Is it my imagination...

or does it take the peeps a lot longer to complete a work cycle after you buy the upgrades for their work area?

I timed it yesterday and it took the guy in a level 2 kitchen 4.05 minutes to complete one round of work! I only had 1 upgrade in the office and it took just over 3 minutes. Yikes!

Yes. I agree. I haven't timed them, but they certainly seem to take more time the more upgrades there are. It's getting rather silly in my iPad game (which is on the fifth generation, with a lot more career upgrades); at a guess it takes 7-8 minutes for the peeps to complete a work cycle.

It's taking them a long time to do just about everything. Including making money. I went two days without checking on my families (I currently have two going) because I forgot about them and I fully expected them to be starved to death. Nope, they were still fine... sick and depressed, but fine. I was relieved they were ok but after two days of not even checking on them, I was thinking hey, they should have plenty of money by now to get some upgrades, perhaps renovate another room, etc. Nope. By the time I finished buying food and medicine, I was practically broke again.

I loved the whole idea of this game (played the first one over and over again for quite a long time) but there's just something about this one that is boring me. I stop in, throw some food into their fridge so they don't die of starvation, then leave again because I don't have enough money to do anything else.

Darien, I kind of know how you feel. I'm truly trying to like it but I find I still enjoy my original Virtual Families far more. I know you must have patience and all but it really does seem to take far longer to get any type of "reward" from this version than it did from the original. And yes, the salaries are higher, and yes, some items are not more expensive, but many things are far more expensive than they were in the original. I've read that the items cost the same in the iOS version as the PC version but they only get half the salary in the iOS version as they do in the PC version. Glad I read that cause that means I definitely don't want to get it for my Android if they ever do come out with an Android version.

I'm really trying to be patient. But I can only wait so long. It kind of stinks that I only have enough money to buy the 'little' (inexpensive) things, then I have to wait a while again before I can buy anything else. Actually I've been holding off buying the 'little' things now so I can save up to buy the better things. But days have gone by and I STILL can't afford any of it. And then some of the other cool stuff (both expensive and affordable) I can't buy until I have another generation in the house and my peeps just aren't aging in this version like they were in the first, so THAT'S taking forever as well.

I'm trying. I honestly am trying. But my patience is running very thin and I'm about ready to just delete my families (I don't have the heart to purposely let them die) and forget about it.

Shame, too. I waited months for this game and checked back often to see if it was available yet for PC. Now that I have it I'm quickly growing bored with it, in only a matter of days.

Hi again, Darien -- Well, I just bought the game last Thursday and the first few families I played, I did end up deleting too. But I started another family on Friday and now they have managed to buy both the upgrades, all the possible career rewards (even for the workshop career, which neither have) and basically almost everything that they CAN buy.

So, if you can hang in there for 3 or 4 days, it should start turning around. But still, I do know what you mean cause I've started 3 more families and I absolutely HATE the first few days. Even knowing it's going to be better I can hardly stand going into those homes. I only go in about 3 times a day to make sure they eat, clean and are not sick.

But it will get better and I have a feeling that from the second generation on it will be LOTS better.

I have found a way around this problem of work taking much longer th emore upgrades you have. Although the reason behind this I'm sure is the fact that the more upgrades = more actual parts to their job such as faxing, shredding papers, filing etc., but it all leads to a longer work cycle. The way around this - if you can call it that, is to search for a peep in the beginning who LIKES work!! I have three families on the go. The first one had a father who loved to work - so did his wife but that was by pop up choice not mine. she was his third choice of wife. They worked like a dream! I never had to place them in their work place they just LOVED TO WORK!
My second family has only ONE who loves to work. It happens to be the mother this time, so hence the reason she only has two children. I have noticed a serious marked difference in the earnings as a result. On average this family earn 1/2 to 3/4 of my first family.
My third family has a father who likes dreaming ( seriously BAD choice on my part! ) getting him to work is like getting blood out of a stone. I've even change dhis career, but to no avail. AS a result the only earnings we have are from collectibles. I have to double up on them in order to amount any money of somewhat decent standards and I can neve rleave them to ''just get on with it''.

