ANDREA ORTINO
SYSTEM DESIGN
Balancing the Farming, Ingredients, and Meals Economy
PROJECT - TOWN OF ZOZ
ROLE - DESIGN LEAD
This case study covers the design and balancing of Town of Zoz’s farming and ingredient economy, a system connecting combat, crafting, and trading into a unified progression loop. The challenge was to define the value of every ingredient, seeds, and meals within a complex network of sources: combat rewards, farming yields, vendor stock, and quest requirements.
I created a simulation-based spreadsheet tool to evaluate the economy chapter by chapter, using ingredient availability, recipe usage, and player progression as key inputs. The result was a balanced economy where ingredient rarity, farming times, and demand were all reflected in pricing and availability.
IN A NUTSHELL
CHALLENGES
Town of Zoz features a barter-driven economy in which ingredients are the main form of trade and progression. Balancing this system required understanding how multiple acquisition sources, combat, farming, shops, and quests, interacted over time.
Ingredients were dropped by “ingredient monsters” of varying difficulty encountered across different chapters. Their rarity and timing directly influenced their value. Seeds added another layer of complexity: farming provided resources at different daily rates, but seed pricing was directly tied to ingredient value, creating a feedback loop where each influenced the other. Meals introduced another layer of recursion: their prices depended on ingredient cost, while their buff strength also affected the perceived value of those same ingredients, feeding back into the system.
The main challenge was to quantify each ingredient’s true value based on both supply-side factors (availability, time to obtain, growth rate, quantity produced) and demand-side factors (recipes used, quest requirements, and buff strength).
APPROACH
I then built an initial balancing sheet by importing enemy loot tables, early-game encounters, and foraging data. The first iteration focused on Chapter 1 but expanded to the full game once the structure proved reliable.
MAPPING & SETUP
I began by diagramming all the interconnected loops that governed Town of Zoz’s economy, clarifying how each system influenced the others.
Macro systems loop
Loot table
Ingredients data
Recipe calculator
SIMULATING SEEDS & REFINEMENT LOOPS
I built parallel sheets for seeds and vendors. For each crop, I considered growth time, number of harvests, and daily sellable output to calculate both average and maximum daily revenue.
Vendors' stock
Seeds data
After comparing seed profitability to ingredient resale value, I refined both sets of data until they aligned.
I tested the first pass in-game, playing through the initial chapters and gathering QA feedback to identify pacing or pricing inconsistencies.
At this stage, I implemented a recursive adjustment formula that rebalanced ingredient prices by referencing seed value averages and vice versa. This created an equilibrium where prices stabilised after several passes, accounting for both farming and trading profitability. I later extended the same logic to meals, introducing a buff-scaling multiplier to ensure that stronger recipes carried appropriate economic weight.
PLAYTESTING & ITERATION
Following the first simulation, I organised a full playtest across Chapters 1–4, collecting data on purchasing power, vendor stock flow, and ingredient availability. These results informed a second tuning pass.
COLLABORATING & MENTORING
Once the economy reached a stable balance, I onboarded a senior systems designer to co-run simulations and validate ongoing tuning. Together, we maintained the spreadsheet as a live balancing tool, continuously updating stock tables, seed growth rates, and buff multipliers as gameplay evolved.
I also mentored junior and mid-level combat designers on how to interpret the data for encounter balancing, ensuring that loot drops, farming yields, and player income stayed consistent.
OUTCOMES
The finalised system produced a believable, data-driven economy that linked combat, farming, and trading into a single progression loop. The simulation tool became a shared reference across departments, accelerating iteration and improving communication between design and QA.
READ MORE
You can read more case studies at the links below. For any questions or further details, you can send me an email at asortino11@gmail.com or a connection request on LinkedIn