Worthbound Economic Model

Status

Canonical System File
Version: 0.1
Authority Level: System
Depends On:

00-Core/00-Worthbound-Design-Constitution.md
00-Core/03-Core-Design-Law.md
00-Core/04-Player-Experience-Loop.md
03-Archetypes/03-Archetype-Balance-Framework.md
09-Production/00-Mobile-First-MVP-Rescope.md
09-Production/01-MVP-Scope.md

1. Purpose

This file defines the economic model of Worthbound.

The economic model explains:

how money moves through the game
what creates pressure
what creates progress
what converts survival into freedom
how the player reaches the passive-income win condition

For the mobile-first MVP, the economic model must remain:

legible
tunable
strategically meaningful
light enough for mobile readability
strong enough to support archetype contrast

2. Core Economic Identity

Worthbound is a financial pressure-and-conversion game.

The player begins in a state of paycheck dependence.

The economy is built around one central transformation:

convert active income into durable passive income before pressure, lifestyle drag, or disruption collapse the system

This means the economy is not just about making money. It is about surviving obligations long enough to build ownership.

3. Core Economic Loop

Each cycle, the economy follows this pattern:

active income enters
passive income enters
fixed expenses are paid
event effects modify the player state
the player may spend, save, protect, or invest
the player’s future income, expenses, risk, or resilience changes

This loop repeats until:

passive income reaches or exceeds expenses or
the player collapses beyond recovery

4. Core Economic Variables

The MVP economy is built around these primary variables:

Active Income
Passive Income
Total Income
Fixed Expenses
Variable Pressure
Cash
Debt
Protection State
Asset Count / Asset Quality
Net Cycle Surplus

These variables should remain visible, simple, and strategically legible.

5. Definitions

Active Income

Money earned from the player’s labor or primary work pattern.

Examples:

salary
professional pay
business income
side-hustle labor income

Passive Income

Money earned from owned systems that do not depend directly on current labor each cycle.

Examples:

rental-style asset income
investment-style recurring income
business/system income that continues after purchase or setup

Total Income

Total Income = Active Income + Passive Income

Fixed Expenses

Recurring obligations that the player expects to pay every cycle.

Examples:

housing
transport
food
debt payments
baseline household burden
protection premiums

Variable Pressure

Non-fixed burdens introduced by events or temporary situations.

Examples:

repair bill
health expense
one-time family cost
temporary income loss

Cash

Liquid money currently available to the player.

Debt

Outstanding burden that reduces future freedom through payments, interest-like effects, or psychological pressure.

Protection State

The current level of protection coverage affecting event outcomes.

Net Cycle Surplus

The player’s post-obligation breathing room in a cycle.

Recommended baseline formula:

Net Cycle Surplus = Total Income - Fixed Expenses - Variable Pressure

This is one of the most important feeling metrics in the game.

6. Core Economic Law

Worthbound’s economy must teach this truth:

Income creates motion, but ownership creates freedom.

A player can survive for a long time on active income. They do not win until passive income overtakes expense burden.

This law must remain visible in both economy tuning and UI communication.

7. The Pressure Structure

The economy should create pressure from three directions:

7.1 Obligation Pressure

The recurring drain of fixed expenses.

7.2 Disruption Pressure

The unpredictable cost of events, interruptions, and setbacks.

7.3 Behavioral Pressure

The player’s own temptation to:

overspend
overextend
underinsure
chase upside without reserves
mistake income for progress

A good run is not built by avoiding pressure entirely. It is built by becoming structurally stronger than pressure.

8. The Progress Structure

The economy should reward progress through four channels:

8.1 Surplus Growth

The player creates more breathing room each cycle.

8.2 Expense Control

The player prevents fixed drag from consuming progress.

8.3 Asset Conversion

The player turns cash or opportunity into recurring income.

8.4 Protection Stabilization

The player reduces the odds that one bad event resets progress

These four channels should work together.