So... I would say to anyone struggling badly. change your family. Delete the first - sadly and choose another where at least one member actually LIKES to work. Or simply choose someone on level 2 to begin with and choose his/her partner CAREFULLY!!

Indigo Jo, thanks for the advice -- I think I may actually do that. Delete my families that are not working out very well and then look for one that likes to work. I remember back when the VV games were new and this forum was constantly buzzing about those games. Everyone loved/wanted runners but the ones I liked best were the ones that said they liked to Learn. They learned each task far easier than those that didn't like to learn and stuck with the task well right from the beginning. I once found one that had both the like to Learn and the like to Work -- was sad to see that one die, lol!

One problem is that it's already difficult enough to get a suitable peep. To reduce the chance of failing to produce a family (or, at least, to provide a suitably large-sized 'pool' of kids from which to pick the next generation) you really need to choose a peep who "definitely" wants children. Then you need to avoid those with dislikes like running or work that would hinder their career development. The peep's career is important, too; some are very low-paid or unreliable

That doesn't include any personal feelings or prejudices a player might have: maybe you think a particular peep is ugly, or you don't like blondes, for instance. Of course, if you are looking for a Perfect Match, or even a rich (or poor) peep, things get even more complicated.

Simsane, Indigo and Arnie, thank you for all of the tips. I think I may do that, start over and look for more 'positive' traits in my peeps.

I don't expect them to get rich quick and I look forward to the families and the house changing over generations. But jeez! LOL

Another thing to remember is that you get 10% interest on the money you have. That means if you have $1000 in your account, you'll be getting $100 in interest.

I remember someone from VF1 saying that before you buy something, have twice as much money in your account as the thing costs. For example, if the upgrade costs $1500, then be sure you have at least $3000.

Yeah, but with this game the money doesn't build fast enough for you to even save that much. That's the problem.

If you save your money and don't spend any of it, even the lowest salaries can earn that much money fairly quickly on that amount of interest, Darien, which is what I think Ajuma was saying.

Hmmm, well, sure, I'll try it. But the medicines are so much more expensive in this version. Ha, just like real life.... getting sick can wipe out your savings.

So true! And we never know when one of our little friends will become ill. Being true to life makes this game more interesting.

There is more to the game play than meets the eye at first. Our peeps need to work, save, plan and look ahead.

Needing to plan and work towards goals ( home repairs, furnishings and so on) results in a satisfying feeling of having really accomplished something! Your patience will be rewarded. :-)

I am finding that it helps at first to spend only on groceries (and medicine if needed). Even with children the house already has everything that is required to meet basic needs. Several peeps can sleep on that old free sofa!

Selling collectibles can add up to a nice daily sum.

Ajuma & Xay make a good point about the daily bank interest.

:-) Referring to the Bank stats can be encouraging :-)

I decided to try one family where they only have one child. The first generation, I didn't buy any upgrades, only basic food (the 20 coin one) and medicine as needed. No frills at all. I ended up with about $16,000 when the first sweet couple passed away together.

I decided to only purchase one room (bedroom) and one kitchen upgrade, plus a bed that was on sale, in the second generation. After less than 24 hours, I'm up to almost $22,000.

Great tips, guys, thanks so much.

What I really miss, however, is the 'family' button and being able to locate a certain family member just by seeing who's in your family list, clicking on their name, and it will take you to that family member's location by highlighting them. There's no way to do that now, or at least not that I can find. Sometimes if I have multiple families I'll forget which couple has kids (or not) and I can no longer click on "family" and find out who exists within the family, nor can I quickly locate them. I have to literally go searching for them until I spot them somewhere in or around the house.

I also miss the food sales. And, as big as the house is in the 2nd version, why is there only ONE trash can in the entire place? If my peeps are walking slow and there are wrappers in parts of the house that are far from the kitchen, I don't even bother telling them to pick them up anymore. If it's possible to purchase other (useable) trash cans and set them throughout the house, someone please tell me.

I realize it took a while for this game to come out, especially for PC. But I wonder how long the developers and 'testers' actually played this game before they released it and how familiar they were with the first one, because there are still so many things I would change for the 2nd one.

