Schell Games

[{"content":{"text":" Schell Games' commitment to education is something we live every day; in the products we create, the work environment in the office and the ways we share that knowledge with others. Each month, we'll be dissecting a different Lens from The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses by our CEO Jesse Schell and applying it to a noteworthy title. It's our hope that you use these as you develop your game or are looking to critically analyze what makes someone else's game successful. November is a super important month for the economy, bookended by general elections at the beginning of the month and Black Friday shopping at the end of the month. Both signify much about the current state of the economy and where we're headed in the future. That's why for this month, we're looking at: "},"id":"b672735e-540e-4dde-b9d2-f61a277d4275","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"location":"kirby","image":["file:\/\/gvkz45u9crf8cv4h"],"src":"","alt":"The Lens of Economy","caption":"","link":"","ratio":"","crop":"false"},"id":"71eec1d7-8f65-4542-9210-a6968cfca5a8","isHidden":false,"type":"imageBlock"},{"content":{"level":"h2","text":"The Lens of Economy","customid":""},"id":"279fe410-e550-4f12-a690-1c05d145c226","isHidden":false,"type":"headingBlock"},{"content":{"text":" How This Works: Use this Lens (full text below as well) and picture your game at the same time. See how you answer each question and how difficult it is to arrive at these conclusions. Repeat and refine until complete - how much different does your potential game look than when you started? Full Text: Giving a game an economy can give it a surprising depth and a life all its own. But like all living things, it can be difficult to control. Use this lens to keep your economy in balance: "},"id":"9b307f1f-f5b4-469c-8c52-0aa55592571f","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"text":" How can my players earn money? Should there be other ways? What can my players buy? Why? Is money too easy to get? Too hard? How can I change this? Are choices about earning and spending meaningful ones? Is a universal currency a good idea in my game, or should there be specialized currencies? "},"id":"714409d1-7e94-4e55-94ba-9b7b89849660","isHidden":false,"type":"listBlock"},{"content":{"level":"h2","text":"Example - Slots & Daggers","customid":""},"id":"99b646d6-8218-4cb2-a381-81fb85f84b1e","isHidden":false,"type":"headingBlock"},{"content":{"text":" Perhaps this pick is a bit too on the nose, but the timing couldn't be better. Future Friends Games (and Developer Friedemann ) released Slots & Daggers , a game which has quickly jumped to the top of the Steam charts, is getting played by top streamers, and is being played by seemingly everyone on my friends list. The gameplay is a retro-fantasy roguelike with a twist - all of the player's inputs into the game, most importantly the battles themselves, are handled via slot machine mechanics. Enemy preparing a huge attack? Better hope for three shields to ward off the blow. Broke? Hope for some coin icons to land on the reels to help you get stronger. "},"id":"a092870c-3c32-41c5-8218-b148b0704d11","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"location":"web","url":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/dFTzYHu58_I","video":[],"poster":[],"caption":"Any excuse to post Northernlion, I'm going to take","autoplay":"false","muted":"true","loop":"false","controls":"true","preload":"auto"},"id":"856d5305-c94f-4528-b805-9e3a2646d87c","isHidden":false,"type":"videoBlock"},{"content":{"text":" There's a ton that's great about Slots & Daggers , including engaging aesthetics and UI with satisfying rewards and a fittingly addicting soundscape. But for this exercise, I only want to examine this game via the Lens of Economy. The game has two basic types of currency: coins which you use during runs and chips which you use after runs to increase the success of future runs. The scarcity of coins, especially in the early game, is masterful. Coins are essential to leveling up abilities, purchasing new ones, and even to use many essential skills that come with an added coin cost. All of this variety with one scarce currency causes the player to make big decisions early and often such as: 1) Do I upgrade my weapons, go for big damage and not worry about coins? 2) Do I focus on getting coins so I can power scale into the later battles easier, even though I might die earlier? 