pixelheros/.claude/docs/templates/economy-model.md

Economy Model: [System Name]

Created: [Date] Owner: economy-designer Status: [Draft / Balanced / Live]

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Overview

[What resources, currencies, and exchange systems does this economy cover? What player behaviors does it incentivize?]

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Currencies

Currency	Type	Earn Rate	Sink Rate	Cap	Notes
[Gold]	Soft	[per hour]	[per hour]	[max or none]	[Primary transaction currency]
[Gems]	Premium	[per day F2P]	[varies]	[max]	[Premium currency, purchasable]
[XP]	Progression	[per action]	[level-up cost]	[none]	[Cannot be traded]

Currency Rules

• [Rule 1 — e.g., "Soft currency has no cap but inflation is controlled via sinks"]
• [Rule 2 — e.g., "Premium currency cannot be converted back to real money"]
• [Rule 3]

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Sources (Faucets)

Source	Currency	Amount	Frequency	Conditions
[Quest completion]	Gold	[50-200]	[per quest]	[Scales with quest difficulty]
[Enemy drops]	Gold	[1-10]	[per kill]	[Modified by luck stat]
[Daily login]	Gems	[5]	[daily]	[Streak bonus: +1 per consecutive day]
[Achievement]	XP	[100-500]	[one-time]	[Per achievement tier]

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Sinks (Drains)

Sink	Currency	Cost	Frequency	Purpose
[Equipment purchase]	Gold	[100-5000]	[as needed]	[Power progression]
[Repair costs]	Gold	[10-100]	[per death]	[Death penalty, gold drain]
[Cosmetic shop]	Gems	[50-500]	[optional]	[Vanity, premium sink]
[Respec]	Gold	[1000]	[rare]	[Build experimentation tax]

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Balance Targets

Metric	Target	Rationale
Time to first meaningful purchase	[X minutes]	[Player should feel spending power early]
Hourly gold earn rate (mid-game)	[X gold/hr]	[Based on session length and purchase cadence]
Days to max level (F2P)	[X days]	[Enough to retain, not so long it frustrates]
Sink-to-source ratio	[0.7-0.9]	[Slight surplus keeps players feeling wealthy]
Premium currency F2P earn rate	[X/week]	[Enough to buy something monthly, not everything]

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Progression Curves

Level XP Requirements

Level	XP Required	Cumulative XP	Estimated Time
1→2	[100]	[100]	[10 min]
5→6	[500]	[1,500]	[2 hrs]
10→11	[1,500]	[7,500]	[8 hrs]
20→21	[5,000]	[50,000]	[40 hrs]

Formula: XP(n) = [formula, e.g., 100 * n^1.5]

Item Price Scaling

Formula: Price(tier) = [formula, e.g., base_price * 2^(tier-1)]

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Loot Tables

[Drop Source Name]

Item	Rarity	Drop Rate	Pity Timer	Notes
[Common item]	Common	[60%]	[N/A]	[Always useful, never feels bad]
[Uncommon item]	Uncommon	[25%]	[N/A]	[Noticeable upgrade]
[Rare item]	Rare	[12%]	[10 drops]	[Exciting, build-defining]
[Legendary item]	Legendary	[3%]	[30 drops]	[Game-changing, celebration moment]

Pity System

[Describe how the pity system works to prevent extreme bad luck streaks.]

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Economy Health Metrics

Metric	Healthy Range	Warning Threshold	Action if Breached
Average player gold	[X-Y at level Z]	[>Y or <X]	[Adjust faucets/sinks]
Gold Gini coefficient	[<0.4]	[>0.5]	[Wealth too concentrated]
% players hitting currency cap	[<5%]	[>10%]	[Raise cap or add sinks]
Premium conversion rate	[2-5%]	[<1% or >10%]	[Rebalance F2P earn rate]
Average time between purchases	[X minutes]	[>Y minutes]	[Nothing worth buying]

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Ethical Guardrails

• [No pay-to-win: premium currency cannot buy gameplay power advantages]
• [Pity timers on all random drops: guaranteed outcome within X attempts]
• [Transparent drop rates displayed to players]
• [Spending limits for minor accounts]
• [No artificial scarcity pressure (FOMO timers) on essential items]

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Simulation Results

[Include results from economy simulations if available: player wealth distribution over time, sink effectiveness, inflation rate, etc.]

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Dependencies

• Depends on: [combat balance, quest design, crafting system]
• Affects: [difficulty curve, player retention, monetization]
• Must coordinate with: game-designer, live-ops-designer, analytics-engineer