The toilet can be removed to inventory and then spawned again in case it gets too dirty such that it will not need cleaning again.

In Hobo: Tough Life a number of structures can be built that can be interacted with. Structures such as the bed, the toilet, the crafting bench, the altars, and so on have to be interacted with directly and they take time to use. While the various structures as used, the temperature drops constantly and the character starts being cold such that the only way is to take breaks and go back and forth between crafting and warming up at the closest fire.

Regrettably, the garbage fire container cannot be moved: it is a static object found-in world and cannot be relocated. This leads to problems since at the current version (0.74) the fire container for the starting base (and others) is placed against the wall such that the distance between the fire and the character is too large and temperature will start dropping.

In fact, at version 0.74, there is one single ideal place where a base could be started. It is located around the corner from the job center:

and on the outside:

The highlighted point is the only place in the game where a fire container is so placed such that the heat reaches all the extremities of the base.

The advantage is that regardless what building is currently used, all buildings can be placed such that the fire extends to all of them allowing the character to work without having to ferry back and forth between a heat source and a structure.

The only downside is that the base is small, however all bases are connected in Hobo: Tough Life, the inventory is shared and the base buffs applies to all the bases. Ideally, the base mentioned above should be a primary base and the other bases used to just build reinforcement components (walls, doors, etc) in order to level up the base bonuses.

Some props in Hobo: Tough Life can be placed on top of the roof in a base - unfortunately, strutures cannot be placed on top of existing structures such that it is only possible to build a two level base.

It seems that all forms of cupboards may be placed on the roof such that the roof may be a convenient storage in order to leave more space inside the base for more vital stuff.

Many textures in places that were never though reachable are set to phantom such that they can be passed through.

For instance, next to the pawn shop it is possible to jump on the pipes closest to the fire barrel and pass through the textures.

In fact, most places that have some pipes can be exploited to pass through buildings and then navigate inside the architecture. Shortcuts, as in getting from one place to the other faster by passing through the buildings are possible. Moreover, whilst the player finds itself on the inside of the architecture, locked lockers or garbage cans can be picklocked without having to bother about the police or the owner interrupting.

This raises the question whether there exists some way to escape through the walls that are not phantom. Placing props close to the ground in build-mode does not seem to work, however structures in build mode are phantom and only assume physical properties whenever they are materialized outside of build-mode.

This seems to work perfectly well for all bases where build-mode can be activated - the choice of structure is not as much relevant as the technique that relies on going into build mode and placing a wall or a fence less than mid-way through the player body and then exiting build mode. Once build-mode is deactivated, the structure becomes physical and since the player is a physical object as well, the game has no choice of pushing the player. Additionally, since the wall had been placed less than mid-way through the body of the player, the direction in which the player gets pushed is determinable.

All credits for this method should be given to the dog since the dog is a physical object that often gets in the way and does not allow the player to move, sometimes trapping the player with no escape!

Create a shortcut to the executable and add the following parameters in the Target field:

-screen-fullscreen 0 -screen-width 800 -screen-height 600 

in order to launch Hobo: Tough Life in 800x600 windowed mode.

The game is realistic but not necessarily balanced and it is possible to ensure victory within 5 days of game time. The key element to victory is obtaining three pieces of clothing that, combined with a steady fire, will ensure that the play will win the game.

Jobs reach a point of ever-diminishing returns where the time and effort expended cannot be recuperated by purchasing the necessary items from the payout. Practically, the player will end up exhausted, hungry from so much running around, stinky since that is constant, while performing a job and the payout for the jobs are insufficient to cover the costs just to break even.

Speech, begging, stealing and trading is by far more cost-efficient than any job. Just standing around and talking to people can amass a large sum of money and sufficient to cover the cost of the best clothes needed to survive the calamity.

This is a collection of notes about Hobo: Tough Life that can be read either as a guide, tutorial or things to check out for yourself:

