Video tutorials
Watch short lessons and longer walkthroughs on nodes, connections, Play, charts, game economies and tokenomics. Recorded with earlier versions of the app.
These videos show an earlier version of the app. They were recorded with earlier versions of Machinations, so the screens look different today, but the modeling ideas still apply. The Docs describe today's app.
Getting started
Start here to learn the canvas, the basic nodes and how to read what Play shows you.
Machinations 101: Learn the basics
A full walk through the canvas, the main nodes and connections, and how to read the results when you press Play.
How to add nodes to the Machinations canvas
A short, step-by-step look at placing nodes on the canvas and connecting them.
Machinations Academy: Play modes
How the different Play modes step through your diagram, and when to choose each one.
Machinations Academy: Charts
How to chart the values in your model, so you can see how they change over time.
Nodes and connections
Short lessons on the building blocks, one node at a time.
Machinations Academy: Pools
How a pool stores resources, and how its capacity and starting amount shape a model.
Machinations Academy: Gates
How gates split resources between paths, by chance or by a rule, and how to read their labels.
Machinations Academy: Converters
How a converter turns one kind of resource into another, as in crafting and trading.
Machinations Academy: Registers
How a register holds a number or a formula, and how other nodes can read its value.
Node showcase: Resource connections
How resource connections move things between nodes, and how their rates and labels work.
Modeling economies
Longer lessons that put the nodes together into loops, markets and token systems.
Webinar: How to build your game loops
How to turn a core game loop into a model, step by step, and test it with Play.
How to build a gacha box
How to model a gacha box with chance-based rewards, and see how often each reward drops.
How to design an automated market maker
How to build a token swap pool whose price follows its balance, and see how trades move it.
Modeling tokenomics with TAU Labs
How a Web3 team models a token economy in Machinations before launch.
Case studies
Real and classic games taken apart and rebuilt as models.
How Wooga balances June's Journey
How an economy designer models a live game and uses Play to balance it.
Stardew Valley diagram, part 1: Livestock
A full walk through modeling the livestock loop of a farming game, from nodes to a working model.
Balancing a hyper-casual game: Pen Run
How to build a small mobile game model and balance it with repeated Play.
More videos, including recorded webinars, are on the Machinations YouTube channel.