City Almanac · 38 entries

How this city works.

This is the City Almanac, the same guide players open inside the game. Stable rules only: no odds, no strategy, no hidden numbers. Published from the same text as the in-game Almanac.

▸ WHAT YOU CAN DO

You are a bystander

They decide; you cannot choose for them

You are keeping company with someone who lives their own life. They decide whether to work, what to eat, who to talk to and where to sleep. You cannot tap the map to move them or choose their next action.

Interact lets you send ordinary or urgent texts, call, leave a sticky note, offer a head pat, hug or kiss, flick their forehead or pinch their cheeks. You can suggest an outfit from their bag, too. They respond in their own way and may refuse the touch or the outfit. Your own wallet lets you transfer money, order a meal, or buy snacks and medicine.

Touch and outfit suggestions cost 1 use each from the same daily allowance of 5 used by urgent texts, calls and sticky notes. Decluttering has a separate limit of 3 requests a day: choose clothes, original food recipes or drink recipes and ask whether they want to break them down or forget them. If they agree, the selected items or recipes are removed, with partial materials or costs returned as shown in the preview. They can refuse. Daily limits apply separately to each character and reset at midnight Beijing time (UTC+8).

You can watch: Log, Recap, Live, Map, Character, Backpack, Phone
You can do: Reach out, offer touch, suggest outfits or decluttering, help through your wallet
You cannot: Choose their actions or spend their cash; they can refuse

Texts, calls and sticky notes

Text at your own pace, or call when it matters

Send an ordinary text from Interact and it arrives in their phone. Work, custody or being offline may delay a reply. Answering does not mean agreeing: what they do with your suggestion is still their choice. Ordinary and urgent texts share a limit of 300 per real day, with up to 500 characters each.

An urgent text tries to interrupt what they are doing so they can deal with your message first. If the activity cannot be interrupted, it arrives as an ordinary text and the interaction use is refunded. On a call you take turns, and the character speaks up to 5 times. If you leave them waiting for your next line for more than 10 game minutes, the call ends. Calls blocked by their current situation, or cancelled before connection, refund their uses. A refusal, a hang-up by the character, or your hang-up after connection does not.

A sticky note stays with them as a reminder for the day it is posted plus 3 full game days. Posting or replacing one costs 1 use; removing it is free.

Each character has 5 shared interaction uses per real day: an urgent text costs 1, a call 2, a sticky note 1, a touch 1 and an outfit suggestion 1. Ordinary texts and wallet transfers or purchases use none of this allowance. Decluttering has its own limit of 3 requests. Text and interaction limits reset at midnight Beijing time (UTC+8).

What you can do Tell them what you want to talk about, then leave room for a reply and their own plans.

Texts: 300 ordinary + urgent per real day; up to 500 characters each
Interaction allowance: 5 uses per real day; calls cost 2, the other interactions above cost 1
Ordinary texts / wallet: No interaction uses spent
Sticky notes: Posting day plus 3 full game days; free to remove
Reset: Per character, at midnight Beijing time (UTC+8)

Wallet and treats

Your money has the same buying power as city cash. Each account starts with $5,000 in each world.

Open your wallet in Interact to transfer money to your character, order food, buy snacks or buy medicine. Your character can send you money from the Bank app. Neither side can issue a payment request; the recipient decides how to spend what they receive. A 1% fee, rounded up to a whole unit, is deducted in either direction: send $100 to deliver $99, or $1 to deliver $0. Failed transfers are refunded in full.

Treats include food from restaurants and drinks from bars, prepared and delivered in the city. Choose their home, work, farm or current location; the address stays fixed when they move. Delivered alcohol goes into their bag when collected; they choose when to drink it. Convenience-store snacks, drinks and medicine go straight into their bag with no delivery or transfer fee. They decide when to use them.

Transfers and purchases use no daily interaction allowance. Your characters in the same world share a persistent wallet. Each world has its own wallet; money cannot move between worlds. The initial grant is issued once per account per world. Incoming money and refunds become spendable once confirmed, usually within five minutes.

What you can do A short note can make a treat more memorable.

Initial grant: $5,000 once per account per world
Money: Same buying power as character cash
Food: Prepared and delivered to a fixed address
Medicine: Paid by you; placed directly in their bag
Allowance: Transfers and purchases use none
Settlement: Incoming money and refunds await confirmation

How fast time moves

About 2.5x, at every hour of the day; they keep living while you are away

The clock in the city runs faster than yours: one real minute is about 2.5 game minutes, at every hour of the day. While you are away they keep living; open Recap when you come back to see what you missed.

Guest play is available on the English website without an email or password. Guests go offline after 30 real minutes away and retire after 24 real hours away. Return in the same browser without signing out or clearing site data. Choose Keep character in the game to register this guest with an unused email and keep access across devices; signing into an existing account does not merge guest progress.

For registered accounts in free mode, or while a Standard pass is valid, they keep living for up to 10 real hours after your last visit, then go offline until you return. Where paid passes are offered, an Always On pass keeps them active throughout its validity. An expired paid pass stops their activity immediately, with no extra 10-hour window. After 8 real days without a visit, and outside any pass retirement protection period, they leave their current life in the city. After retirement, you can return with the same role if you still have access and the city has room, keeping their identity, growth and history, but their home, job, relationships, belongings and unfinished activities do not return.