Add to that the funky cursor problem and you've got yourself a game that's not very user-friendly.

Hi Darien. Clicking on your little person's portrait (below the tool tray) will open up their Details page, where you can scroll through your other family members and find them quickly. In the original VF you click the Detail button to access them.

You can access the Family Tree by clicking the Menu button, then the Family button. In the original VF you click only the Family button.

Good idea about adding more trash cans. Everyone is encouraged to add their ideas in the Developer Feedback Forum. Otherwise they may not be seen.

In the meantime, Maid service is available for purchase from the Special Upgrade section. Your little people will never have to pick up a wrapper, sock or clean a dirt smudge ever, unless you want them to. Wish I had one of those for real! LOL! You can even fire the maid if you no longer want one.

The cursor issue was fixed in an update released by LDW on April 23rd. To quote LadyCFII in this post

The full discussion begins here.

VF2 is definitely laid out differently than the original Virtual Families. I invite you to explore all the different buttons/options.

You can access the family screen by clicking on Menu, then the Family icon. You'll also find several other useful things there, such as Settings and Trophies.

As I mentioned earlier, although our version of the game is already fixed, other portals will have the fix to the cursor problem at some point. You do still have the option to run the game in windowed mode as a workaround.

We are very familiar with the first version of Virtual Families, since the same team developed both games. Our games evolve over time, as has happened with the Virtual Villagers series. VV5 is, in many ways, very different from VV1, although the foundations of the games are the same. We don't want each game to be the same as the last one, or there would be no point in making a new game.

MissKathy, thanks for the tips and I'll continue looking for the bug fixes from bigfish. And I'll have to look into the maid thing, as long as it's not too expensive.

LadyCF, I know you can see your family by going to menu and then the family icon, but that seems like a lot of work just to quickly find where in the house a certain family member is. I'll go through the portrait

And what's the point in wasting money on lights and lamps that you can't interact with?! LOL It would be neat to be able to turn lights off and on.

It seems to be limited to the wrappers, socks, and smudges, though. I hired the maid, and my people still make the bed, dust the furniture, do the laundry, and do all kinds of cleaning actions. They seem not to be aware that they HAVE a maid.

If you hire the maid, do the items still count towards your goals?

Hi ajuma, the items that the maid cleans up will go towards

I hired the maid. Most times, when I start up the game, the doorbell rings, the maid walks in, and she gets to work. But one time, the maid didn't come, and I had to drop my people on the wrappers, socks, and smudges.

It was dark out the time that the maid didn't come. Does she not come at night? Or is this a bug I should be reporting?

The maid will only come during the daytime. You've probably noticed that the maid is a different person each day, and they are sent to your house by the agency that employs them as day help.

Okay, thanks!

I've hired a maid for both of my families and I like it. This way I can concentrate directly on my family without having to send them all over the house to clean up first.

I haven't bothered with a gardener, though. There's really never that many weeds to worry about it *AND* they don't have to run clear across the yard to the outdoor garbage bins anymore to throw them away, so yard work is much easier now. In the first version, I purchased weed bomb anytime it was available and would hold onto it until the weeds were abundant, then zap them all in one shot because it was sooooooo boring dropping my peeps onto the weeds, then waiting for them to make the long trek across the yard to throw them away, especially if I had a peep that was particularly slow.

One thing I'm a little baffled by is that there's no patio furniture available. What's the point in expanding your patio if you don't have anything to put out there for them to enjoy it? A BBQ grill maybe, sure... but nothing to sit down on, unless you wanna throw an old couch or a beanbag chair out there or something.

I'm baffled by the lack of patio furniture too actually.

question: If you buy the upgrades and they take longer to complete the work cycle does it help with advancing in their career level as well?

Also, a suggestion for developers if they read this, is to have a new version that we can add on to the game we already have, sort of like a continuing saga that can be downloaded

Hi genig1. Yes, purchasing career room upgrades helps your little people to advance in their career faster. You can also purchase promotions for them in their "Upgrade Me!" section. To access it, click on the "Upgrade Me!" badge on your person's Detail screen.

The best place to post suggestions/ideas for the developer is in the Developer Feedback Forum.

