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03 · Core Loop
Status: Skeleton · Owner: TBD · Updated: 2026-09-23
Purpose
Define what a player actually does — minute to minute, day to day, month to month — and how those loops feed each other.
To define
Loop sketch
Think about
- Name the compulsion. In Whiteout Survival it is the build queue: there is always something upgrading and always a reason to come back. In AoE it is the match. Moksha needs one primary hook — a queue that rewards check-ins, or a battle that rewards attention. Serving both weakly is the common failure.
- Timer-gating is the genre default and the genre's worst habit. Decide where you sit: heavily gated (proven revenue, hostile), lightly gated (better reviews, harder to monetise), or gated-but-generous. This single choice shapes economy, events and store.
- Sessions per day drives everything downstream. Three 4-minute sessions means push notifications, short queues and snackable events. One 25-minute session means longer battles and deeper menus. Pick a number and design to it.
- Where is the skill? If the loop is only "tap, wait, tap", the AoE half of the pitch is a lie and AoE players will say so in the reviews. Find at least one place per session where a decision beats a bigger number — army composition against a scouted defence, rally timing, terrain choice.
- Protect the end of session. The last tap should start something long (a build, a march, a research) so there is a reason to return. Design that beat deliberately rather than letting it fall out of the economy.
- Draw the loop for a day-1, day-30 and day-180 player separately. They are three different games. Day 180 is usually all alliance and events; if those are thin, the game has no long tail regardless of how good the city builder is.
Open questions
| # | Question | Blocks | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Target sessions/day and length? | Events, notifications, economy | |
| 2 | Is combat simulated, auto-resolved, or player-controlled? | Tech, pillars |