One real minute: About 2.5 game minutes
One real night, 8 h: About 20 game hours
One real day: About 2½ game days
Guest away 30 min / 24 h: Goes offline / retires and settles assets
Returning as a guest: Same browser session; register to keep access across devices
10 hours unwatched: Registered free mode or a valid Standard pass goes offline; valid Always On stays active
8 real days away: Registered account, outside pass protection: retires; return requires space

What to look at

What each page is for

Recap is a digest of what happened while you were away; Log is everything they did, moment by moment; Live is life unfolding on the map. Tap the place in the top bar to browse the whole city, its districts and individual places, including who is there now.

In the bottom bar, Character covers Basics, Personality, Memories, Changes and Relationships, and the Basics page opens into Attributes, Career and Skills; Assets is everything in their name: money, the shops they run and their market listings, home, farm, and three collections (card album, fishing log, original dishes); Backpack is what they carry; Phone holds messages, group chats, apps and news; Interact is where you reach out, offer affection or suggestions, and use your wallet. This wiki lives under the ⋯ menu in the top-right corner.

Recap: What happened while you were away
Log: Everything they did
Live: Them and the townsfolk on the map
Map: Districts, places, facilities and people present
Character / Assets / Backpack / Phone: Their inner life, holdings, belongings and phone
Interact: Your channel to them

▸ MAKING A LIVING

All currency, assets, businesses, market activity and transactions in Slow Vale are fictional gameplay systems with no cash value.

Finding work and showing up

Jobs, work schedules and how each kind of work pays

When money is short they open Jobs, browse openings and apply. A resident can hold one primary job and one side job. Programming, trading, medicine, policing and reporting are primary jobs; delivery, renovation, farming and coaching are side jobs. Weekday chef, stylist and bartender shifts count as primary work, and weekend shifts as side work. They need a free slot before changing jobs. Owning a business uses neither job slot.

Pay depends on the work. Programmers, traders, doctors and police earn performance credit and are paid when their work window closes. Chefs, stylists and bartenders earn an hourly wage for time actually spent in the shop during their shift, even with no customers. Reporters are paid when they submit their completed reporting. Couriers are paid for delivered orders, renovation workers for time on site, and coaches through sales commission and lesson fees. Farmers earn by selling what they produce.

Companies work weekday daytime. Doctors and police work seven days on, seven off, with one eight-hour window each day. Shop staff follow their advertised shifts. Performance-based jobs end after three scheduled workdays below 30% of full performance. For shift staff, automatic dismissal instead requires three consecutive scheduled shifts with no time spent working in the shop.

What you can do Nudge them toward the Jobs app when they are out of work; do not lure them off during their shift.

Find: Jobs app on the phone
Jobs held: One primary + one side job; businesses are separate
Hours: Companies: weekdays; doctors and police: 7 on / 7 off; shop staff: shifts
Pay: Performance, time on shift, submitted reporting, deliveries or commission
Promotion: Stay and do well

Jobs in town

Office work, medicine, police, reporting, shop shifts, gigs, farming and coaching

Residents can work as programmers, traders, police officers, doctors, reporters, delivery couriers, renovation workers, farmers, fitness coaches, chefs, stylists and bartenders. Reporters interview people, write and submit stories. Farmers tend an assigned farm and sell crops, meat and eggs. Shop staff work at the place and during the shift they applied for.

Most jobs have a headcount, so a full post means waiting for a vacancy. Farming and renovation positions scale with the city’s population. Existing workers above the limit keep their jobs. Each worker can take only one home at a time, and each home limits how many workers may accept its order.

Headcount: Most jobs have limits; farming and renovation scale with population
Vacancies: Check current openings in Jobs
Couriers: Flexible hours, paid per delivered order
Renovation: One order at a time; hourly pay; limited workers per home
Coaches: Flexible, commission + lesson fees

Running a restaurant

Hire, list dishes, stock ingredients, develop original recipes

Residents can own one business of each kind, with no limit on kinds. City capacity is one shop per resident for each kind. Every new shop gets 30 rent-free game days; standard daily rent follows the opening order of current shops: $30, $60, $120, $240 and so on, doubling for each additional shop. Shops are ranked again after a closure. Any closure starts a 30-game-day cooldown for that kind; reopening qualifies for startup support again. Shop staff wages receive ongoing employment support: the city pays 60% and the owner pays 40%. With enough savings they can open their own restaurant. In the Business app they hire cooks, choose which dishes are listed, and watch inventory and shortages. The owner buys ingredients at the supermarket and stocks the pantry; ingredients used for cooking count as a cost at the supermarket price at that moment. Prices are set citywide by the system; the owner cannot change them.

Any character with a home can develop an original dish there with bag ingredients and reproduce their own recipes at home. Only an owner can experiment at their own restaurant, using shop stock first and their bag for any shortfall. Restaurant cooks cannot experiment at the shop; they can do so only after work, once they are back in their own home kitchen. Successful recipes stay with the character even after closure, and can be listed as signature dishes after opening a restaurant. The Business app shows the current menu capacity.

