Worthbound Design Constitution

Status

Canonical Foundation
Version: 0.2
Authority Level: Core
Scope: Governs all future systems, archetypes, balance, content, prompts, and wiki entries

1. Purpose

Worthbound is a premium mobile-first single-player financial life RPG about earning, spending, investing, protection, stewardship, and achieving financial escape through smart decisions.

The game is not a spreadsheet simulator.
The game is not merely a finance education app.
The game is not a universe-scale life simulator at MVP.

Worthbound is a stylized, approachable strategy game where the player navigates a financial life path through risk, obligations, opportunity, and ownership.

The player is not simply trying to get rich.
The player is trying to build a stable financial system that can survive pressure and reach freedom.

2. Game Identity

Core Genre Statement

Worthbound is a mobile-first single-player financial life RPG with board-game structure, asymmetric archetype design, event-driven progression, asset acquisition, and simplified protection systems.

Core Player Fantasy

The player chooses a life path, survives economic pressure, builds assets, uses protection wisely, and escapes paycheck dependence by growing passive income.

Core Teaching Promise

Worthbound teaches through gameplay consequence, not lecture.

The game teaches:

earning
expense management
investing
debt navigation
protection
stewardship

Legacy and continuity remain part of the broader brand direction, but they are not a full MVP requirement.

3. Core Product Boundaries

Worthbound Is

a stylized, premium, approachable mobile strategy RPG
a financial life simulation with strong game identity
a household and cashflow progression game
a risk-and-opportunity navigation game
a system about building freedom from paycheck dependence

Worthbound Is Not

a tax preparation simulator
an accounting interface
a realistic insurance calculator
a pure educational app with reward wrappers
a pure match-3 game
a spreadsheet-first economy toy
a universe-scale progression product at MVP

Mode Positioning

The former 5x5 match-3 prototype may remain as a side mode or mini-game later, but it is not part of the current MVP.

The main product is the mobile-first financial life RPG.

4. Core Progression Promise

The player begins inside a pressured financial life.

Each cycle, the player:

receives income
pays taxes and living obligations
resolves an event
evaluates a small number of opportunities
buys assets, protections, or strategic upgrades
improves resilience and passive income
advances toward financial escape

The primary threshold of escape is:

Passive Income >= Total Expenses

When the player achieves this threshold, they have reached the MVP success condition. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index="0"}

At MVP, this threshold is a clean victory state, not a required gateway into a larger universe progression structure.

5. Core Design Law

In Worthbound, the player is not choosing:

“Which option earns the most?”

The player is choosing:

“Which kind of financial life am I navigating?”

This law governs all archetype, balance, and progression design. Archetypes must express different financial life patterns rather than shallow power levels.

6. Archetype Law

An archetype is not just a job label or cosmetic biography.

An archetype must define:

income level
fixed expenses
dependent pressure
lifestyle pressure
risk exposure
opportunity access
insurance sensitivity
likely path to escape

This is the canonical definition of archetype design in Worthbound.

Archetype Design Questions

Every archetype must answer:

How does this archetype earn?
What does this archetype owe every cycle?
What disruption hurts this archetype most?
Which opportunities appear more often for this archetype?
Which protections matter most for this archetype?
What habit or blind spot traps this archetype?
What is this archetype’s most reliable route to freedom?
What financial truth does this archetype teach?

Full Canon Archetype Set

Worthbound recognizes six canonical archetypes:

Skilled Worker
Service Worker
Professional
Corporate Climber
Entrepreneur
Public Servant

MVP Playable Archetypes

The MVP playable set is:

Skilled Worker
Professional
Corporate Climber
Entrepreneur

Post-MVP Reserve Archetypes

The reserve archetypes are:

Service Worker
Public Servant

The full canon contains all six. The MVP ships with four. :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index="3"}

7. Balance Law

Worthbound does not use equality-of-salary as balance.

Balance does not mean:

same income
same risk
same expenses
same opportunity access

Balance means:

different pressures
different strengths
different vulnerabilities
different opportunity lanes
equal viability through mastery

A higher salary must not automatically mean an easier game.
Higher income may bring:

higher fixed expenses
stronger lifestyle inflation
higher tax complexity
larger downside when mistakes occur

A lower salary path may compensate through:

lower expenses
lower lifestyle pressure
cheaper early wins
more practical side-hustle opportunities

This asymmetric viability law is mandatory.

8. Blue-Collar and White-Collar Law

Worthbound must preserve viable financial progression for both blue-collar and white-collar paths.

