Prolonging Player Engagement in Game Through Economic Modeling

Introduction to the Workshop

The Game Design Workshop is a partnership between me and my education mentor, Emma Cheung, and a game design student peer group in the City of Irvine, to improve the student’s game design projects in both user experience and performance. I was proud to be a part of this cross-disciplinary collaborative project to help the game design students enhance the structure of their in-game systems and the overall balance of their gameplay.

Background to the Workshop

Our goal was to show how economic thinking could really strengthen their design process and make their projects more engaging and sustainable. From the start, our process focused on research and open discussion, combining creative design tools with structured decision-making to guide improvement. When I first analyzed their early game drafts, I noticed that while the students had strong creative direction, some key economic layers were missing. Most of their focus went toward design and story rather than the systems that drive user decisions and in-game flow.

Still, their goal was never just about creating profits or reward loops. They wanted their games to reflect novelty and social meaning. Understanding that, I approached my role not to change their vision but to make it stronger by aligning economic design with their main purpose. What made this project especially interesting was how relatable it felt as a case study. Video games are part of everyday life, and this workshop gave me a chance to apply what I’ve learned in economics to something real and familiar. It showed how entertainment can help designers think more deeply about their users and how behavior shapes experience. For me, that was the most rewarding part – using economics not only to improve a project but to help others see how understanding people and systems can make creativity more meaningful.

The Discovery

When I began analyzing Imago, my focus was on understanding how the game used emotion as its main mechanic. Imago is a fixed-view adventure game where a young girl explores her home at night with help from her imaginary friend. The game replaces traditional resources with Bravery, Imaginary Friend Energy, and Dream Fragments. These values rise and fall based on the player’s choices, creating an emotional rhythm that guides the experience.

To study how this worked, I broke down each part of the game. I examined the level layouts, item functions, environmental design, and how fear and comfort changed during play. By analyzing these elements, I could see how the emotional system quietly supported the story and how each moment encouraged the player to choose between independence and support. This process gave me the foundation I needed to design an economic model that strengthened the experience without altering the original narrative.

The main challenge was designing an economic system that improved the player’s emotional journey while keeping the story’s message intact. Imago is built around imagination and self-growth, so any new mechanic had to support these themes instead of overshadowing them. The system needed to be simple enough for players to understand, yet strong enough to shape their decisions. Balancing fear, comfort, and independence in a way that felt natural was the key problem I focused on solving.

Within three sessions, I identified several core issues from both an economics and design perspective:

A. The game lacked consistent player motivation and feedback loops.

Players didn’t receive strong or predictable emotional responses to their actions. Bravery gains, fear spikes, and comfort

boosts happened, but not in a clear pattern. This made it harder for players to understand how their choices shaped their

emotional state, which weakened long-term engagement.

B. The Imaginary Friend system reduced the emotional stakes when overused.

Because calling the Imaginary Friend had little to no cost, players could bypass fear too easily. This removed tension, lowered

the impact of dangerous moments, and weakened the balance between independence and support that the story relied on.

C. Players’ decisions had limited impact on gameplay flow.

Most choices did not carry meaningful consequences. Whether players acted bravely or relied on help, the level ofte

progressed in a similar way. Without clear differences in outcome, choices felt less important, and emotional pacing became

flatter than intended.

Drafting the Solution

I developed several economic models designed to strengthen Imago’s emotional flow and player engagement without changing the story’s original message. My role as an economic modeling advisor was to introduce systems that added structure and value to the player’s experience, helping the design team sustain engagement through emotional pacing rather than traditional monetary systems.

To begin, I worked closely with the game’s creator through interviews and surveys to understand the intentions behind each scene and mechanic. This process ensured that every suggestion I made reflected the tone and purpose of the story. From there, I built models that emphasized balance, decision-making, and reward timing – each focused on adding a layer to the game rather than altering its foundation.

My approach centered on three main goals:

Keep gameplay decisions simple but strategically rewarding.

Create emotional stimulation that follows a natural, human flow.

Make the game’s exchanges, whether emotional or symbolic, meaningful to the story’s message about imagination and self-growth.

This framework guided how I integrated the Closed-Loop Emotional Economy, allowing the game to grow in depth and playtime while staying true to its artistic vision.

Assessing the current user experience (What is the current In-Game Economy?)

Before implementing any changes, I analyzed Imago’s existing gameplay through observation and discussions with the designer. The game’s emotional pacing and decision-making systems were engaging, but the underlying economy lacked consistent balance. Players often relied on the Imaginary Friend mechanic as a safety net, which unintentionally reduced emotional tension and shortened playtime.

At this stage, the in-game economy functioned primarily on emotional cues. Players gained or lost courage depending on their actions, but these shifts were not clearly connected to long-term progression. As a result, moments of fear or growth did not carry measurable weight, and users struggled to feel a sense of momentum or reward.

Through surveys and interviews with the creator, I identified that the core issue was not the mechanics themselves, but how they interacted over time. The challenge was to translate the game’s emotional depth into a system that provided rhythm and feedback without feeling artificial or distracting.

From an economic perspective, Imago’s early economy operated as an open system with uneven flow, where emotional resources entered and exited the game without a clear loop. My goal moving forward was to design a Closed-Loop Emotional Economy that would connect bravery, imagination, and recovery in a way that naturally prolonged engagement while preserving the game’s intended message.

