# Machinations Design Prompt...
About this model
# Machinations Design Prompt
I am designing an asymmetric cooperative tabletop game inspired by **Undertale**. The goal is to analyze the game's economy, feedback loops, pacing, and balance using Machinations.
The theme is not important. Focus on the systems.
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# Players
There are **5 players**.
* 1 Monster player. * 4 Team players.
The Team consists of:
* Contractor * Saint * Warrior * Hugger
Each character has one unique special ability that may be used **once during each Team Phase**.
---
# Win Conditions
The Team wins if either:
* Monster HP reaches 0. * Therapy reaches 16.
The Monster wins if either:
* Total Team HP reaches 0. * Satisfaction reaches 16.
These are two parallel victory routes.
---
# Resources
## Team HP
Total: **16 HP**
Four characters each have 4 HP.
Damage normally comes from Bullet Hell.
Healing is intentionally rare.
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## Monster HP
Total: **32 HP**
At **16 HP remaining**, the Monster immediately gains:
* +2 Attack Tokens * +2 Parry Tokens
This represents the Monster becoming desperate.
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## Therapy
Range:
0–16
The Team mainly gains Therapy by:
* Roleplaying correctly. * Reading the Monster. * Special abilities. * Correct Body interactions.
At **8 Therapy**:
Monster immediately gains **+1 Satisfaction.**
This is intentional.
Helping the Monster emotionally also makes it happier.
---
## Satisfaction
Range:
0–16
The Monster mainly gains Satisfaction through:
* Monster ACT cards. * Certain successful attacks. * Mood thresholds.
At **8 Satisfaction** the Monster gains:
* +1 Attack Token * +1 Armor Token
Armor blocks one Bullet Hell hit against the Monster.
---
## Mood
Mood is the emotional state of the Monster.
It starts at:
**6**
Minimum:
4
Maximum:
8
Mood does NOT directly win the game.
Instead it changes the economy.
Mood mainly changes because of Roleplay.
Positive roleplay increases Mood.
Negative roleplay decreases Mood.
Thresholds:
Mood 7
→ +1 Satisfaction
Mood 8
→ +2 Satisfaction
Therefore raising Mood helps the Team obtain Therapy, but also accelerates the Monster's Satisfaction victory condition.
This creates an intentional risk/reward relationship.
---
# Turn Structure
The game alternates between:
Monster Phase
↓
Team Phase
Repeat until victory.
---
# Monster Phase
The Monster always performs exactly **3 actions**.
The Monster begins the game with:
* 1 Attack Token * 1 Parry Token
The Monster does not use traditional abilities anymore.
Instead every action comes from ACT Cards.
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# ACT Cards
The Monster owns 9 permanent ACT cards.
The cards are divided into three categories.
## 1-option cards
Safe.
Reliable.
Lower value.
Usually worth around 2 points.
---
## 2-option cards
Medium risk.
The Team chooses between two possible effects.
Usually around 4 points of value.
---
## 3-option cards
Highest flexibility.
The Team chooses between three options.
Usually around 6 points of value.
These cards intentionally allow stronger combinations but give the Team more control.
---
Every ACT card eventually creates one of these situations:
* Bullet Hell * RP / Social interaction * Skill Check * Mood interaction
Each card also contains a unique RP or Skill Check specific to that Monster.
The mathematical reward remains mostly identical across Monsters.
Only the RP challenge changes.
Examples:
* Arm wrestling * Guessing a number * Making the Monster laugh * Convincing the Monster * Acting * Bluffing
---
# Bullet Hell
Bullet Hell is the game's execution challenge.
It only happens if an ACT card creates it.
Possible outcomes:
* Team loses HP. * Monster gains Satisfaction instead. * Miss.
Warrior may assist another player's Bullet Hell.
Armor and Parry interact with this system.
---
# Body System
The Team attacks Body Regions.
The exact locations are intentionally hidden.
Players are expected to discover them through Roleplay rather than memorization.
Possible Body results include:
* Deal Monster damage. * Gain Therapy. * Change Mood. * Rare Baton Pass effect. * Miss.
Some Body regions are intentionally much stronger than others.
One hidden Easter Egg region exists for each Monster.
---
# Baton Pass
Rare outcome.
Possible effects include:
* Extra Body attack. * Healing. * Ignore Parry. * Repeat Flick. * Information.
These are intentionally high-variance rewards.
---
# Team Actions
Players generally spend their turns doing combinations of:
* Roleplay * Body attacks * Defending * Special Ability
Roleplay itself usually gives no direct points.
Instead it creates information and enables stronger future plays.
---
# Special Abilities
Contractor
Detect the truth among two lies.
Success:
+1 Therapy.
Saint
Find a contradiction in previous Monster statements.
Success:
+2 Therapy.
Requires previous Roleplay and memory.
Warrior
Assist another player's Bullet Hell.
Hugger
Repeat one successful Flick.
---
# Design Philosophy
The game intentionally has two interacting economies.
Violence becomes easier when Therapy is ignored.
Negotiation becomes easier through Roleplay.
Increasing Therapy often also increases the Monster's Satisfaction.
Increasing Mood also increases Satisfaction.
The Team constantly balances:
* Damage * Therapy * Mood * Satisfaction
The Monster constantly decides whether to:
* Pressure the Team with attacks. * Manipulate Therapy. * Manipulate Satisfaction. * Manipulate Mood.
Please generate a Machinations diagram focusing on:
* resource flow, * feedback loops, * thresholds, * positive and negative feedback, * pacing, * dominant strategies, * possible exploits, * snowball effects, * and overall balance.
"# Machinations Design Prompt..." is a public Machinations diagram shared in the Community by Kerem Hasanoğlu, with 82 components.
It was created in July 2026 and last edited in July 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.