STONKS-9800: Stock Market Simulator

Absolutely brilliant game, I haven't had this much fun since I played Sekiro, ~2 years ago! If the early access is this good, I am really excited for the full release.

As someone who works in the finance industry and wanted to make a market sim. himself, I would like to provide some valuable feedback to the devs. which I feel will make the game more interesting:

Having a balance sheet, income statement and cashflow statement for all the companies would be a great addition. Instead of meeting people at the bar and hoping for information on stock price movement, having few financial ratios and fundamental metrics will make for a more interesting play.

While it may seem daunting to the new players to have so much information bombarded at them, the charts would move as a function of both the stock's metrics from the financial statements as well as the insider tips from bars, resulting in a richer gameplay.

Interest on bank loans and charity donation should be tax-deductible because I didn't face any real penalty for being extremely unethical. This would allow players to use debt as capital expenditure to upgrade their own company. A company with bad debt/equity would be more volatile and susceptible to adverse market movements.

Players should be given an option to use leverage, with the tax deductible debt and option to leverage, the players will have more bandwidth to siphon funds from the exchange to their own companies and result in more interesting plays. Each stock could be given a real 'Beta' as a volatility indicator, this makes sure that the market isn't heavily skewed to 1 stock, as this happened with my playthrough with 'Hardbank'.

These are a few additions I believe would make the game more interesting to play, but it is absolutely a solid game and I've had a ton of fun playing this. Really hope the devs. see this, you've been doing an amazing job!

This game is realistic in that you spend your life almost exclusively on work and the accumulation of wealth, a cog in the machine of capitalism and greed. This game is decidedly unrealistic in that you have somebody who cares about you. In all seriousness the game’s a bop, especially for being Early Access. Who knew clicking and watching numbers get bigger and smaller could be so much fun. I simply adore the PC-98-inspired look and sounds.
Other than the main gameplay conceit of “Buy! Sell!” there’s multiple mini-games that represent aspects of your work and personal life (golfing to network, unwinding at the arcade, giving a speech to shareholders, etc.) that give some variety. Beyond being a parasitic day-trader you can also build your own company from the ground up, get tangled up with the yakuza, get in trouble with the 80s Japan equivalent of the SEC, and so on.
However I think this would all feel mechanical and empty save for Amy. Amy gives a vital human reference for everything you’re doing, and makes you feel like you’re struggling to succeed with somebody, and for a purpose, beyond “number goes up”. She is also an opportunity to further expand the game mechanics with light dating sim elements. Not that I’m... lonely or anything, but it actually feels very comforting as she delights in your successes and expresses her concerns without being judgemental.
Game has an ambitious roadmap to further expand what is already easily worth your $10. So if you like the retro anime/VN vibe, stat management, or wholesome dating sims, then STONKS-9800 is worth your money. Just a word of caution the “early game” is a bit slow, but as you get more money and mechanics open up, such fun.
If the developer is reading this, I totaled my car like 6 times in 2 years! The random events could use some rebalancing. :)

Within the first month, I lost almost all my money on a bad trade. Someone invited me out for pachinko, which I have never played in my life.
Almost immediately i had doubled the 50 balls you start with. within 30 minutes I had 10,000. I was getting achievements left and right. People around me were cheering. My assistant was madly in love with me. I had just earned eleven MILLION Yen; with only pachinko, I had saved the company.
I may not know much about trading stocks, but I am a pachinko GOD

I traded stocks until I raised enough capital to start a company of my own. I built it from the ground up, and it became successful beyond my wildest dreams. Before I knew it, I was controlling the company with the largest market cap on the stock exchange, and rapidly moving up the list of the most influential people in Tokyo. I was living a life of incredible comfort with my expensive car and large single family home. No more public transportation and shared walls for me.

Then it happened. A failed product launch, followed by a market crash. My arrogance had gotten the best of me; we incurred deep losses and I had failed to keep enough in our reserves for us to stay afloat. I watched as the morale of all of my faithful employees plummeted. People who I'd spent so much time cultivating relationships with. All the nights we spent drinking together and sharing stock tips. All the days we spent talking about our lives over personal phone calls. All down the drain. They left, one by one, often insulting me or the company on their way out.

I tried to stop the bleeding every way I could. I tried to keep entire departments from collapsing. But it was hopeless. So I did the only thing I could think of: I resigned. Investors were thrilled that I was leaving, and our stock went up. The company went on to recover without me. But I had already sold all of my shares, as I thought they were going to become worthless. I should have waited to sell. One final mistake by a failure of a CEO.

I tried to fill the void with high risk activities like pachinko, betting on horses, and underground poker tournaments. But it didn't work. Of course it didn't work.

Amazingly, Amy stuck by me through everything. She's a saint, and I don't deserve her. But I'm so lucky to have her, because her relentless optimism opened my eyes to one very important thing:

It's only 1990, and I've still got one billion yen.

It's not over yet. Not by a long shot.

Bought a large portion of Lissan after it tanks. Buy low sell high. Company goes bust losing almost all my money. Sell off all my assets. Donate all my money to charity. Prepare to jump off the Tokyo stock exchange like a Wall street trader in 2008. Decide to play a game of pachinko before I start a new save. Win millions from it and am now back in business.
Excelent pachinko simulator with a side of stocks.

Probably one of the best games I've ever played with under 1000 steam reviews (at the time of me writing this)

My only gripe with it is I wish you could see more historical data on the companies you're buying stocks from and see more information about each company, but that's only a small complaint. This game is amazing.

it's fun, but it's missing Limit and Stop Orders (SL&TP) and candlestick charts