Suspension

About this model

This diagram models a game mechanics system inspired by the classic gameplay elements found in games like Super Mario Bros. It outlines the process by which a player can perform actions that lead to advancing levels, collecting coins, and defeating monsters. Each of these player actions is represented by pools—Advance, Collect coins, and Kill monsters—where resources flow through a gate and into these pools as a result of player actions indicated by sources. The resources in these pools signify the accumulation of accomplishments in the game, such as progressing through levels, acquiring coins, and vanquishing foes.

Further, the diagram includes a mechanism for converting collected coins into an extra life, reflecting a common gameplay reward system where in-game assets (coins) can be exchanged for valuable player benefits (extra lives). This conversion process is modeled through a converter node that takes resources from the Coins pool, triggered possibly by a state connection symbolizing a specific condition like reaching a certain number of coins, and then directs the resources into an Extra Life pool. This setup illustrates a dynamic system that simulates the reward and progression mechanisms found in many video games, focusing on how player actions translate into tangible game mechanics like level progress, currency accumulation, and life management.

“Suspension” is a public Machinations diagram by Cezar Cocias, shared in the Machinations Community.

You can open the original diagram in the Machinations app, press Play to watch how resources move through it, and change its values to see how the system responds. Machinations is a visual tool for designing, simulating and balancing game economies and other systems, where resources flow through sources, pools, drains, converters and gates. In a diagram, a source creates resources, a pool stores them, a drain removes them, a converter changes one resource into another and a gate decides where they go next.