Design a full system diagram...

About this model

Design a full system diagram for an open-world RPG game that models the interaction between exploration, quest discovery, combat resolution, and player progression.

The system should simulate the core gameplay loop where the player explores the world, discovers quests through a special perception ability, engages in combat, earns rewards, and upgrades their character to access more difficult content.

Key Requirements:

1. Exploration and Quest Discovery:

* The player explores an open world where quests are not directly visible by default. * Quests are revealed through a special ability called “Vision” (or “Spiritual Sight”), which allows the player to perceive hidden “threads” that lead to quests. * Different player archetypes or characters can perceive different sets of threads (quest filtering system). * Include a system that generates or holds a pool of hidden quests. * Use gates to control quest visibility based on player attributes (e.g., Vision level, Insight, character type).

2. Quest System:

* Model quests as multi-stage progress systems. * Each quest should require actions such as investigation, travel, or combat encounters. * Use converters to transform player actions into quest progress. * Include success and failure states (quest completion vs abandonment or failure). * Ensure that the system prevents deadlocks where the player cannot find any available quest.

3. Combat System (Abstracted):

* Do NOT simulate real-time combat mechanics. Instead, model combat as a probabilistic resolution system. * Define Player Power as a function of stats, upgrades, and available resources (HP, Mana, buffs). * Define Enemy Difficulty as a function of enemy stats and scaling level. * Use random gates to simulate uncertainty (critical hits, misses, status effects). * Combat should output:

* Win/Loss outcome * Resource consumption (HP loss, mana usage, consumables) * Time or effort cost (number of cycles)

4. Resource and Economy Flow:

* Include core player resources such as HP, Mana, Currency, and a special stat like “Insight” or “Vision Energy”. * Combat and quests should drain resources. * Rewards from quests and combat should refill or increase resources. * Include sinks (upgrades, skill usage, healing) and sources (quest rewards, exploration rewards).

5. Progression System:

* Model player progression through upgrades, leveling, or stat increases. * Upgrades should increase Player Power and/or unlock access to more difficult quests. * Include scaling difficulty so that higher-tier quests require stronger characters. * Prevent runaway inflation or snowballing by balancing resource inflow and outflow.

6. Core Gameplay Loop:

* Explicitly represent the loop: Exploration → Quest Discovery → Quest Progress → Combat → Reward → Upgrade → Access Harder Content → Repeat * Ensure that each step feeds logically into the next.

7. Failure and Recovery:

* Include failure states such as losing combat or running out of resources. * Provide recovery paths (healing, retrying, switching quests). * Ensure the system does not trap the player in an unrecoverable state.

8. Simulation Goals:

* The diagram should allow simulation of:

* Quest availability over time * Player progression pacing * Resource stability (shortage vs overflow) * Combat success rates

9. Structure Guidelines:

* Use Sources for generating quests and rewards. * Use Pools for player resources and states. * Use Converters for transforming actions into progress or rewards. * Use Gates for conditional logic (visibility, unlock conditions, win/loss checks). * Use Drains for resource consumption and failure states.

The final diagram should be clean, modular, and clearly separated into:

* Exploration & Quest Discovery layer * Combat Resolution layer * Resource & Economy layer * Progression layer

The system should be balanced and suitable for iteration and simulation in a mid-to-large scale RPG project.

"Design a full system diagram..." is a public Machinations diagram shared in the Community by Thiên Mèok, with 22 components.

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