Godot Economy System

Decision Tree: Currency Representation

NEVER mix "use float for money" and "never use float for money" without this tree — pick one column and stick to it.

NEVER Do in Economy Systems

• NEVER skip buy/sell spread — Same buy/sell price = infinite money.
• NEVER skip currency sinks — Repairs, taxes, fees, consumables prevent inflation.
• NEVER validate spends only on the client — Server/host is source of truth in multiplayer.
• NEVER hardcode loot weights in scripts — Use Resources (loot_table_weighted.gd).
• NEVER subtract before current >= amount — Underflow / negative wallets corrupt saves.
• NEVER let UI mutate balances directly — UI requests; wallet_manager_singleton.gd / transaction_manager.gd decides.
• NEVER ignore transaction logs in serious RPGs — Audit trail for missing currency.
• NEVER exceed max caps without clamping — Cap before wrap / overflow.

Golden Path (MANDATORY)

1. currency_resource.gd — denomination metadata
2. wallet_manager_singleton.gd — balances + signals
3. transaction_manager.gd — validated spend/grant pipeline
4. Shop / loot / UI only after wallet+transactions exist

Delete ad-hoc EconomyManager gold tutorials — do not re-inline wallet logic in scenes.

Decision Points → Scripts

Available Scripts (full catalog)

• currency_resource.gd
• wallet_manager_singleton.gd — MANDATORY
• transaction_manager.gd — MANDATORY
• shop_item_data.gd
• shop_system_logic.gd
• dynamic_price_modifier.gd
• currency_label_sync.gd
• loot_table_weighted.gd — weights / rarity
• loot_drop_economy_bridge.gd — Do NOT Load if loot never grants currency
• economy_persistence_handler.gd
• currency_pickup_effect.gd
• trade_contract_resource.gd — Do NOT Load unless barter exists
• economy_logger.gd — GPM / inflation telemetry Logger
• item_value_estimator.gd — rarity-based merchant valuation

Elite Deltas

• Barter contracts: multi-item quid-pro-quo via trade_contract_resource.gd.
• GPM analytics: economy_logger.gd — gold-per-minute from [ECON] log lines.
• Value estimator: item_value_estimator.gd — rarity-driven sell curves; always below buy.

MANDATORY for GPM logging, dynamic valuation, and moved shop/loot tutorials: economy-elite-patterns.md. Do NOT Load for wallet + transaction golden path only.

Reference

Progressive disclosure: open Official Documentation links only when researching a specific API; load Related Skills when routing to a peer domain — do not preload the whole lattice.

Official Documentation

• Resources — Currencies, shop items, loot tables, and trade contracts belong as shareable Resource assets so designers can retune prices and drop weights without code changes.
• Resource — Use duplicate() when applying runtime price modifiers or per-merchant stock so one shop cannot mutate the shared .tres template for every vendor.
• GDScript exports — @export buy/sell spreads, stock caps, currency ids, and loot weights so economy balance stays Inspector-driven.
• Singletons (Autoload) — A WalletManager Autoload is the engine-supported pattern for balances that must survive scene changes (world ↔ shop ↔ menu).
• Autoloads versus regular nodes — Keep global wallet state in Autoload; keep merchant UI and one-off shop logic as scene nodes so tests and multiplayer authority stay composable.
• Using signals — Emit balance_changed / transaction_failed so HUD labels and pickup VFX subscribe without writing wallet balances from the UI.
• Saving games — Persist wallet dictionaries (and stocked shop state) with the rest of progression data; never leave soft currency only in memory.
• FileAccess — Read/write save payloads that include economy blobs; pair with project user:// paths for player-writable balance files.
• JSON — Serialize currency_id → amount dictionaries as JSON-compatible structures for transparent save/load and analytics dumps.
• Random number generation — Weighted loot and drop rolls must use Godot RNG APIs (randf, seeded RNG) rather than ad-hoc modulo hacks.
• RandomNumberGenerator — Seedable RNG instances make loot-table Monte Carlo and deterministic balance tests reproducible.
• High-level multiplayer — Spend/grant validation must be authoritative on the server; clients request transactions and apply confirmed balance RPCs only.

Related Skills

Prerequisites

• godot-resource-data-patterns — Currency, ShopItem, LootTable, and TradeContract definitions are Resource-first; load this before inventing parallel data formats for prices and drops.
• godot-autoload-architecture — WalletManager as Autoload needs disciplined ownership, init order, and namespacing so economy state does not become a god-object dump.
• godot-signal-architecture — Balance and transaction signals must stay “signal up / call down” so UI never mutates the wallet directly.
• godot-gdscript-mastery — Typed Resources, Dictionary wallets, and atomic purchase helpers assume solid GDScript patterns (guards before subtract, no float money).

Complements

• godot-inventory-system — Buy/sell and barter are atomic wallet↔inventory exchanges; stock and capacity checks belong with inventory, not only with price math.
• godot-save-load-systems — Economy persistence handlers should plug into the project save schema (versioning, migrate, encrypt premium balances if needed).
• godot-rpg-stats — Charisma/reputation discounts and sink costs (repairs) need a consistent modifier layer rather than hardcoding multipliers in the shop UI.
• godot-ui-containers — Shop screens and currency HUD layouts should bind to wallet signals; containers own presentation, WalletManager owns truth.
• godot-quest-system — Quest gold rewards and turn-in sinks are major currency sources/sinks; wire rewards through the transaction API, not ad-hoc gold +=.
• godot-combat-system — Loot-drop bridges listen to combat/loot events and grant funds without embedding economy rules inside damage pipelines.

Downstream / consumers

• godot-monte-carlo-balancer — After sinks, loot weights, and shop spreads are Resource-driven, Monte Carlo farm/career sims prove inflation and time-to-afford bands before shipping curves.
• godot-multiplayer-networking — Predicted UI spends and authoritative grant/spend RPCs build on the wallet’s request/validate/apply split.
• godot-genre-idle-clicker — Idle/prestige currencies and sink loops assemble this skill with long-horizon balance and offline accrual genre glue.
• godot-genre-action-rpg — Action-RPG shops, crafting sinks, and drop economies compose wallet + inventory + loot tables for progression pacing.

Master

• godot-master — Library router and mirrored module entry; use when discovering peer skills or syncing shared script mirrors after Domain Skill edits.