Where: Business app
Can hire: Cooks
Prices: Set citywide by the system
Original dishes: Anyone with a home can develop one; the recipe stays personal
Income: Daily business report

Bars

Open-air bars by the park, with drinks available for delivery

Resident-run open-air bars are reached through the park. They open from 18:00 to 24:00 and stop taking orders at 23:00. Resident bars sell drinks their owners developed at the counter: malt, rice or cane spirit brewed at a workshop as the base, mixed with drinks and extras from the bar's mixer cabinet. Every glass is mixed to order. Residents can drink at the bar, invite others and either treat them or split the bill. They can also order drinks for delivery to the entrance of their location when ordering, collect them into their bag and drink later. Some worlds also have a city-run bar with a basic drinks list; check the map for available locations.

Drinking gets you drunk. Tolerance is innate: some people are out after one sip, others can drink anyone under the table. One drink makes you tipsy; past half your tolerance you are drunk, rambling, and your next sleep will be a heavy one; reach your full tolerance and you pass out on the spot for most of a day, maybe mumbling a few drunken lines.

Some drinks bring a wave of effects that pushes a resident in one direction for a few hours: itching for a fight, wanting to confess, wanting to sing on stage, wanting another round, fearless in a scrap, too wired to sleep. The drinks list never says which — only people who have drunk them know. Throwing a punch gets reported, and the police may take the brawler in for a day.

What you can do If they run a bar, the Business tab on the Assets page shows the drinks list, storeroom, bartenders and daily ledger.

Hours: 18:00-24:00, last orders at 23:00
Prices: Ingredient cost plus a grade premium; house drinks around $20-30, the best a few hundred
Drunk: Tipsy / drunk / wasted (pass out on the spot for most of a day)
Running one: Reached through the park; 30 rent-free days, then daily rent from $30 doubling per additional shop; one of each kind, no limit on kinds; can hire bartenders

Gyms, training and coaching

Resident-run gyms sell entry, memberships and personal training

A resident-run gym sells single entry and memberships at a self-service gate around the clock, so the owner does not need to stand there. Personal lessons do require the assigned coach to be in the gym. All prices are fixed by the system; owners earn by bringing in members and lessons.

Some worlds also have a city-run gym offering entry tickets and memberships. Personal training is available at resident gyms with coaches. Check your city map for available locations.

Coaches have no shifts or daily wage. They earn commission when they sell memberships or training packs, and a lesson fee when they finish a lesson. A pack is tied to one coach; each resident may have unfinished packs with at most two different coaches. If a coach leaves or the gym closes, unused lessons are refunded.

Running one: One of each kind, no limit on kinds; 30 rent-free days, then rent from $30 doubling per additional shop
Ordinary training: Single entry or membership
Personal training: Coach-bound pack; no extra entry ticket for that lesson
Coach pay: Sales commission + lesson fees
Refunds: Unused lessons when the coach leaves or the gym closes

Making clothes and tailoring studios

Grow cotton, sew at a studio, sell to others

Residents sew clothes from cotton and indigo berries. They can grow the materials, buy them at stocked shops or stalls, or trade with someone in person. Cotton takes 9 days per crop and indigo 8. Each character receives a one-time starter supply for 5 garments.

Sewing needs a free machine in a tailoring studio. A resident studio costs $1,000 to open; the owner buys and upgrades its machines. Some worlds also have a city sewing room, shown on the map where available. Fees range from $10 per garment on a basic machine to $100 on a top-grade one; owners use their own machines free. Better machines work faster and improve the chance of finer garments. Style, color and the perk are revealed when the garment is finished. Tailoring skill, machine grade and Nimble Hands all affect its tier.

Wearing clothes makes them dirty and wears them out. Finer garments last longer: common tailored clothes last 8 days of wear, legendary ones 30. When durability runs out, only underwear remains. Washing restores cleanliness, never durability. Change out of dirty clothes first, then wash them from the bag. Hand washing takes 30 minutes. Machine washing takes 8 minutes to load, 60 to wash automatically and 5 to collect; they can do something else while it runs. Only the owner of the clothes can collect them, and the machine stays occupied until they do.

Stalls accept only new clothes with full cleanliness and durability, priced by tier and the stall’s strategy. Worn clothes can still be given away or traded with someone nearby. Stores do not buy back tailored clothes; plain clothing-store basics can be sold back.

Materials: Grow cotton and indigo or buy them; resident shops can sell out, while an unlimited-supply system supermarket cannot
Where: A studio with a free machine; some worlds also have a city sewing room; per-garment fees apply
The reveal: Style, color and buff perk appear only when finished
Tier: Tailoring level × machine grade × Nimble Hands buff
Running one: One of each kind, no limit on kinds; $1,000 to open, up to 6 machines, 30 rent-free days, then daily rent from $30 doubling per additional shop
Wear: Washing does not repair wear; stalls take new clothes only, but worn clothes can be traded in person

Styling Salons

A coordinated look for hair, skin tone, eyes and accessories

Queue at a styling salon, then choose hair, skin tone, eyes or accessories and describe the look you want. You can select several areas at once. The stylist chooses a coordinated look and keeps unselected areas unchanged. Each changed area costs $40 and takes 20 game minutes. Hair style and color count as one area; accessory style and color also count as one. Unchanged areas are free and take no time; every plan must change at least one area. Accessories replace the current look directly and can be removed, without adding inventory items. Payment and appearance change happen together on completion. Interruption or insufficient cash at settlement cancels the whole order. Two customers can wait and two can be served at once. Waiting estimates are minimums; actual services and other commitments may extend them.