9. The Win Condition Structure

The primary MVP win condition is:

Passive Income >= Total Expenses

For clarity in implementation and UX, the game should visibly track:

current passive income
current total expenses
the gap between them

This gap is the player’s most important long-term progress measurement.

Recommended Derived Metric

Freedom Gap = Total Expenses - Passive Income

Interpretation:

positive number = still dependent on active income
zero = escape threshold reached
negative number = player is beyond the threshold

This metric should be easy to surface in the UI.

10. Archetype Integration Rule

The economic model must preserve archetype identity.

That means archetypes should differ meaningfully in:

active income size
expense burden
surplus margin
disruption sensitivity
opportunity conversion speed
protection dependence

Examples:

Skilled Worker should feel practical, affordable, and interruption-sensitive
Professional should feel stable but at risk of stagnation
Corporate Climber should feel powerful but leaky
Entrepreneur should feel high-upside but unstable

If the same economy model makes all four feel similar, the tuning has failed.

11. Mobile-First Economy Rule

The economic model must remain understandable on a phone.

This means:

keep core variables limited
avoid unnecessary hidden math
avoid dense accounting simulation
show the player the main cause of gain or pain
preserve short-cycle readability

The player does not need full financial realism. The player needs clear cause-and-effect.

12. Cash Role

Cash is the player’s flexibility resource.

Cash should matter because it allows the player to:

survive disruptions
buy opportunities
improve protection
reduce debt
avoid panic decisions

Low cash should create tension. Healthy cash should create optionality.

The economy should make the player respect liquidity.

13. Debt Role

Debt is a drag and pressure amplifier.

Debt should not exist merely as a number. It should create real tension by:

increasing recurring burden
narrowing flexibility
delaying asset conversion
making recovery harder after disruption

Debt should be simple in MVP, but meaningful.

14. Asset Role

Assets are the core bridge between survival and freedom.

An asset should do one or more of the following:

generate passive income
reduce future fragility
improve opportunity access
improve long-term efficiency

In the MVP, assets should feel:

understandable
desirable
consequential
not overly complex to compare

15. Protection Role in the Economy

Protection is part of the economy, not outside it.

Protection affects the economy by:

reducing collapse risk
lowering event damage
preserving cash
protecting opportunity timing
allowing safer strategic play

Protection should have a visible economic tradeoff:

pay now for stability later

But the player should be able to feel when that trade was worth it.

16. Opportunity Role in the Economy

Opportunities are the player’s engine of transformation.

A good opportunity system should create tension between:

safety and upside
liquidity and growth
immediate relief and long-term freedom
discipline and temptation

Opportunities must never feel like automatic correct answers. They must feel like strategic commitments.

17. MVP Tuning Priorities

When tuning the MVP economy, use this order:

First

Ensure the passive-income win condition is achievable but not trivial.

Second

Ensure each MVP archetype has a credible but different path to reach it.

Third

Ensure fixed expenses feel meaningful.

Fourth

Ensure events can hurt without making recovery impossible too often.

Fifth

Ensure protection feels worth buying but not mandatory in every exact moment.

Sixth

Ensure opportunities feel valuable enough to pursue.

This order preserves identity before fine precision.

18. Economy Failure Patterns

The economy should punish these failure patterns clearly:

living as though salary equals freedom
letting fixed expenses rise too fast
staying underprotected
depleting cash without a plan
taking upside with no reserves
refusing to convert cash into ownership
carrying debt too long without strategic reason

These should feel like understandable mistakes, not invisible punishment.

19. Economy Success Patterns

The economy should reward these success patterns clearly:

building surplus
controlling fixed drag
buying productive assets
protecting the downside
maintaining liquidity
avoiding lifestyle traps
using archetype strengths well

This creates the learning-through-consequence identity of Worthbound.

20. Working Summary

The Worthbound economy is built around one transformation:

survive paycheck dependence
create surplus
convert surplus into ownership
protect against collapse
grow passive income
escape when passive income reaches expenses

That is the economic model.