Have fun with your little family!

We could always just throw the old couches out there and become Virtual Hillbillies, LOL

Thank you Miss Kathy

I hope the next update the developers make available has patio furniture available. Also a garden would be nice

Soooo. I decided to take Darien's hillbilly crack to heart and this happened:

LOL!!! I guess this proves that our peeps will sleep anywhere!

Haha that is absolutely hilarious!

Really love the new game on my PC! But, why does the doctor visit, and some serious medications cost so much! Because my families are only into their 2nd or 3rd generations, I don't have a lot of money. One family had a mom so sick that in order to cure her I had to sell almost all my furniture and toys to get enough cash for the doctor and vancomycin! Do not like that part at all.
Do the bugs come out in the snow and fog too, or only the rain? Because the bottle of rain is rare.
Also, noticed a weird thing. If you have the "decorate" tab open and you touch your couch or bed, it may disappear! Mine did twice! I looked around for it, and it was gone! I didn't come close to the front gate. All I did was touch it and it disappeared! Never got them back.
Last, can you tell me what version the updated version is, and where do I find out if I have that update?

Yes, I agree that the doctor and some medicines cost too much.

The insects only seem to come out in the rain, or if you get a special event. The snow and fog are, I think, only for effect; they don't seem to do anything with the collectibles. It does rain at times without the need for bottled rain, though.

Are you sure the couch or bed disappeared? It hasn't just moved somewhere else or back to the Decor tray?

The current version is 1.1.1 but I think that was the same number when the first version was issued. The update was issued only a couple of days after the release, so unless you downloaded it on 17 April or a few days after, you should have the latest version, assuming you got the game from LDW and not a games portal like Bigfish.

That's exactly the way I unwittingly sold my expensive couch. I wasn't laughing then!

Oh no! Are they asleep or dead? LOL

The collectibles are rather boring. I miss all the cool 'unusual' stuff you'd find in the first game.

No kidding... My peeps only bother with the rare ones.

Remember, with the collectables, you eventually have Mr. "B" coming by to purchase all of them and it is a good way to make some extra money fast.

Lol they were just asleep

But then, recently, in my second generation, instead of going to the used couch in the office like they usually do to try for a baby, they went to the porch!

So um. I really hope that a bed comes on sale soon.

I'll pick them up if I happen to see them, but I don't go searching for them anymore.



Ha! Your peeps just love that porch. I'm going to try that just to see what happens.



Well that's good to know, that someone eventually buys them. Wasn't sure if that happened in VF2 or not.

Hmmm...if you have all of the collectables and the trophies for them, when Mr. B comes, do you have to try for the trophies again? Do you get the money earned by getting the full category again?

This is assuming VF2 works in the same way as VF1 (not a given, I realise):

No, you don't need to try for the trophies again. They stay completed; if you complete a collection for a second time you don't get the trophy (or cash reward) a second time either.

I wish I knew how to do screen shots (I'll learn) because this was so funny to see. Like a few others have mentioned on this board, the furniture seems to be a little too small for their function. I got the bright idea of purchasing a second double bed for my mom and dad. I had to use my imagination when I lined them up side by side (as close as the game would allow) to produce a luxurious California King for my peeps. I excitedly dropped mom on one bed and she laid down in the middle of the bed. Then I dropped dad on the other, thinking he would lay in the middle of it. He immediately ran across "his" bed, across his wife and laid down hanging off the side of her bed, hanging on for dear life. What a waste of coins, but it was comical to see!

Sundance

I am laughing my self silly! Actually you may not find this a good idea. I think I read that to make children they need easy access to the bed.

Sundance, it's pretty easy to take screen shots. You can find a description of how to do that here. We'd love to see a picture of your California King (with or without the dad hanging on for dear life)!

I'm a newbie, so I am on my first generation. I chose a father with no likes and dislikes, but he is always working. He reached Master level well before retirement so sometimes it's who you get and how often you encourage them. I come in every morning and have money for food, medicine, and whatever else sounds good. His wife on the other hand is lazy, I thought it was because she was nursing so I made them only have two kids so she could focus on her career, yet she is still on level 3