Currency and Upgrading

About this model

This diagram models the resource management and progression mechanics of a cooking-themed mobile game. It begins with players generating various resources, such as "Chef Coins" and tokens related to different restaurants like "Burger Diner" (BD), "Sushi Showdown" (SS), and "Happy Hour" (HH), which they can earn through different in-game activities. These resources are then used to unlock new kitchen levels, buy upgrades for kitchens, and progress through the game.

Resources flow through a series of pools, gates, and converters, simulating the process of earning, spending, and reinvesting in-game currency and tokens to improve game elements or standings. Gates distribute outcomes based on probabilities, mimicking the chance-based nature of game events and rewards. Upgrades and achievements, like leveling up or winning matches, affect the game state and player progression, represented by pools that store experience points (XP) and track player levels or matches played. Specific triggers and conditions activate state changes, reflecting the game's dynamic environment where actions lead to various consequences, encouraging strategic planning and resource management by the player to advance successfully within the game.

“Currency and Upgrading” is a public Machinations diagram by Matthew Wiggins, 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.