Big Ambitions frequently asked questions

This is the case where the screen flickers going into fullscreen and the launch is blocked. Right-click Big Ambitions in your Steam library → Properties → the General tab → Launch options, and put in -windowed. It comes up in a window.

Once it is running you can switch back to fullscreen from Options → Graphics in game.

No. In Load game on the main menu, turn on Show recover saves in the top right. The game writes a recovery save every 5 minutes of play time and keeps 3 of them by default.

If you are in a vehicle, call a tow truck from your contacts. If you are on foot, use Options → Others → Unstuck. Either way, save and reload afterwards to clear the state completely.

In Options → Controls, switch the control scheme from Point-and-click to controller. Be aware that controller mode is still in development and may feel rough.

Pick the language in Options → Others.

There is no setting for it — it is a matter of which mode you choose. Start a new game in Custom Game Mode instead of Storymode and you get neither the tutorial nor the objectives.

Starting funds, tax rate, employee wages, product cost and loan interest rate all vary with difficulty.

It is not a bug, it is deliberate. The bank charges a storage fee on your deposited balance every Monday — 0.5% on normal difficulty and 5% on hard.

It exists to push you into spending cash on the business rather than piling it up in the account, so the way around it is, in the end, to put the money to work. Convert it into assets such as real estate or equipment and it falls outside the fee.

Once profit passes a certain level a tax bill arrives every 60 days (one in-game year). You have 20 days to pay.

Miss the deadline and the tax office seizes vehicles, goods, furniture and appliances to recover what you owe. It is a forced sale of your assets, so the loss is heavy. Better to mark the 60-day cycle on your calendar.

Check Total Net worth in the Persona app. It adds up cash and assets, but money and assets won by gambling are not included.

Various activities each give a buff that lasts a set time. No single one carries you for long — you have to keep topping it up.

• Video games, watching TV
• Using exercise equipment
• DJing in your own apartment
• Gambling
• Turning a profit, completing Persona objectives
• Sleeping on a park bench, resting on a yacht

Conversely, sleeping in your car costs you happiness.

It is not a fixed building — it arrives by boat. Go to Pier 4 on Friday between 18:00 and 22:00.

Tickets are $5,000 from the booth behind the Bluestone Imports building at Pier 4. If you get there early, wait by the booth until the boat comes in.

Freight trucks have to go to the garage behind the Truck store. Every other vehicle uses the garage next to the gas station in Hell's Kitchen or Murray Hill.

Check the vehicle's condition first. At 0% you cannot drive it to the garage yourself. At that point you have to call a tow truck to move it there.

It is the number of pedestrians passing in front of that building. The player cannot change it. That is exactly why you check it before signing a lease — open a store somewhere low and customers are hard to come by.

As a rule of thumb, 40 or above is a good spot. Foot traffic is meaningless for warehouses and headquarters, though, so for those it is better to take a cheap building with a low index.

You can sort by traffic index in the building list.

Go into the building and press the Interior Design button. Right-click a piece of furniture to change its color. Walls and floors work the other way round: pick the color first, then click the surface to paint.

In BizMan → Settings, browse for the logo file on the right. It has to be a PNG or it will not load.

For a fully custom sign with no colored border, see custom business icons.

You cannot install one yourself — you go to the contractor that handles that building type.

• Kingdom Office — offices
• Kristian Bahood — retail, cinemas and theaters
• Stonegood Architecture — warehouses
• Nugem Interiors — residential

The full procedure is in using blueprints.

Not at the ordinary recruitment agency — only at the second agency, City Workforce inc., at 2 1st Avenue. Visit once to start a recruitment campaign and after that you can run it by phone.

The first time you visit a wholesaler, a furniture store, the bank or a recruitment or service company, talk to the person at the desk and get their contact details. After that more can be handled by phone. What each company allows remotely differs, so check on the call screen.

Foot traffic alone does not decide sales. Check the neighborhood's market demand per item, your sale prices, competitors, the building's capacity, staff and workstations, and stock levels and register queues alongside it. The order to check them in is set out in location, demand and pricing.

Community experience suggests a taxi can be convenient for small purchases and getting around. Check in your own game whether a given item can be loaded and how much fits, and once you need to carry things regularly, move to a warehouse and delivery network.