As I said before, in
Toy Shop, you are playing as both a brother and his older sister. They have inherited a toy shop and must make it profitable within 3 years or they will lose it. Mark runs the workshop. He is in charge of the production of all the toys. Mel runs the store. She handles the customers and the cash register.
The first thing you have to keep in mind is that there is a limited time for your game. Of course, that is a pretty long time. Each day lasts 5 minutes in real time. There are 30 days in a season, 4 seasons per year, and you have 3 years to prove your worth. If you multiply that out, you'll notice that it's a grand total of 30 hours real time, not counting the quick cut scenes between each day. Given that much time, you've got plenty of time to unlock everything and make the money you need, so there's no rush.
At the start, there are only a few toys that Mark can make perfectly. How well Mark can make a toy is shown next to the toy name when you click on the toy in the workshop screen. Below the name, you'll also see how many toys you currently have in stock, what level the toy is at, and how many you have to make before you hit the next level. This level is very important. When you hit level 20, you'll start making 2 toys for the price of one. When you hit level 30, you'll make 3 for the price of one. Now, obviously this is a great way to make money. There are six categories of toys that you can make. Tapping on the tab at the bottom of the workshop screen will switch between them. Just keep switching between them all and keep your toy stock up. Customers might be unhappy if you don't have stocked what they want.
When you are running the shop as Mel, there are a few things you can do to try and keep your customers as happy as possible. The happier your customers are, the more people they will tell about your shop. More people shopping mean more profits for you. When the customer comes in, you can tap on them to see what type of toy they are shopping for and how much money they have in their wallet. By watching the customers, you can try to help Mark figure out what toys he should be making. Unfortunately, there's really no way when a customer leaves unhappy to determine if it was the cost of the toy or the lack of the toy they wanted there, but usually you can tell just by looking at the stock and your costs.
There is also the RPG part of the game. Listen to what Mel tells you at the beginning of each day. When she says we should go to a location, it is to trigger an event. Sometimes you will need to go multiple times, and I mean like 6 or 7 times, to complete the event. "Our Neighbors" refers to the residential district. The others she calls by name. After the first year though, she tells you a lot less. You should make sure to visit all the locations at the beginning of each season to see if there's anything or anyone new there.
