You are a Machinations.io...

About this model

You are a Machinations.io economy designer. Help me build a playable Machinations diagram for a training game about systems thinking.

Game title: “Permian Period Park” (Jurassic-style dinosaur park) Learning goal: teach systemic laws (feedback loops, delays, limits, unintended consequences, balancing vs reinforcing loops). Theme: players manage a dinosaur park. Objective is to earn money while keeping the ecosystem sustainable and attractive for visitors.

Core concept: - Money is earned from visitors. - Visitors come mainly because of “beautiful dinosaurs”; the most attractive are predators. - Ecosystem has 3 trophic levels: Plants → Herbivores → Predators. - If the ecosystem collapses (extinction of a level / unstable oscillations), attractiveness and revenue crash.

Please design the model as a turn-based simulation (e.g., 8 rounds). Each round: 1) Ecosystem updates (growth, consumption, predation, starvation). 2) Visitor demand is calculated from “Attractiveness”. 3) Revenue is added to Cash. 4) Maintenance/feeding costs are paid. 5) Player chooses actions and applies them. 6) Update KPIs (Cash, Attractiveness, Ecosystem Health/Stability).

Resources / Pools (use as Pools in Machinations): - Cash (money) - Plants Biomass (plants stock) - Herbivores Population - Predators Population - Attractiveness (can be a pool or computed value) - Ecosystem Health (stability/sustainability score) - Research Points / Knowledge (optional, to represent understanding of the system)

Main feedback loops to implement: Reinforcing loop (business): Predators ↑ → Attractiveness ↑ → Visitors ↑ → Cash ↑ → Ability to buy/maintain animals ↑ → Predators ↑

Balancing loops (ecology): Plants support Herbivores; Herbivores support Predators. Too many Herbivores → Plants ↓ → Herbivores starvation ↓ Too many Predators → Herbivores ↓ → Predators starvation ↓ Delays: population changes and plant regrowth should have a delay (e.g., plant regrowth per round; reproduction per round).

Visitor / Revenue logic (simple but expressive): - Visitors_per_round = BaseVisitors + k1 * Predators + k2 * Herbivores (k1 k2), capped by ParkCapacity. - Revenue = TicketPrice * Visitors_per_round. - Optional: if Ecosystem Health is low, visitors drop (negative PR / “empty cages”).

Costs: - Feeding/Maintenance per round: Herbivores require Plants consumption (or “Feed herbivores” action injects Plants/food). Predators require Herbivores consumption (or “Feed predators” action injects Meat/food). - Operating costs per animal (small Cash drain) to keep pressure on the economy.

Player actions (each round, spending Cash; implement as Gates/Converters/Triggers): 1) Introduce / Populate: - Add Plants Biomass (plant seeding) - Add Herbivores (buy & release) - Add Predators (buy & release) — expensive, high attractiveness 2) Research (spend Cash → gain Research Points): - Research reveals system behavior; mechanically: unlocks better forecasts, reduces action costs, or increases efficiency of terraforming/feeding. - Example: each Research Point increases Plant regrowth by +x% OR reduces starvation risk OR increases ParkCapacity slowly. 3) Terraforming (spend Cash → increase plant regrowth capacity / carrying capacity): - Mechanically: increases Plants regrowth rate and/or maximum Plants pool capacity. 4) Feed (spend Cash to inject food stocks): - Feed Herbivores: add Plants Biomass. - Feed Predators: add Meat or directly reduce predator starvation. 5) Slaughter / Cull (remove animals deliberately): - Remove Herbivores or Predators (decrease population). - Optional side effect: creates Meat (can be used to feed predators) but decreases Attractiveness / public approval if overused.

Failure / Sustainability conditions: - If any trophic level reaches 0 for 2 consecutive rounds → ecosystem collapse flag. - If Ecosystem Health falls below a threshold → Attractiveness penalty and visitors drop sharply. - Oscillation penalty: large population swings reduce Ecosystem Health.

Scoring at the end: Final Score = Cash + (SustainabilityWeight * Ecosystem Health) + (AttractivenessBonus) But primary objective for players is “make money”, while facilitator can also track sustainability.

Deliverables I want from you: 1) A Machinations diagram structure: which nodes (Pools, Sources, Drains, Converters, Gates) and key connections. 2) Concrete initial values and example coefficients (simple numbers that work for a first playable prototype). 3) Notes on how to tune parameters to create clear systemic behaviors (boom-bust cycles, delays, overshoot, collapse). 4) Optional: a second “easy mode” parameter set with gentler dynamics for first-time players.

"You are a Machinations.io..." is a public Machinations diagram shared in the Community by Sergey Krivoborodov, with 21 components.

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