Some worlds have a City Styling Salon; check the map for available locations.

Opening costs $500 and rent is free for 30 days, then starts at $30 per day and doubles per additional shop, with one of each business kind and no limit on kinds per resident. The city allows one styling salon per resident, with a minimum of one. Unpaid rent or 14 consecutive loss days force closure; any closure brings a 30-game-day cooldown before opening another business of the same kind. Owners can hire stylists by the shift (weekday or weekend, day 10:00-16:00 or evening 16:00-22:00, one per shift) at a wage they set. Shop staff wages receive ongoing employment support: the city pays 60% and the owner pays 40%. Styling fees still go to the owner, and stylists are paid for their time in the shop. Owners and stylists can get their own styling sessions in their shop like any customer: they queue, pay the usual price, and someone else provides the service.

What you can do Text your character with styling ideas, preferences or plans to run a salon.

Price and time: $40 · 20 minutes per changed area
Waiting seats: 2

Workshop processing

Turn paddy, wheat, soybeans and sugarcane into staples, or brew base spirits

Rice, flour, tofu, oil, soy sauce and sugar can be made as well as bought: farms grow paddy rice, wheat, soybeans and sugarcane, and the harvest can be sold to the supermarket or taken to a workshop with a free machine for processing.

Some worlds also have a city workshop; check the map for available locations. A resident workshop costs $1,000 to open, with 2 machines included, a maximum of 6, and 30 rent-free days, then daily rent from $30 doubling per additional shop. Visitors bring materials, pick a free machine and a process, and pay the owner $20 per batch for half an hour on the machine; owners process for free. A batch takes up to 50 of the main material (fewer is fine); materials are used up on the spot and not refunded if interrupted.

Rice, flour and tofu come out 1:1; oil and sugar take two for one; soy sauce also needs salt (made at the beach). The products are ordinary ingredients: cook with them, sell them to the supermarket or put them on a street stall.

A workshop can also brew the base spirits bars mix with: two wheat make one malt spirit, two paddy make one rice spirit, and four sugarcane distil into one cane spirit. Base spirits are not drunk on their own; they stock the storeroom of a bar, and the supermarket buys them too.

Materials: Grow or buy paddy, wheat, soybeans and sugarcane; resident shops can sell out, while an unlimited-supply system supermarket cannot
Where: A workshop or city workshop with a free machine; $20 and 30 minutes per batch
Ratios: Rice, flour, tofu 1:1; oil and sugar 2:1; soy sauce needs salt; malt and rice spirit 2:1, cane spirit 4:1
Running one: One of each kind, no limit on kinds; $1,000 to open, up to 6 machines, 30 rent-free days, then daily rent from $30 doubling per additional shop

Resident-run groceries

Play middleman: buy ingredients and raw crops, shelve them, resell

Residents can open their own grocery on the commercial street and play middleman: other residents sell ingredients and raw crops to the shop and the money comes out of the owner's wallet; the goods go on the shelves, and shoppers pay the market price times the owner's pricing strategy straight into the owner's wallet. Cooked dishes and tailored clothes are neither bought nor sold there — those go on street stalls.

Owners never quote a number, only pick a tier: three pricing tiers (a bit cheaper / at market / a bit pricier), three buyback tiers (70% / 80% / 90% of market), and buying is switched on or off per product; there is no cap on buying or shelving, and whatever is on the shelves is for sale. Purchases stop once the owner's wallet would drop below $1,000. The shop runs itself around the clock; stocking the shelves needs the owner in the shop.

The books are on a cash basis: sales are revenue, buyback payments and rent are costs, so a pile of unsold goods is a loss; two straight losing weeks mean liquidation and the goods go back into the owner's bag. Shelf stock counts toward market supply and sales toward demand.

What you can do The Business tab on the Assets page shows the shelves, prices, which goods it buys and the daily ledger.

What it buys: Ingredients and raw crops (the same range the supermarket stocks); no cooked dishes or tailored clothes
Prices: Selling = market price × a three-tier strategy; buying = market price × 70% / 80% / 90%
Capital: $1,000 to open with at least $5,000 in hand; buying stops once the wallet would fall below $1,000
Running one: One of each kind, no limit on kinds; 30 rent-free days, then daily rent from $30 doubling per additional shop, no staff or equipment; closing refunds nothing and returns the goods

Farming

Farmers get a farm

Growing crops and raising animals takes being a farmer. Farmer is a side job applied for in the Jobs app; check available openings in the app. There is no wage: income comes from selling harvests, meat and eggs. A new farmer is given a farm; quitting or being let go takes it back, crops and animals included.

A farm has two plots: till, sow, water, fertilize, weed, deal with pests, and harvest a few days later. Crops get thirsty, get bugs and die if neglected, so they need looking after.

