It's All About the Clams
How to figure out your new wallet

Ah, I love the clean crisp smell of money in the morning. Or in the evening. Or in the afternoon. Aw, heck, I love money pretty much any time!

by Bigfoot Bill Times Staff

Hey, didn't I already say that a week ago? Yeah, I did!

Well, it looks like those wacky Whyville "officials" are at it again, trying to improve our lives by giving us more stuff to play with. This time, they've upgraded our ledgers -- you know, that little black book up until now has only told you know how much money you're making, and it didn't do that too consistently. This new version should have most of the bugs chased out of it, so that the information in the ledger will accurately tell you what activities you've done and how much money you really are making! Cool, huh?

For those of you just tuning in, Whyville has recently started an economy, which means that we get paid for coming here. Our salary arrives in the form of Whyville money, also known as Clams (although the name is being much debated), and can now be used at the local Bazaar to purchase furniture for our living rooms in Myville. Eventually, all sorts of other stuff will be for sale here in the Bazaar, from building blocks to paint to chunks of faces.

How do you make money, you ask? Here's the deal: every day, your salary is determined by what awards you've received since you first came to Whyville. So, to make a salary, you want to make sure you have the highest awards you can get on things like the Skater Game and so on. Keep in mind that for the Spinning Game, you get 1 clam per object you've spun well enough to get a medal, for a total of 8 clams.

You receive your salary every day you come in to Whyville. For example, say your actual salary is 15. That means you get 15 Clams for each day you login to Whyville. So, if you come in every day of the week, you'll get a total of 105 Clams (add 15 seven times and you get 105). If you don't come in at all that week, you won't get anything. If you come in twice, say on Monday and on Wednesday, you'll get 15 on Monday and another 15 on Wednesday, for a total of 30.

Hey, it's just addition! No sweat!

Every day, your salary will be re-calculated. To find out what you're getting, and to figure out what you could be getting, go to your backpack and click on the black book. Your ledger will come up in the main screen.

"And the money kept rolling in..." The new bank statement page

Inside the ledger, there are three pages: the first, your Bank Statement, is a list of where your money has been spent. Most adults will tell you, this is the most annoying part of your checkbook, because it reminds you of how quickly you can spend all your money! But make sure you check it out regularly, so you don't spend everything you have! Keep in mind, some things are worth saving up for!

The two pink lines at the top of your Bank Statement tell you how much money you have in the bank and how much money you're making per day this week. The three columns beneath, headed by a green title, tell you the Date, Transaction (that is, the item you bought or the bonus you got), and Amount (how much you spent) of each item you purchased. Right now I haven't bought anything at the Furniture Farm, so my only "Transactions" are just the one-time bonuses I've gotten for building my house and so on. (Those bonuses aren't available anymore.)

The next page, Salary Ledger, is there to help you figure out why your salary is what it is, and what you can do to make it bigger! In the left-hand column is a list of the activities you can do at Whyville. (Click on a name to go to that activity.) In the right hand column are scrollbars that show you how often you've been doing the activities, or how well you are doing at them. You can scroll down the column to see all the different activities. Don't worry if the image doesn't scroll; that's a bug being worked out as we speak.

To find out how much money you might be able to get next week, click or drag on one of the scrollbars. This will move the marker from your actual score to a projected score, and will change Next Week's Salary (in the green bar at the top). This won't change what your actual salary is this week; it's just there to help you figure out what activities you can do to make more money. Even in Whyville, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch!

? Going on to the third and final page, the Bonus Ledger, you'll find a series of check-boxes. These indicate the one-time bonuses you can get. If the box on the right is blank, that means you haven't done the activity on the left, so you can make some quick cash by clicking on the name and doing it right now! If you want to find out how much a bonus you haven't gotten is worth, click on the box and a red check will appear. The green bar at the top will tell you how much all the checked boxes are worth.

? To get help (that is, to get this article to re-read), click on the yellow "Instructions" link beneath the ledger screen. And don't be afraid to drop the Whyville Officials a line or two to congratulate them on a job well done!

? From the heads and tails of Bigfoot's pocket change, this is Bigfoot Bill, wishing you many happy returns!


As a reminder, here's a quick checklist for figuring out this salary and ledger thing:

SALARY:
1. The more activities you do, and the better you do, the more money you'll get.
2. Whyville Clams can only be used in Whyville and Myville.
3. You get paid every day you come in to Whyville, once a day. If you don't come in, you won't get paid.
4. Your salary changes every day at 12:01 Pacific Time.

LEDGER:
1. Find your ledger in your backpack.
2. You can find your current salary at the top right of the Bank Statement screen and at the top of the Salary Ledger screen.
3. Use the scrollbars in the Salary Ledger to change your projected salary for next week. This will not affect how much money you get this or next week; it just tells you what money you could make next week if you change your behavior/awards this week.
4. In the Bonus Ledger, the x-boxes indicate one-shot bonuses. If it's already clicked, you've gotten that money.
5. "Total Cash" at the top of the Bank Statement tells you how much money you actually have right now.
6. The Bank Statement screen also shows every item you've purchased and every bonus you've received, when you got it, and how much you spent.