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Thank you for your kind answer. I am very happy if my comments can be of any help for your projects - already as an encouragement to continue developing great games ! I am ready to help you further if you want. I have added some more discussion about the tax balance issue here.

Here is a screenshot of how I manage taxes in most of my cities :D And I think there is still some margin to go above 50% tax (whatever this means). The worst thing about it is probably that I have absolutely no use of the collected fortune... But since they are extremely happy, it would be rude of me not to accept their generosity.

My first suggestion would be to lower the +5 mood per museum level and +4 per tavern level. It seems far too much compared to the penalty of overcrowding, although I have no details (having 400-500 citizens is not a problem if you have a few levels of these buildings).

Another option would be to think the mood system differently. Here is an interesting way of how it is implemented in another game I know (chronoscz.itch.io/c-evo). You start with a fixed amount of morale points (eg 20). For each point, you can have a free citizen that you would assign to any work. As your city grows, you reach the morale point limit. Technically, this translates into part of your citizens being assigned as city guards/police to give you more morale points. In addition to this, you can also lower the tax or have special buildings that increase the morale/mood limit, just as in your game.

Their system is even more complex than what I described, and I am not sure I wrote it clearly. But the main idea is: mood is not just a 0-100 indicator, it is a parameter that affects how many of your citizens you are allowed to use, part of them being frozen for maintaining security in your city. And you go from small penalty of overcrowding, to fighting for the right to increase your population.

I don't know if any of these suggestions inspire you for the fix. Maybe tax and mood is not the funniest part of the game to work on. It's mostly a technical question, and it can get very complicated. Going for a simple fix could be enough, and free time for other questions. Anyway, feel free to discuss any topics of your game.

Hi, this game definitively deserves a comment ! - And a very detailed one actually
First of all, I see that there is a real effort of quality behind it. There are many interesting features (enemy attacks, research system, marketplace...), and you've combined many ideas into a complete and coherent world. That's impressive.
I don't know if you ever want to update it, but here are some suggestions (no criticism, just potential improvements):
- islands: very great idea, I get the mood. Try to reduce the level of details when displaying the whole map.
- tax system: honestly one of the trickiest part to balance. Idea is interesting, but you lack to consequence of the morale level. Maybe happy citizens would increase production and unhappy ones ruin it ? As your city grows, it becomes too easy to keep a high level of happiness. I raised the tax to 50% in my large cities at the extreme enjoyment of my citizens (yes, it's golden age for them).
- money: it is closely linked to the tax system: at high tax levels allowed you clearly get monstrous amounts of useless money. It's fine that you can trade with the merchant or open a chest. Quite fun the random bundles you get. But I would have to open thousands of chests to ever use that money (which would take me much longer than writing this comment) - or maybe a 1M mega chest ??
- research: interesting system, but I would increase the research point costs. It's done in around 2-3 days.
- war: all players are pacifists (except one who attacked me before sincerely apologising). But you get the constant aggression by NPC camps. If one would know how to make the real world as peaceful as this "conquest and strategy" game...
- trade routes: essential when you want to exchange special ressources between your cities. Very few runs actually happen, but I except the server to run only when someone connects. Probably the easiest fix is to make it a "one run" system: you plan the trip, send, and after one run it stops.
- overall design: UI intuitive and nice. Whatever engine you used it was a great choice for such a game. I must admit that I felt some deception when seeing the city buildings first time (compared the idyllic cover pictures), but when you grow your city it starts to look great, and the custom city designs are very nice. Actually, you feel proud when you look at the city you've built. Personally, I would also try to make the environment around the city view a bit more realistic, maybe going further with the ideas of trees and large mountains in the background.
- audience: very few regular players - but I think it's unfortunately and sadly normal on this website. I am not the one who will give you valuable hints because my game is a total crash. But try to add your game to some jams, and also promote it trough social media if you can.
That's a lot of suggestions, and you really don't have to implement them all to improve your game. The work you've done so far is already fantastic ! I really enjoyed spending a few hours in these islands, and returning to my cities when time said the storehouse was full. (Btw the islands deposits are upgraded to max if any new player wants to join).
Many thanks for sharing this game !
And good luck, whatever you decide to do next,
--- (These three minus signs are my name in the game - I still regret my lack of inspiration)

Salut Feldo,

Je ne connaissais pas du tout la fiction interactive, et ce jeu m'a beaucoup plu. Seulement avec des mots, j'ai été plongé dans la catapole, à respirer la suie des souterrains et à trimer dans l'espoir d'une vie meilleure.

Nombre de jeux actuels cherchent à attirer par des graphismes sophistiqués. Mais cette fiction parvient à n'immerger le/la joueur/euse que par le texte. Bravo.

Apprendre à jouer

Il ne m'a pas tout de suite été facile de jouer. N'ayant aucune connaissance préalable de la fiction interactive, j'ai ouvert le guide fourni et ai testé tous les verbes possibles. Pas toujours avec succès...

>demander aide    (-> vous-même) Pas de réponse.

>prier    Rien de concret ne résulte de votre prière.

Mais à force d'écrire, j'ai fini par m'y faire. Et petit à petit, j'ai pu découvrir le récit. Bien sûr, j'ai souvent fini taillé en pièces dans les conduits d'aération ou écrasé dans un ascenseur. De quoi attraper une phobie des ascenseurs ! S'il y a un mot clé que je n'oublierai jamais, c'est 'annuler'. Infiniment pratique.

J'en suis sorti vivant, et je considère que c'est l'essentiel. Même s'il me manque un ou deux points cachés...

Le récit

J'ai bien aimé l'atmosphère de catapole. Plongé dans les souterrains poussiéreux de travailleurs oubliés, le récit rappelle aussi bien la vie des mineurs de la révolution industrielle que le quotidien des employés modernes. Le travail comme unique but. Travailler pour quelqu'un d'autre en espérant recevoir un peu de reconnaissance et d'attention...

L'ambiance était quand même tendue (décidément, tout le mode cherche à m'assassiner ?). Pas toujours agréable de se retrouver là-dedans. Mais ça va avec le thème, et les touches d'humour permettent de prendre juste assez de recul. En espérant ne pas trop révéler l'histoire, voici les phrases qui m'ont le plus amusé:

Le boîtier électrique du monte-charge. Plus ou moins réparé. A savoir "plus" selon vous et probablement "moins" selon l'électricien responsable.

En conclusion

Merci pour ce récit auquel j'ai pu prendre part. J'ai pu me sentir proche de se personnage Jenker et m'immerger totalement dans l'intrigue. J'ai apprécié autant l'histoire que le style d'écriture - simple et entraînant. Et l'ironie a vraiment contribué à créer une proximité avec le narrateur et avec Jenker.