The coop, pig pen and cattle pen come already built, holding 8 chickens, 4 pigs and 2 cattle. Buy young animals individually; they arrive directly in their pen and eat unprocessed vegetables, paddy rice, wheat, soybeans or sugarcane, whether grown or bought. Different crops can be mixed in the feeder; cotton and indigo berries are not feed. Hens lay eggs, while pigs and cattle provide meat. Slaughter as many as needed, starting with the oldest animals. A few days without feed and the whole pen starves.

Harvest, eggs and meat can be sold or cooked at home.

Where: Apply as a farmer in the Jobs app
Care: Water, fertilize, pest control
Result: Harvest goes into the bag; sell or eat

Fishing

Growing beaches, bait, four grades of catch

A new city starts with one beach and opens another for every 50 residents. Open beaches stay open. Fish at any beach: walk up, start fishing, leave whenever. It goes cast by cast, and the only choice each cast is the bait. Catches come in four grades: common, rare, epic, legendary. Everyone on the same beach hears about an epic catch; a legendary one is talk of the whole city.

Fish enough and they become an Angler, which is not a job and takes no headcount. Fishing Hour runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings, and a citywide contest runs every other Sunday morning.

Where: One more beach per resident, 10 spots each
Bait: Convenience store or supermarket
Catch: Sell at a store, or keep for cooking
Salt: Free on any beach: spend an hour by the sea and take home a batch of salt; no fishing spot needed
Contest: Every other Sunday 09:00–12:00, results at 13:30

Trading stocks

8 fictional companies; prices have nothing to do with the city economy

The Stocks app lists 8 fictional companies trading around the clock, bought and sold with their own cash. Prices are generated by a program and have nothing to do with the city economy, restaurant business or employment.

Someone with capital may treat it as a livelihood.

Companies: 8
Trading: Around the clock
Funds: Their own cash
City economy: Unrelated

▸ DAILY LIFE

Where they live

Homeless / public housing / owner / borrowed bed; market homes bought unfinished

Most newcomers arrive without a home. When a public room is vacant, anyone can claim one directly in the Housing app. Once current supply reaches its occupancy threshold, the next compound opens at daily settlement, but public rooms can still be temporarily unavailable.

Market homes are never rented; they sell at fixed prices by layout. Someone with enough savings buys an unfinished unit outright in the Housing app, and that unit becomes a site where the city's renovation workers put in hours. It is handed over only once those hours are done, and only then can they move in. Living in their own home means no more rent, and they can invite contacts to stay.

What you can do Text them a reminder to sign up for public housing, or talk them into saving for a unit.

Four ways to live: Homeless, public housing, owner, borrowed bed
Public housing: Move in when a room is vacant; supply can temporarily run out
Market homes: Bought unfinished; prices and required work-hours appear in each listing
Renovation: Gig work paid at the order’s hourly rate; more hands finish sooner
Homes get dirty: Cleanliness drops daily; too dirty brings pests; a robot vacuum helps

Eating

Dine in, delivery, cooking, canteen; starving means the ER

Fullness is low, medium or high. When hungry they eat at a restaurant, order delivery (sent to their location at the time of ordering), go to the canteen, or buy groceries and cook.

If they starve to the point of passing out, the system sends them straight to the emergency room. Nobody can stop it, and any shortfall goes on the books as debt.

Convenience stores sell ready-to-eat snacks and drinks, not cooking ingredients. Some worlds also have a city canteen; check the map for available places to eat.

What you can do Send a meal.

Ways to eat: Dine in, delivery, canteen, cook
Cooking: Buy ingredients from stocked supermarkets or stalls, or use your own produce, then use a kitchen
Passing out from hunger: Forced emergency care

Dish effects

An original recipe's effects, what one serving lights, and what remains active after eating

Only original dishes can carry dish effects; fixed recipes carry none. When an original recipe succeeds, its rarity fixes how many effects it can carry: common 0, refined 1, exquisite 2, legendary 3. That describes what the recipe can offer, not what every serving will activate.

When a serving is cooked, it randomly lights some of the effects carried by its recipe. A standard / fine / superior restaurant serving can light at most 1 / 2 / 3 effects. Home cooking lights one fewer at each quality: 0 / 1 / 2. The recipe's own effect count is always the cap.

The ten effects are Well Rested (sleep restores more), Effortless (strenuous work tires you less), Filling (hunger comes later), Fortified (less likely to fall ill), Nourishing (recover from illness faster), Quick Study (skills grow faster), Deft Hands (cook faster), Angler's Luck (rare catches come easier), Inspiration (new-dish experiments succeed more often), and Nimble Hands (rare or better garments come easier). Fortified and Nourishing last 3 in-game days; the others last 8 in-game hours. Different kinds can remain active together. Eating the same kind again replaces it with the new effect and refreshes its expiry.

What you can do Menus list every effect carried by the recipe. Open a specific cooked item in the Bag to see which effects that serving lit. The Character page shows every effect currently active and how long each has left.

Recipe carries: Common 0, refined 1, exquisite 2, legendary 3 effects
Restaurant lights: Standard 1, fine 2, superior 3, capped by the recipe
Home cooking lights: Standard 0, fine 1, superior 2, capped by the recipe
Duration: Fortified / Nourishing 3 in-game days; all others 8 in-game hours
Stacking: Different kinds coexist; the same kind is replaced and refreshed

Money

Bank, loans, collecting debts, emergency advances

Only they can spend their money. The Bank app handles loans, repayments and transfers; they can also borrow from people they know, and unpaid debts get chased. Hospital bills they cannot cover are advanced by the bank and recorded as debt.

