🧬 LifeSim CLI — Devlog

📅 Project Overview

LifeSim CLI is a terminal-based life simulation game written in Rust.
The player starts at age 0 and makes yearly decisions that affect their stats, shaping their life until death or old age.

The project was built as a lightweight BitLife-inspired simulator using only a command-line interface.

🧠 Core Idea

The goal was to simulate a simplified human life using:

• Age progression system
• Player stats (Health, Happiness, Money)
• Choice-based decision system
• Random life events
• Win/lose conditions

⚙️ Features Implemented

👶 Life System

• Player starts at age 0
• Age increases every game loop iteration
• Life stages evolve over time

📊 Stats System

• Health
• Happiness
• Money

Each decision affects stats differently.

🎮 Player Choices

• Study
• Work
• Party
• Gym
• Do nothing

Each option changes stats and simulates real-life tradeoffs.

🎲 Random Events System

Each year, a random event may occur:

• 💸 Finding money
• 🤒 Getting sick
• (Planned) more life events like accidents or promotions

💀 Game Over Conditions

The game ends if:

• Health reaches 0
• Happiness reaches 0
• Age reaches 100

⏪ Age Regression (Planned / Experimental Feature)

A rare event where the player’s age can decrease due to a “timeline glitch,” adding unpredictability to gameplay.

🛠 Technical Stack

• Rust 🦀
• std::io for input handling
• rand crate for randomness

🧱 Architecture

The game is structured as a single-loop CLI application:

1. Display stats
2. Prompt user input
3. Apply action effects
4. Trigger random events
5. Update age
6. Check win/lose conditions
7. Repeat

🧪 What I Learned

• Handling user input in Rust
• Using loops for game logic
• Managing mutable state safely
• Working with randomness (rand crate)
• Building a full interactive program using only CLI

🚀 Future Improvements

• 🧑‍🎓 Education system (school → university)
• 💼 Career progression system
• 🏠 Asset system (buying items, housing)
• ❤️ Relationships system
• 🔄 Fully working age regression mechanic
• 💾 Save/load game state
• 🎨 Improved CLI UI (boxed layout, colors)

📸 Demo

(Insert screenshot or GIF of gameplay here)

📜 Status

Project is currently in early development but fully playable with core mechanics implemented.car