Economy & Progression
Currencies & drops
- Zingthons — the run currency. Drops from kills, spent in the card phase. Pickups are collected locally per client during the wave and reconciled at wave end (see Multiplayer & Networking for why).
- Aura — the ability resource, dropped by enemies and regenerated.
- XP — per-enemy XP drops feed player leveling; XP Gain is a stat.
- Consumables & healing — enemies roll a consumable drop rate; healing shards heal a percentage of the picker’s max HP.
- A magnet radius on each player auto-collects nearby drops (Pickup Range stat).
Prices & the Allegiance economy
Cards and shop entries carry base prices per rarity tier. The Allegiance stat moves shop prices (positive = discounts) — several perks trade combat power against economy (e.g. Police Badge, Spray Can). Weapons also carry negative Allegiance modifiers, making strong weapons an economic commitment.
🚧 TBD — price curves per rarity/tier, Zingthon income targets per wave, and the intended economy arc (when should a player afford their first Tier 3?).
In-run progression
Card phase picks: new weapons, weapon tier-ups, perks. Weapon slots are a stat and can grow (e.g. Extra Arm).
Permanent progression (meta)
- Upgrades — permanent purchases (stat effects, rarity, price) bought in the MainMenu shop.
- Unlocks — characters, weapons and perks can carry unlock conditions; achievements and unlock state persist in the global save slot.
- Saves — a global slot (unlocks, achievements, settings) plus a local slot (active run state), JSON on disk.
🚧 TBD — full upgrade tree contents, achievement list, and whether runs are resumable mid-planet.