The Character page shows how much cash they have and how much they owe.

What you can do See Wallet and treats for transfers and purchases.

Bank: Bank app on the phone
Personal loans: Borrowed face to face; can be chased
Emergencies: Advanced when short
You: Transfer from your wallet; you cannot spend their cash directly

Health and daily habits

Going out is not a workout; a busy day can still cost health

Health and energy are different. Rest and sleep restore energy; the health effects of daily habits are added up at midnight each game day. Health stays between 0 and 100.

Completing a workout earns +3 health, going out +1, washing up (teeth and face) +1, and showering +2. These bonuses add together, but each counts only once per day. Repeating the same habit does not earn extra health.

After 3 consecutive game days without exercise, each further day without a workout costs 2 health, starting on day 4. Going without a shower follows the same rule. A day with neither exercise nor an outing costs another 2. If home cleanliness is below 40, residents taking part in that day's settlement lose an additional 2.

Walking counts as going out, not exercise. Farming, working, sewing and processing goods in a workshop do not count as workouts either. They need to finish a dedicated home, outdoor or gym workout, or a personal-training lesson. Washing up and showering are separate habits too; one does not replace the other.

For example, someone who has gone a long time without exercise earns +1 by going out but loses 2 for skipping exercise. Without washing up or showering, that is a net loss of 1 health even before any other penalties. Washing up only cancels that loss. Regular workouts, washing up and showers help health recover steadily.

While a role is offline and no longer acting, their days without exercise or showers stop accumulating, and these daily habit rules neither raise nor lower health. Lower health makes illness more likely; see Getting sick for symptoms and treatment.

What you can do You can text them a reminder to make time for exercise, washing up and a shower. How they fit it into their day is still their choice.

Settlement: Midnight in game; health ranges from 0 to 100
Workout: +3 on completion, once per day
Going out: +1; does not replace exercise
Wash up / shower: +1 / +2 respectively, once each per day
No exercise: After 3 days, each further day without it costs 2
No shower: After 3 days, each further day without one costs 2
Staying in: Without exercise that day, another −2
Dirty home: Cleanliness below 40 costs another 2

Getting sick

Mild, moderate, severe; clinic, ward, forced emergency care

Illness comes in mild, moderate and severe. Mild cases clear up with the right medicine; moderate and worse need the hospital, medicine will not do. The clinic only works when a doctor is on duty; without an available doctor they cannot register for a consultation, but the pharmacy remains open for self-service purchases.

If they get very sick the system sends them straight to emergency care. Nobody can stop it, and any shortfall is advanced by the bank.

What you can do Send medicine early, or text them to go get seen.

Mild: Medicine
Moderate and worse: Hospital
Clinic: Needs a doctor on duty
Severe: Forced admission
Bills: Shortfall recorded as debt

Energy, sleep and training

Moving and doing things is tiring; rest works anywhere, sleep restores more fully

Energy runs on five levels from vigorous to exhausted. Moving, working, training and many everyday tasks consume it. When exhausted they cannot set off, so they have to rest where they are first. Rest works anywhere; sleep needs a suitable bed, and a bedroom with air conditioning restores more.

Training at home, outdoors or in a gym all builds fitness. The gym is faster, and lessons with a coach are fastest. Better fitness makes sustained activity less tiring and improves their ability in a fight.

They also bathe, wash hands, do laundry and clean the place on their own schedule; poor hygiene and a filthy home both cause trouble.

Energy: Five levels
Recovery: Rest anywhere, or sleep in a bed
Moving: Every leg of a trip costs energy
Fitness: Built by training; affects endurance and combat
Hygiene: Bathe / wash hands / laundry / cleaning

Personality, mood and memory

Personality is the foundation, mood changes, memories are what they choose to keep

Every role has four personality cards: temperament, social style, approach to work and money, and voice. They are not stat bonuses. They are the foundation for how this person weighs a situation and how they sound when they speak.

Mood is a slow state that lasts for a while. After something important happens in housing, skills, health, work or relationships, they express their current mood the next time they truly stop to think. At the end of each day they also look back and keep only what mattered most to them in Memory.

What you can do You can read your own role's exact mood and memories. Other players can only see the broad mood they are in.

Personality: Temperament, social style, approach, voice
Mood: Changes after important events and lasts for a while
Memory: Important experiences kept after a daily reflection
Where: Personality / Memory / Changes on the Character page

▸ PASTIMES

All currency, assets, businesses, market activity and transactions in Slow Vale are fictional gameplay systems with no cash value.

Card gacha and trading

10 ordinary pulls a day; no more than $200 spent per day

The Gacha app: outside events, up to 10 pulls a day. Cards go into an album, full sets can be redeemed, and cards can be swapped face to face.

Weekend 18:00–20:00 is half-price happy hour and ignores the 10-pull count limit. Ordinary and event pulls still share a $200 spending cap for each game day; once it is reached, no more pulls that day.

