Cross the natural span — eight game‑years — and the look‑back becomes the ending, on your next birthday. You’re free to keep going anyway.

Reference

The controls

The fourteen subjects

The twelve skills

Saving

The game saves itself as you go — leave whenever, and Continue from the title drops you back exactly where you were. There’s one slot: you’re living one life at a time. The town itself is never saved — it’s grown fresh from the same seed every time, so it’s always the same endless place.

Quick answers

Passing out?

You’re staying up too late. Sleep in a bed before the evening curve bites — from 8pm it skips to 05:30 on full energy.

Broke on rent day?

Tier‑1 freelance at the computer needs nothing and there’s plenty of it. Or take a salaried job for the steady pay.

XP crawling?

Check your mood, raise Logic and Focus, study at the library, and buy the core book for the subject.

Can’t use a friend’s things?

Get their rapport to 62 — a close friend. Call, text, keep plans, turn up when they’re having a hard time.

What’s the point?

Pick an aspiration and chase it. Or don’t — build the life you want to and look back on it in a few years.