paperwork game prototype

Some ideas and notes for a game where you fill out forms. Inspirationally downstream of "papers, please", but with the reversal that the "annoying unfun task" is not checking paperwork, but being tasked with completing it correctly, in the face of potentially obscure, concealed, annoying, pedantic requirements.

Maybe you're effectively jailed, and the goal of the game is to obtain your release.

Possible resources

Purchaseable Items

Writing Tools
- Pencils
- Pens (don't allow backspace?)
- Typewriter
- Carbon paper
- Custom Form Printer
Delivery
- Envelopes
- Stamps (different types?)
- Paper (different sizes?)
Consumable Commodities
- Ink (different colors)
  - Pen Ink
  - Ink Pad (for stamps)
- Typewriter ribbon (different colors)
- Wax (for seals)
- Lamination sheets
- Photographic Film
Trade Goods
- Rice
- Frozen Foods
- Textbooks
  - Physics
  - Art History
  - Camera Repair
  - Cooking
  - Foreign Languages
Combination/augmentation
- Envelopes
- Folders
- Staples
- Paper clips
- Stamps
- Seals
- Lamination Machine
Storage
- Freezer
- Filing Cabinet
- Shelving
- Storage Bins
Other
- Food - maybe you get free nutrient bars for a time
- Soap - keeps up morale, or dirt on forms invalidates them
- Magazines
- Photographs
- Camera
- Radio
- Batteries
- Stove/Oven

Information

These probably have associated forms for requests, which resemble purchase forms.

University Course Catalog
Atlas
City Directory
Commissary catalog
Form list
Law books
Form validation service

Validation/Application

All of these probably have associated forms for application and perhaps renewal.

Bank account
- Checkbook
Passport
Notary License
Credit Card [also form for payment of statement]
Foreign Currency Permit
Foreign Language Permit
Bulk Mail Permit
Wholesale Club Card
Import/Export License
Sales License
Manufacturing License
Diploma [also forms for enrollment, homework]

How to make money

market-making in imperfect information
exploiting seasonal time difference in prices
add value by assembling raw materials
perform services (cooking, camera repair, translation)
buy in bulk, sell individually

Bills

Trash collection
Electricity
Water

Things to do with forms

Send forms in order to:

transfer money
obtain change from the bank
receive many photocopies of a form
requesting what they're willing to buy
requesting what they're willing to sell (can receive the same forms if you put out ads)

Other Things to Do

Can scan the yard for scrap. Might find a bottle or pen or scrap of paper. Bottles can be put in recycling bin for money.

Maybe the yard runs out of bottles (or other resources) after a certain amount have been collected.
Maybe other specific economic opportunities dry up after a time, or after they've been exploited a certain amount.
Puzzles arising from deducing the full address of destinations.
Puzzles arising from needing to bribe certain parties to break out of dependency loops (e.g. you need to have a class D bank account to file the creation of a limited liability corporation, but an llc name is required to open a class D bank account)
Perhaps other bribery mechanics
Dates matter? Postmark dates matter? A puzzle where you are required to lie about the current date because by the time the form is received, the date you put down is in principle possible to have been the one you sent it on, but in practice impossible because of transit time?
Different classes of stamps leading to different transit times?
Requesting the information of merely what date it is?
Puzzles arising from forms or envelopes only having limited space for writing.
Puzzles arising from being forbidden after a certain point from possessing certain objects or resources. E.g., you're not permitted cash, so you have to purchase things with bank accounts you've already set up.
Puzzles about form id allocation into certain ranges

Other thoughts

Requests-for-catalog are common, but tiered. There's probably a basic form that you can address to most places that will get you basic stuff, but even the same institution may offer more goods or services if you send a higher "grade" of form, which may require a special envelope, or to be typewritten, or to be accompanied with a photograph or photocopy of some license card, or whatever.

building

make build
make run

jcreedcmu/paperwork-game