Economy & Mathematics

Game design isn't only about coming up with interesting mechanics or creating enjoyable experiences. Depending on the type of game, a considerable amount of work happens behind the scenes, particularly when it comes to progression, balancing, rewards, and monetization. Over the years, I've spent quite a lot of time working with spreadsheets, formulas, and simulations to understand how different systems interact and how small adjustments can influence the overall experience. Sometimes these tools were relatively simple calculations, while other times they became fairly elaborate models that allowed me to simulate different scenarios before implementing changes in the actual game.

I've always enjoyed this side of game design because it combines creativity with logic and problem-solving. You can design an interesting progression system on paper, but until you start calculating how long it takes players to advance, how resources are generated and consumed, or how rewards are distributed, it's difficult to know whether the system will actually work as intended. The following examples are some of the tools and models I've created while working on different projects throughout my career.

1. Slot Machine Economy

One of the areas I've explored is the mathematical side of slot machines, where understanding probabilities, reward distributions, and the relationship between different symbols and combinations is essential. Working with these systems requires a different approach from traditional progression-based games, as the experience depends heavily on how outcomes are generated and how the underlying mathematical model behaves over time.

Work sample - Slots machine

2. Throne of Legends: Campaign Balancing

While working on Throne of Legends, I developed a simulator that helped me design and balance the game's single-player campaign. The purpose was to model how players would progress through the experience and understand whether the difficulty and progression systems behaved as expected. Instead of relying entirely on manual testing or intuition, I could use the simulator to explore different configurations and make adjustments before those changes reached the game itself. This was particularly useful when working with interconnected systems, where changing one variable could influence several other aspects of the experience.

Work sample #2

3. Item Valuation and Monetization

Another example comes from a game inspired by Merge Dragons, where I developed a method for calculating the value of individual in-game items. The idea was to establish a consistent way of translating the value of resources and items into hard currency, which could then be used to determine appropriate prices for bundles sold in the game's shop. This helped create a more structured approach to monetization, rather than assigning prices to different offers based primarily on intuition. It also made it easier to compare the value of different packages and understand how their contents related to the game's broader economy.

Work sample #3a

For the same project, I also developed a method for creating and maintaining a dating simulation feature that was added to the game. This was a rather different challenge because it involved connecting a narrative-oriented system to an existing gameplay experience. The method helped organize the feature and maintain its content and progression as part of the broader game.

Work sample #3b 

4. Booty Slayers: Game Economy

Booty Slayers was the adult-oriented adaptation of Pirate Legends TD, a tower defense game I worked on as both Game Designer and Producer. The concept was to retain the replayable tower defense experience while introducing a visual novel layer that players could unlock through their progression. This required designing an economy that connected the original gameplay with the additional content, including the currencies and rewards needed to support that progression. The example below contains some of the economy work I created for the project.

Work sample #4

As I've mentioned in another article, the project ultimately struggled because its development budget kept being reduced. Nevertheless, the economy and design work remain useful examples of the challenges involved in adapting an existing game to a different audience while working within technical and financial constraints.

5. Resource Management: Economy Draft

Not every economy model begins as an elaborate spreadsheet. Sometimes the first step is simply to sketch out how different resources, production systems, and progression mechanics might interact. The following example is an early economy draft I created after a brainstorming session with one of the development teams I worked with. It was intended for a single-player resource management game and helped establish an initial structure that could be discussed, evaluated, and developed further.

Work sample #5

6. Scratch Card Game

I also worked on a scratch card game, which presented another opportunity to explore reward-based mechanics. Although considerably different from the progression-heavy games I usually worked on, this type of product still required careful consideration of how rewards were structured and how the underlying mechanics supported the intended experience.

Work sample #6

7. Slot Machine Simulator

Finally, here's an unfinished slot machine simulator I started building in Excel. The idea was to create a tool that could simulate slot machine behavior using configurable symbols and mathematical rules. As you can probably tell from the screenshot, I was experimenting with a fairly detailed spreadsheet implementation, although I never got around to finishing it.

Work sample #7

I originally wrote that I'd probably finish this one soon. Well, that didn't quite happen. :))