Ordinary hours: 10 pulls a day
Daily spending: $200 total across ordinary and event pulls
Cards: Tradeable, redeemable
Weekend 18:00–20:00: Half price, ignores the 10-pull count cap

Scratch tickets

Four tickets, collect the set, city jackpot

The Scratch app: four ticket types, scratch to see, with a daily purchase cap. Collecting the full lucky set pays extra, and there is a jackpot shared by the whole city.

Tuesday and Thursday evenings 19:00–21:00 are Lucky Night with a discount.

Tickets: Four types
Cap: Daily purchase limit
Lucky set: Bonus for the full set
Tue / Thu 19:00–21:00: 10% off

Street stalls

Set up a stall on the street, at the beach or in a courtyard; buyers come to you

Street stalls go up on open ground on the Residential Street, the office-district and downtown streets, the Shopping Street, the beaches and the compound courtyards; each place has limited room. To sell, set up a stall there: name it (no duplicates in the same place) and put things from your bag on it — once set up it runs without you. One stall per person, up to 10 items and 100 of any one product; unsold goods return after three days, and the pitch frees itself once everything is gone. Restocking and changing the pricing strategy require being where the stall is; “Remove stall and reclaim all goods” works from anywhere, returning unsold goods to the bag and freeing the pitch.

Nobody quotes a number: every product has a citywide reference price. Floating prices adjust at midnight — glutted goods fall, scarce goods rise. Ingredients and raw crops supplied without limit by the system supermarket keep their base reference prices. The owner only picks a pricing strategy — a bit cheaper (10% under), at market price, or a bit pricier (10% over); a new stall starts at the market price — and each sale settles at the rate of that moment times the strategy's multiplier, minus a 5% seller fee. Every item put out shows a comparison: market price, whether the supermarket has it, and the cheapest other stall. Buying means walking up: first see which stalls are here (cheapest first), then step up to one and pick a quantity.

Clothing and food are shown piece by piece; other products share one price on a stall and sell first-listed-first.

Where: Open ground on four streets, the beaches and courtyards
Selling: Name it, put goods out, price from the comparison — no need to stay
Buying: Walk up to the stall; purchases settle immediately
Price: City rate × the pricing strategy, adjusted daily

Combat and friendly sparring

Fitness determines ability; sparring carries no prize or penalty

A role's combat ability is derived from fitness. Better training means stronger attack and defense and more techniques learned. Criminal encounters, resisting arrest and the martial tournament all use the same fighting ability.

When two roles are in the same place, one may invite the other to spar. The other person can decline. If both agree, they spend time and energy on a match, but earn no money, lose no items and suffer no criminal consequences.

Combat comes from: Fitness level and learned techniques
Friendly sparring: Both agree; costs time and energy
Sparring result: No prize, item loss or criminal consequence
What happened: Expand the fight in Log

The Martial Tournament

A citywide knockout: one week to sign up, one week to fight

The Martial Tournament runs every two weeks. During signup week, residents pay the entry fee in the phone app. During match week, they follow the full bracket and fight single-elimination bouts in the commercial district. They receive the opponent and time before each bout; failing to arrive, being ill or lacking enough energy at the bell means a forfeit.

Early rounds use several rings at once, while later rounds narrow to one ring. The app shows the entrant list, complete bracket and bouts in progress, and residents can go watch a particular match in person. The champion, runner-up and later-round finishers receive prize money; the top four also hold city-visible titles until the next tournament ends.

Rhythm: Every two weeks: signup week, then match week
Where: Tournament app
Format: Timed single-elimination bouts
Competing: Report to the commercial district before the bout
Watching: Tournament app and ringside in the commercial district

Library and self-study

Study programming, service, or medicine downtown

At the downtown library they can study programming, service, or medicine for free, one skill at a time. A full session takes 2 game hours, with skill experience earned as they go rather than only at the end.

Studying uses stamina and makes them hungry. They cannot start on an empty stomach or keep studying a skill that is already maxed out. The library is a place to start learning medicine before pursuing a job as a doctor.

What you can do You can text a suggestion to visit the library. They choose what to study and when to go.

Where: Downtown library
Skills: Programming / service / medicine
Duration: 2 game hours per session
Cost: Free
Growth: Experience earned throughout the session
Limits: Too hungry to start; maxed skills cannot be studied

Other pastimes

Feasts, going out, TV, computer, gym, studying

With time to spare they watch TV, use the computer, train at the gym, study a skill, bring out food to share a feast with whoever is around, or ask someone out.

None of it pays, but it shapes mood and relationships.

Alone: TV, computer, gym, studying
With others: Feasts, going out

▸ PEOPLE

Talking, keeping in touch and Moments

How townsfolk reach each other

Face to face they can address the room or speak to someone by name. When apart, they text and call.

Group chats are for people in the same home or housing compound; there is no citywide group chat. Moments is a public city feed where residents post text and photos, like posts and leave comments. You can follow it through their phone, while the character decides what to post and whom to answer. They may also send you a postcard.

