Hello, Lisa. It sounds like your game is working properly, but I would like to describe how that part of the game is designed to work, so that you (and anyone else that has a concern about their game) could compare that with what you're experiencing.
The first thing I need to mention is that the Adoption Screen and the Virtual Families Matchmaking Screen operate differently in how they handle the bank balance. The bank account amount shown for any little person displayed on the adoption screen represents the amount of money you'll start that generation with (it replaces the existing bank balance, but that's OK - we'll get to that in a minute). The bank account amount shown for any little person displayed on the matchmaking screen represents the amount of money they have in their
own bank account, and that amount will be added to the existing bank balance when you select them to marry your little person.
Here's how that works out as you play through the game:
- When you first start playing the game, the family bank account doesn't exist yet, since there is no family in the house. When you adopt the very first little person (from the Adoption Screen), the amount of money they have in the bank
becomes the family's bank balance.
- When that little person marries (from the Matchmaking Screen), the amount of money the new spouse has in the bank is
added to the family's bank account.
- At the end of the generation, the game uses the adoption screen again to present your choice(s) of the child(ren) to begin the next generation. Since the children are just graduating from college and have no money of their own, the money you see on the adoption screen for the children is your family's current bank balance (the coins that their parents had saved up). That's important to note, since you'll remember that the adoption process at the beginning of each generation shows what the family's bank balance will be after you've made your selection. If there were no children to inherit the house, you'll be presented with new little people to choose from, but they will also have the coins that were present in the family's bank account displayed as if it were their own (to preserve the coins you had gained during game play.
Each generation uses this exact same process to bring children home from college to inherit the house, get married, earn money, and eventually pass the house on to their children.
Here's an example to illustrate the process:
To start the game, I adopted Bitmap, a video game designer who has 132 coins in the bank. Immediately afterward (before the tutorial starts giving me coins), I can see that there are 132 coins in the bank. A short time later, Bitmap has gained some coins from the tutorial and working, and let's say he has 394 coins in the bank. He marries Fabesse, a cosmetic designer who has 224 coins in the bank. Fabesse's coins are added to his 394 coins, and the bank balance is now 618 coins.
They live a modest, happy life and have 3 children, who eventually head off to college. When it's time to pass the house on to one of the children, I first check the bank account and see that the bank balance has increased to 1754 coins. After going to the family tree and selecting New Generation, I'll once again see the adoption screen, which allows me to choose one of the children. As I scroll through them, I see that they each have 1754 coins banked. That's the money that was in their parent's bank account, which they will now inherit, along with the house. Only one of them (the one I choose) will actually get that money. Let's say I choose Trishiana, a lawyer, to inherit the house. When I get back to the main screen, I see that the bank account is 1754, just what it was when Bitmap and Fabesse were last there. When Trishiana gets married, her new spouse will add his savings to hers, and the process repeats with each new generation.
That's how it should work. So, what I need you to do, if you still have concerns about how the bank is being handled, is to check your family's bank balance (a screen capture is best)
before you select New Generation. Then note how many coins each of the children have banked (again, a screen capture is best). Finally, after you choose the child who will inherit the house, check the bank balance once again (yes, a screen capture is perfect) and see if it is the same as (or higher than) the previous balance. It could be higher because of interest payments or other events in the game, but it should not be lower unless you get a random event (the blue pop-up or an email) that subtracts from the family's bank balance.
I know that was a little long-winded, but I wanted to be really clear about how this works in order to help everyone who has concerns about their bank balance.
Please let us know what you find!
