Pattern

Braking engine

A braking engine is a drain or other negative-feedback structure that limits a growing flow, possibly pushing it to a stopping threshold.

Ask
What drain regulates the other loop?

Sources

  1. Michael Sellers, Advanced Game Design: A Systems Approach, ch. 7, p. 240If the braking engine’s regulation of the player’s resources is too severe, such that it overcomes the main reinforcing loop in a boosting engine or an economic system, the player will soon have insufficient resources to act in the game.
  2. Ernest Adams and Joris Dormans, Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design, ch. 4, pp. 61–62, 66–70Negative feedback creates equilibrium, while positive feed- back
  3. Ian Schreiber, Level 10: Final Boss, “Inflation”; “money sinks”; “Trading”Negative-sum elements are sometimes called “money sinks,” that is, some kind of mechanism that permanently removes money from the player economy.

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