Blue-Collar Pattern

Typical features:

lower salary
lower base expenses
lower lifestyle pressure
higher injury or interruption sensitivity
stronger practical side-hustle potential
cheaper early wins

White-Collar Pattern

Typical features:

higher salary
higher expenses
stronger lifestyle inflation
greater tax complexity
stronger opportunity access
larger upside with larger leaks

Neither lane is allowed to become the default “correct choice.”
Each lane must produce a different mastery story. :contentReference[oaicite:5]{index="5"}

9. Insurance Law

Insurance is not merely a bill.
Insurance is a protection system and a strategic freedom system.

Insurance exists to:

prevent catastrophic setbacks
reduce run collapse
preserve planning value
enable bolder but protected decisions

Without insurance, severe events may cause partial collapse.
With insurance, the player may still suffer, but the run remains structurally intact more often. :contentReference[oaicite:6]{index="6"}

MVP Insurance Families

The canonical MVP insurance family includes:

Health Protection
Income Protection
Asset Protection

Life-insurance-specific mechanics may exist later, but they are not required in the first mobile MVP. :contentReference[oaicite:7]{index="7"}

Insurance UX Rule

Insurance must not become jargon-heavy or early-game overload.

Coverage should be presented in simple, legible choices such as:

No Cover
Basic Cover
Full Cover

or:

Bronze
Silver
Gold

Worthbound favors meaningful consequence over policy complexity. :contentReference[oaicite:8]{index="8"}

10. Event Law

Events are the tests of the player’s system.

Events may include:

injury
layoff
promotion
vehicle repair
asset damage
tax refund
market drop
family expense
business volatility

Events must reveal whether the player has built:

resilience
liquidity
protection
diversification

Insurance must materially alter event outcomes. :contentReference[oaicite:9]{index="9"}

11. Asset Law

Assets in Worthbound are not decorative acquisitions.
They are the engines that convert active effort into durable freedom.

Asset design must support:

passive income generation
resilience improvement
strategic identity by archetype
progression beyond salary dependence

Assets should feel earned, consequential, and readable on mobile.

12. Education Through Consequence Law

Worthbound should teach by letting the player feel:

the burden of fixed obligations
the danger of income interruption
the consequences of lifestyle inflation
the relief of protection
the compounding power of ownership

The game must avoid lecture-first design.

The strongest learning moments are:

“I almost got destroyed, but my protection saved me.”
“That higher income did not help because my leaks were too large.”
“This small asset changed the whole run.”
“I stopped chasing status and started building freedom.”

13. Mobile-First MVP Law

The Worthbound MVP must obey this rule:

One board. One hand-friendly loop. One clear path from paycheck dependence to passive-income escape.

This rule has veto power over:

universe-scale expansion assumptions
excessive feature layering
readability-damaging complexity
desktop-first design habits

If a feature does not strengthen the one-board mobile loop, it should be cut from MVP.

14. Documentation Law

The Worthbound Master Ledger is the external memory of the project.

Its purposes are:

preserve continuity across chat limits
preserve continuity across tool resets or UG restarts
serve as source-of-truth for future design
align PRAXIS and UncleGravity around one canon
reduce drift in implementation and expansion

The documents are primary.
Prompts are secondary tools derived from the documents.

15. Prompt Architecture Law

Worthbound uses architectured prompts, not generic prompts.

An architectured prompt is a prompt derived from:

the design constitution
file architecture
canonical terminology
system law
output requirements
markdown destination

Its role is to instruct UG to build or expand canon files without violating the governing architecture.

Prompting must follow architecture, not replace it.

16. MVP Scope Law

The MVP must prioritize:

the core salary-expense-event-opportunity loop
four playable archetypes
one board
simple asset acquisition and passive income
simple but meaningful insurance
clear win condition through passive income exceeding expenses
strong readability and premium mobile feel

The MVP must avoid:

excessive realism
too many policy layers
too many archetypes at launch
content sprawl without balancing discipline
systems that feel like tax software
deep legacy architecture
universe-scale progression assumptions

17. Future Expansion Law

Post-MVP expansion may include:

the two reserve archetypes
more advanced protection systems
beneficiary mechanics
richer continuity and legacy systems
scenario modes
deeper asset categories
side modes, including match-based mini-games

Expansion must honor the Constitution rather than mutate it.

18. Canon Enforcement Rule

If any future design idea conflicts with this Constitution, the Constitution holds priority until it is intentionally revised.

If a mechanic is realistic but not fun, clarity wins.
If a mechanic is educational but not playable, playability wins.
If a mechanic adds complexity without deepening identity, it is cut.
If a feature weakens the one-board mobile-first MVP, it must be questioned.

19. Working Summary

Worthbound is a mobile-first financial life RPG about:

navigating a chosen financial path
building assets
managing obligations
surviving events
using protection intelligently
achieving freedom from paycheck dependence

That is the game.

That is the current canon.

That is the foundation from which all future MVP files, systems, prompts, and implementations must proceed.