Refine-tuning Our Goal and Balancing Our Strategy: A New In-Game Economy

After identifying the need for a more structured emotional system, I worked with the game’s creator to refine our goals and establish a balanced in-game economy that complemented the story’s tone. We wanted to create a model that encouraged exploration and emotional investment while maintaining the integrity of the narrative, meaning the emotional system needed to support the story’s themes of imagination, fear, and self-growth without changing any plot points or character intentions.

Our goals for Imago were:

Strengthen emotional connection through consistent feedback and decision-based outcomes.

Increase average playtime without compromising the meaning of the story.

Build a natural rhythm between tension and recovery to help players stay engaged.

Instead of using money or traditional rewards, we designed an emotional-based system that treated every player action as part of a closed loop. Our goal was to create a structure where emotional loss could be recovered through effort, maintaining steady engagement and supporting the story’s tone.

This framework became the foundation for what I called the Closed-Loop Emotional Economy — a model built around risk, recovery, and decision-making. It ensured that tension and comfort rose in a natural rhythm, guiding players toward thoughtful choices without overwhelming them.

Testing re-modeled user experience

To test this structure, we observed player behavior during playtesting and tracked how their choices shifted with the new model. The data showed that players began pacing their decisions more thoughtfully, balancing when to seek help and when to take risks. After implementing the updated system, several playtests confirmed these patterns: players managed Bravery and Imaginary Friend Energy more intentionally, many began acting independently, and the Closed-Loop Emotional Economy successfully encouraged self-reliance and reflection.

Not everything worked perfectly. Some players became overly cautious and conserved resources even when it wasn’t necessary. This revealed how strongly the system influenced behavior, leading us to add small recovery moments where courage could rebuild naturally. These refinements restored pacing and sustained engagement, demonstrating how even small economic adjustments can transform user behavior in meaningful ways.

Digging Deeper and Working Through New Questions

As I reflected on the results, new insights emerged about how economic balance shapes user behavior. Small shifts in incentive structures — such as adjusting how quickly Bravery recovers or how often support can be used — changed whether players approached the game with curiosity or caution. These patterns also connected to broader issues in modern gaming, like short attention spans and the need for systems that reward reflection rather than speed. This experience helped me see how long-term engagement depends on balanced incentives, clear tradeoffs, and pacing that supports the intended experience.

As we refined the system, a few key economic questions guided our next steps. How can we create an in-game economy that motivates players through meaningful choices rather than overwhelming them? How do we design feedback loops that reward smart decisions and maintain tension without disrupting the story’s tone? To explore this, I tested multiple iterations of the balance model, adjusting variables like Bravery recovery rates, cost of relying on the Imaginary Friend, and the timing of resource depletion. These experiments led us to a final version that balanced challenge with support, encouraging players to stay engaged while still following the story’s emotional rhythm.

The iterating process showed me that effective design often means questioning assumptions, refining incentives, and adapting based on user response — lessons that continue to shape my approach to behavioral and economic systems.

Economic Model Element Breakdown

In Imago, the in-game economy functions as a Closed-Loop Emotional System where resources mirror the player’s psychological state. The three key elements, Bravery, Imaginary Friend Energy, and Dream Fragments, interact in ways that encourage emotional decision-making.

Taps and Sinks:

Taps (Earning): Players regain Bravery by solving puzzles independently, collect Dream Fragments through courageous actions, and receive comfort after moments of fear.

Sinks (Spending): Players lose Bravery during fear-based encounters, use Imaginary Friend Energy to escape danger, and spend Dream Fragments for limited guidance when alone

Balancing Strategy:

Balancing these mechanics required creating emotional tension without overwhelming the player. If fear was too punishing, progress felt discouraging. If safety was too easy to access, the message lost depth. To sustain equilibrium, I ensured every loss created an opportunity for recovery, transforming fear into motivation. This kept the gameplay loop rewarding and emotionally engaging.

Reflections on Player Behavior:

Playtesting showed that players began managing their resources more intentionally. Many conserved Imaginary Friend Energy and approached challenges with greater independence, indicating that the new economy successfully reinforced emotional awareness and self-reliance.

Fairness and Motivation:

Even without monetary rewards, fairness remained central to the design. Every gain or loss reflected effort, persistence, and emotional growth rather than efficiency or repetition. This structure demonstrated how economic design could strengthen narrative immersion and empathy.

The Road Ahead

In the final stage of this project, I presented the completed emotional economy to the Imago design team and recommended using emotional pacing as the foundation of gameplay. Through this process, I learned how psychology, incentives, and design can work together to create meaningful user experiences.

This experience deepened my understanding of microeconomics, behavioral decision-making, and emotional design. It showed me that even in highly creative environments, economic modeling can enhance engagement by shaping motivation, balance, and human response.

Moving forward, I plan to apply these insights to future collaborations where behavioral systems and user interaction intersect. If I were to revisit this project, I would integrate data-tracking tools such as heatmaps, choice-path visualizers, and session analytics dashboards to monitor how players move, hesitate, and make decisions in real time. These tools would make it possible to fine-tune emotional pacing more precisely and sustain user engagement at key moments in the game.

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