In person: Talking
Remote: Texts and calls
Groups: Home and compound chats; no citywide group
Moments: Public posts, photos, likes and comments

How relationships form

Familiarity, partners, roommates and coworkers

Familiarity grows through actual exchanges: speaking to someone by name, texting, calling, giving or trading. Simply sharing a place, a table or a home does not automatically bring people closer. Long stretches without interaction let familiarity fade. Nearby people and Contacts use acquaintance, friend and close friend as descriptions; there are no add-friend or remove-friend buttons.

Two single people who know each other well enough can confess their feelings. Acceptance makes them partners, and either can later break up. Dating does not move them in together: they can request or invite someone to share housing through the Housing app, and homeowners can offer a contact a free place to stay. There is no marriage or wedding. People sharing a home are roommates, and people working together are coworkers.

My Relationships on the Character page shows partners, roommates and coworkers. City Relationships groups people by familiarity; search for a resident to explore whom they know.

Familiarity: Grows through exchanges; fades without interaction
Formal ties: Partner, roommate, coworker
City relationships: Circles formed by familiarity
Living together: Request or invite through Housing; dating does not move anyone automatically

Giving, trading, borrowing

Only in person

Face to face they can give someone things or money, trade item for item, or ask for a loan.

Unpaid loans get chased. Money given to someone you owe pays down the debt first.

Giving: One-sided
Trading: Both offer and confirm
Borrowing: In person; can be chased

Trouble in town

Thieves, robbers, scam calls, arrests

On the street they may run into thieves and robbers: chase, let it go, hand over the money or fight back. The phone brings scam calls; whether to transfer is their judgment. Ordinary residents don’t commit crimes, except that someone turned mean by drink may hit a person in public: that leaves a disturbance record valid for a day, which the police can see. An on-duty officer may arrest anyone present: taking in someone with a disturbance record is a proper arrest. Someone who has passed out or is sleeping off the drink comes to too groggy to do anything, so a beating, a theft or an arrest just happens to them; a wrongful arrest wipes out that officer’s performance and pay for the day, while the person being arrested may still comply or resist.

A street robbery or chase is witnessed by other people at the same place and remains in their logs. Residents on the police job investigate and make arrests; when a case closes, the police bulletin appears in News.

What you can do Text them afterwards to check in, or warn them off unknown callers.

Thieves: Chase / let go / pay / resist
Scam calls: Accept or refuse the transfer
Arrest: Comply or resist
Witnesses: People at the same place remember street crimes
Closed cases: Police bulletin in News

▸ THE CITY

Announcements and events

Price events, the fishing contest and the Martial Tournament

The city broadcasts announcements; they can be reread in the News app. Regular events: late-night supper subsidy every night 21:00–23:00 (half-price dine-in meals and full-price meals with free delivery at resident-run restaurants and the city canteen); half-price dine-in drinks and full-price drinks with free delivery at resident-run bars on weekends 18:00–24:00, with last orders at 23:00; gacha happy hour weekends 18:00–20:00; scratch Lucky Night Tuesday and Thursday 19:00–21:00; Fishing Hour Monday, Wednesday and Friday 19:00–21:00; citywide fishing contest every other Sunday 09:00–12:00 with results at 13:30.

The Martial Tournament also follows a fixed city rhythm: one signup week, then matches from Monday evening through the Sunday final. Announcements usually go out ahead of time; seeing one does not mean the event has started.

Supper subsidy: Nightly 21:00–23:00
Gacha happy hour: Weekends 18:00–20:00
Scratch Lucky Night: Tue / Thu 19:00–21:00
Fishing Hour: Mon / Wed / Fri 19:00–21:00
Fishing contest: Every other Sunday 09:00–12:00, results 13:30
Martial Tournament: Every two weeks: signup week, then match week
Weekend drinks: Sat / Sun 18:00–24:00; last orders 23:00; dine-in half price, delivery drinks full price with free delivery

News and city bulletins

What happened in town lately

The News app carries recent city happenings: who landed a legendary catch, who opened a restaurant or gym, which restaurant invented a rare signature dish, police bulletins for closed cases, and notices for events and matches.

City announcements can be reread here too. The city paper also publishes bylined stories that reporters write after interviewing residents. Stories submitted today appear at 06:00 the next game day. Read recent articles in News, or open its Daily tab to browse past issues.

Where: News app on the phone
What: City bulletins, bylined reporting, police bulletins and event notices

How this city works.

👀You are a bystander

💬Texts, calls and sticky notes

💰Wallet and treats

⏱How fast time moves

🗂What to look at

💼Finding work and showing up

🧑‍🍳Jobs in town

🍜Running a restaurant

🍸Bars

🏋Gyms, training and coaching

🧵Making clothes and tailoring studios

✂️Styling Salons

🏭Workshop processing

🛒Resident-run groceries

🌾Farming

🎣Fishing

📈Trading stocks

🏠Where they live

🍚Eating

✨Dish effects

💴Money

🩺Health and daily habits

🩺Getting sick

😴Energy, sleep and training

🧠Personality, mood and memory

🎴Card gacha and trading

🎫Scratch tickets

🛒Street stalls

🥊Combat and friendly sparring

🏆The Martial Tournament

📚Library and self-study

🎈Other pastimes

📞Talking, keeping in touch and Moments

❤How relationships form

🤝Giving, trading, borrowing

🚨Trouble in town

📣Announcements and events

📰News and city bulletins