General Store Manager

This was my submission to the GMTK Game Jam 2023, and my first game jam submission and first itch.io upload.

To fit the theme of Roles Reversed, in this game - or proof of concept really - you play as the general store owner in a farming sim (think Pierre from Stardew Valley).  Instead of growing and collecting items to sell, you instead buy from the players and turn a profit, or go bankrupt trying. You might receive valuable goods and crops, or endless heaps of junk from a player trying to empty their inventory.

There was not enough time to flesh out this project as I would have liked, but as of right now there is only really a working day loop in which every hour the players (who are actually the NPCs) come to you and offer to sell you items that they have, and every night you are able to resell those items to other specialty merchants.

Future additions to the game (after the game jam) would include:

• a title screen
• actual graphics and story
• audio
• start off with a chest of random items instead of a set amount of $5000
• a progression system, allowing you to upgrade your store, inventory size, merchant availability,  and player count
• reputation with your players and merchants 
• player AI, in which every hour they might complete a task to add to their own inventory, visit the shop to see your wares or sell to you, or visit the other merchants
• a save/load system
• the ability to look up an item's expected price

This game is currently very bare bones, but the concept is there! Eventually it can be an actual game!

*Known issues*

• At night, if your inventory exceeds the bounds of the UI and you sell enough items, the formatting becomes wonky
• The pricing of objects is not great
• You are able to spend more than you have (quite easily)
• Music can be loud

~Credit for all sprite work goes to Marie Pepo (https://marie-pepo.itch.io/mf-items)~

~Credit for all music goes to jhaeka  (https://joshuuu.itch.io/short-loopable-background-music)~