• Begging is by far at the time of writing the best way to generate income. Jobs tend to have a falloff where it will become tough to break even if personal maintenance is factored in (life regeneration, wet wipes to remove bad odor, etc).
  • The best jobs, in order:
    • Digging; perhaps the best job since the requirements are very low and the distance to get to the objective and back is minimal,
    • Street cleanup; cleaning up streets has the added advantage of being able to talk to people and generate more income on the way. Nevertheless, street cleanup can be potentially dangerous due to the roaming thugs that switch positions periodically. Additionally, picking up the garbage can take some considerable amount of moving about. On the other hand, the picked up garbage is junk that can be kept and reused,
    • Call center operator; the call center is far away from the city centre but the job has very low requirements such that the player can completely fail the minigames and still cash in on the reward,
    • Sewage cleanup; perhaps the worst job since it requires moving around in the sewers, the minigames are difficult to accomplish and the distances traveled can be very large.
• The job centre will dish out two jobs at a time. If the player does not like a job type, the job can be kept in the log and after a while the job centre will offer up a second job.
• Upgrading for a "better job" at the job centre will result in the player having to deliver pizzas allover the map which is an arduous exercise that is also time-trialed since the pizzas will have to be delivered in useful time before they get cold. Ultimately the pizza delivery "better job" is best avoided given the low rewards and the ever-diminishing returns.
• Traditionally, ie: since the game release, the goal of the game has been to survive the calamity. One trick is to save up enough money and keep checking Anatoly's shop, as well as Shrug, for the following items:

• (from Anatoly) Warm Jacket
• (from Anatoly) Kickass Pants
• (from Shrug) Ushanka

and as a possible yet rare upgrade, from Shrug at 4000 crowns:

• (from Shrug) Expedition Jacket

The "Warm Jacket" and the "Kickass Pants" combined and worn by the player should provide enough protection to survive the calamity (with the help of a shelter and a basic fire). It seems that, at the date of writing, these items provide the best protection against the cold in the game.

• Only the largest bins contain furniture. Furniture and shelter equipment can be found by (formerly, through burglaries) entering apartment buildings and lockpicking.
• The following cures seem to be optimal in terms of availability and cost-efficiency:
  • Food; hunger can be replenished by crafting and eating Grub that is available early on in the game. Additionally, Grub is crafted from a baguette and scrap food that can be found in the garbage. Ultimately, there is no need for any other dish to keep going in the game without a hitch!
  • Morale; a single Playguy magazine, available in stores or at the gas station, costing 60 crowns will refill by . Assuming that the player will generate at least more than 60 crowns per day, it does not make any sense to fix morale with cigarettes that also replenish by very small values,
  • Stench; bad odor can be removed using wet wipes, costing 10 crowns, that replenish by -10 points at a rate of point per crown; similarly, Soap costs 30 crowns and replenishes by -40 points at a slighter better rate of points per crown. It is best to stash up on stacks of Soap. Note that once the odor metric reaches over a certain threshold, stores might refuse to let the player enter resulting in a dead end - this can be fixed by either visiting the charity and taking a bath or through other means yet it is time consuming,
  • Fatigue; fatigue can be resolved by drinking various beverages (aside from sleeping). It seems that a can of coke is the most effective item to stash up since it carries little to no penalties as well as being cost-effective.
• Washing or repairing clothes does not seem to be effective in any way. Washing clothes will diminish the rate at which odor accumulates and repairing clothes will activate the bonuses in case the clothes have any. Nevertheless, special clothes, such as the best clothing items mentioned previously, will still preserve the cold bonus even if they are damaged. Washing and repairing is a time-consuming task that will require a lot of maintenance and will deter the player away from the objective,
• At the current time of writing, setting out to complete the quests will result in a dead player. Even though there is some sort of progression to the quests, the quest line is not designed to make the player gradually progress. Instead, each quest line from each NPC can be seen as its own individual self-standing thing separate from the game. In fact, quests will rather consume inventory items and money when NPCs will require either to complete the quest. It is much better to approach any quest further on in the game when the player has attained some sort of sustainability,
• Combining the Altar with the Health regeneration feature of a hideout is a nice trick to generate a lot of useful items at the cost of a packaged chicken. The procedure is straightforward: during the night time, pray at the altar till most of the health is reduced to a minimum, in doing so, several rewards are granted such as Playguy magazines, lots of scrap food and special clothing pieces, dark beverages that can be sold for 70 crowns each; when the health reaches a minimum, sleep in order to regenerate and then repeat the procedure every night. The only effective price for doing this is that the altar requires a packaged chicken that costs 150 crowns,
• One hideout location is right next to the spawn / starting point for the game however it is the worst place to start a hideout since it is very far away from any important store, the supermarkets and people in general. Plan to start a hideout somewhere in the middle of the town,
• The only effective cost for being jailed is spending about a minute of real time trapped. Nevertheless, the jail cell has a toilet and fully upgraded sleeping beds. Jail can be a shortcut for relieving yourself or getting some sleep. In any case, the alternative is to resist arrest and then potentially being killed.
• One trick to recover from alcohol addiction is to start talking and leave the interface open and wait. While you are talking to NPCs, the meters are still running but you do not lose health. It takes about hours for the alcohol addiction to go away. The same trick can be used to survive the calamity without having to bother about meters. Talking to someone stops all negative effects including health drain.