Build a Machinations diagram...

About this model

Build a Machinations diagram for "Seek", a cartoon-pirate idle-arcade game (single zone vertical slice: "Shipwreck Beach"). Time step = 1 second. Use clearly labeled sub-systems (Day economy, Treasure hunting, Base building, Night defense, Day/Night clock). Use Registers for all tunable parameters below.

=== CLOCK (Day/Night cycle) === - Phases loop: DAY (150 s) - DUSK (15 s) - NIGHT (lasts until the wave is fully defeated) - DAWN (3 s) - DAY. - Register "Day" starts at 1, +1 at each dawn. Register "NightsSurvived". - Use state connections / activators so gathering and digging only run during DAY (and DUSK), and enemy spawning only runs during NIGHT.

=== DAY ECONOMY (gathering + carrying) === - Resources: Wood, Shells (stored at base), Doubloons (currency, never carried on the back). - Nodes: 15 Palms x 6 Wood each (90 Wood/day), 7 Shell piles x 4 Shells each (28 Shells/day). Model as two Pools "PalmStock" (90) and "ShellStock" (28) that refill to max at every DAWN. - Gathering: automatic by proximity, 1 unit every 0.4 s (2.5 units/s) moved into a "BackStack" Pool. - BackStack is shared by Wood and Shells, capacity = 10 (level 1) or 20 (level 2, after Backpack upgrade). When full, gathering stops (gate on capacity). - Unloading: when the player returns to the base drop zone, BackStack empties into "BaseWood" / "BaseShells" at 1 unit every 0.12 s. Model the walking round-trip as a delay (parameter "TripTime", default ~12 s). - If the player is knocked out (HP 0) the whole BackStack goes to a Drain (lost).

=== TREASURE HUNTING (doubloon source) === - Every DAY spawn 3 dig spots (unused spots vanish at dawn). Each dig takes 3 s (+ travel delay ~10 s). - Dig outcome (random gate): 80% - 5..10 Doubloons (uniform); 20% - trap: spawns 1 Pirate Crab that attacks the player and drops 2 Doubloons when killed. - From Day 3, until found: 1 special dig spot (6 s) that yields the "MapFragment" (Register 0/1).

=== BASE BUILDING (converters, partial payment allowed) === Payment is incremental (1 unit every 0.08 s) and partial payments persist. Build pads: - Palisade x6 (unlocked from start): 10 Wood each, 60 HP each. When destroyed - rebuild pad costs 5 Wood. - Cannon #1 (from start): 15 Wood + 10 Shells. - Cannon #2 (after Night 1), Cannon #3 (after Night 2): 25 Wood + 15 Shells each. - Backpack upgrade (after Night 1): 30 Doubloons - BackStack capacity 10 - 20. - Cannon upgrade (after Night 2): 40 Doubloons - cannon damage x1.5. Building is allowed in any phase, including during the night (emergency repairs).

=== NIGHT DEFENSE === - Wave composition per night N: N1 = 6 Crabs; N2 = 10 Crabs; N3 = 14 Crabs + 2 Giant Crabs; after N3 each night adds +4 Crabs and +1 Giant Crab. First spawn after 2 s, then 1 enemy every 1.2 s. - Crab: 30 HP, 5 DPS, drops 2 Doubloons. Giant Crab: 150 HP, 15 DPS, drops 10 Doubloons. - Enemies walk to the Campfire (200 HP). Intact palisades must be destroyed first (they absorb damage: 60 HP each); model palisades as a damage-absorbing Pool in front of the Campfire. - Damage sources (drain enemy HP): - Each Cannon: 20 dmg every 1.2 s (~16.7 DPS), x1.5 after upgrade. Free, no ammo. - Player saber: 10 dmg every 0.5 s (20 DPS), automatic. Player has 100 HP; at 0 HP - KO, lose BackStack, respawn after 3 s with full HP. - Killed enemies - Doubloons (picked up automatically by magnet). - NIGHT ends when all wave enemies are dead - DAWN: refill resource nodes, restore Player HP and Campfire HP to max, unlock pads for the night just survived, NightsSurvived +1. - LOSE condition: Campfire HP reaches 0 - retry the same night from the state at its start.

=== WIN CONDITION === - Demo complete at the dawn when MapFragment = 1 AND NightsSurvived = 3. After that the game can continue with ever-harder nights.

=== WHAT I WANT TO ANALYZE === 1. Is one DAY (150 s) of gathering enough Wood/Shells to afford the palisades and cannons needed to survive each night? Plot BaseWood, BaseShells, Doubloons per day. 2. Total defense DPS vs. incoming wave HP per night (N1..N6) and how much Campfire HP is lost. 3. Doubloon income per day (digs + kills) vs. upgrade costs (30 and 40): on which day can a typical player afford each upgrade? 4. Sensitivity to TripTime, trap chance (20%), and BackStack capacity. Add charts for these and run Monte Carlo (e.g. 500 runs) over the first 6 days.

"Build a Machinations diagram..." is a public Machinations diagram shared in the Community by evikcode, with 42 components.

It was created in October 2026 and last edited in October 2026.

Open the diagram in the Machinations app and press Play to watch the resources move, adjust its values to test how the system responds, or remix it to make an editable copy in My diagrams.