3) If I use this paid ability to win the fight, is it worth not being able to upgrade after the fight? As you can already see, the tension of where each slot machine reel falls is amplified by the risk-reward of your coin strategy, causing already tense fights to often become white-knuckle affairs with each spin. "},"id":"36a102d8-a537-4cfb-94af-4d961fb9be62","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"location":"kirby","image":["file:\/\/hmctjzgg3eaxzkz4"],"src":"","alt":"","caption":"","link":"","ratio":"","crop":"false"},"id":"b090142e-7929-4e2d-903f-b57c526b9b42","isHidden":false,"type":"imageBlock"},{"content":{"text":" Moving on in our Lens of Economy, we see that these currencies have to walk a tightrope of being just the right amount of difficult to achieve. Too easy and the roguelike becomes a breeze, too hard and all but your most hardcore players bounce off the game. Slots & Daggers hits a perfect balance here. In the early game, I tended to be looking for ways to make interesting builds that would cause a lot of damage and get me as many coins as possible. There's even bonus coins for finishing fights as quickly as possible. From there, it was up to the will of the slot machine gods as I hoped I got the right reels (please no triple shields right when the enemy is about to die) as well as the right upgrade trees to complete my build. "},"id":"556e8bc8-44b7-4191-8359-74c29d8621b2","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"location":"kirby","image":["file:\/\/gpvcdxvw3l8mkt1l"],"src":"","alt":"Screenshot of Hollow Knight: Silksong","caption":"Wriggling out of this mess takes me to the top of the Hierarchy of Needs","link":"","ratio":"","crop":"false"},"id":"e8c3cad8-c18c-4ddf-8032-761d101e02f5","isHidden":false,"type":"imageBlock"},{"content":{"text":" What completes the Lens of Economy is making sure that all of my choices made with currency matter. And boy, do they! With a game where all of your actions are ultimately determined by where the slot machine reel lands, your power lies in influencing those spins in the best way. My progress in the game tended to be slow, but with the chip currency mentioned previously, I was slowly able to get stronger, eventually unlocking even new slot reels that greatly increased what I was able to do with a build. After experimenting with critical hit builds and poison builds, I eventually cracked the code on a (SPOILER) mega-shield and axe build that tilted the game's economy in my favor. So, go play it! Enjoy the roguelike madness, but keep the rules of The Lens of Economy in mind as you tackle this and your own games. "},"id":"f6fa9ef1-f5fa-441a-b722-9db496bb2146","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"level":"h2","text":"The Art of Game Design","customid":""},"id":"0d883239-9628-4b2a-b02c-f851cbd51cb9","isHidden":false,"type":"headingBlock"},{"content":{"text":" This is just one quick example of all of the knowledge and expertise contained within The Art of Game Design . Learn more about the book, the 110+ Lenses that come with it and more about CEO Jesse Schell on The Art of Game Design website. "},"id":"d20c64ba-e079-4341-b8c7-b86c6101df96","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"link":"https:\/\/schellgames.com\/art-of-game-design","text":"Read More","class":"","id":""},"id":"d83375af-b2e5-4f35-a026-239ad00239cc","isHidden":false,"type":"buttonBlock"},{"content":{"location":"kirby","image":["file:\/\/hxonirhhjVdS96jM"],"src":"","alt":"The Art of Game Design and Deck of Lenses","caption":"","link":"","ratio":"","crop":"false"},"id":"28d92694-0e36-4bf5-b855-ead2013bde3f","isHidden":false,"type":"imageBlock"},{"content":{"level":"h2","text":"View More Lenses","customid":""},"id":"f067b7d2-afdb-46cb-8f86-afad4e5398bd","isHidden":false,"type":"headingBlock"},{"content":{"text":" All Lenses can also be accessed digitally for no cost. Use the Deck of Lenses for inspiration when developing an experience, playtesting, brainstorming, and anything in between. "},"id":"937bdf5d-63a6-43a4-9ae3-3856f93d036a","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"link":"https:\/\/deck.artofgamedesign.com\/#\/","text":"Deck of Lenses","class":"","id":""},"id":"2a31427e-1455-4ff5-ac51-1b0289e9add8","isHidden":false,"type":"buttonBlock"}]

The Lens of Economy

November 10, 2025 · insights

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