How to implement reasonable part time jobs?

[fierylion]

I want to provide the player with a stable source of income so they can buy items/tools. But just making a "part time job A" button that the player clicks on (and some time instantly pass) would be absolutely boring. On the other hand, making dedicated minigames for simple ptjs would take a lot more time and effort, and the player might also get sick of playing them overtime. I know some other VNs implement combat or farming system as a means of player income, but unfortunately my VN has none of those aspects. What are some ideas I can use to at least make the income earning part of the game a bit more interesting?

[Elsa Kisiel]

What is your game about? What kind of universe, what kind of story, what is the character goal? Is time gestion an important part of the gameplay? If yes, it can be enough to have a "part time button", as time is precious and should not be spend without thinking. The character can also receive money without any input from the player: for example, once a month in the game, it's pay day for the character.

In my current project, I implemented a "buy and resell" system. With negotiations to buy it at a lower price and sell it at an higher price. I don't know if it would suit well your game, though.

[Paul Kinsella]

I can only suggest making the job interesting with a little violence and/or action. In the game "Fallout: New Vegas" I was hired to be a bouncer at the entrance of a high-end weapons shop. It was my job to check IDs, maintain security, and keeps drunk mutants from barfing on the stoop. The first two customers where uneventful. After customers created challenges that became gradually more intense. The last one was a no win situation that I was barely able to survive.
What I'm trying to say is... add danger... or barfing mutants.... or ORCS! Orcs make everything better!

[Milkymalk]

Is the plot of your game time-critical? Then Just having to schedule a job is fine; the player pays for it with not being able to do other things in that time slot. Otherwise either have a lot of events happen there that may be good or bad, or actually do make a minigame. If you are worried that the player might grow sick of it, add a "skip" option once the player gets a certain score, maybe with slightly less payout than actually getting that score. Or include that option from the start and make it so the player gets the payout for 80% or so of his highest score. That way, he can get decent money once he got a good score, but if he needs more, he can still play.