Designing Game Economies: Why Spreadsheets Eventually Break

Game economy design almost always starts the same way: You open a spreadsheet. You define a few currencies, maybe sketch a progression curve, add some reward tables — and things feel under control. At first. But as your game grows, the economy grows with it. And the tools you started with begin to show their limits. The Standard Workflow Most Teams Use If you’ve worked on a game economy, this setup will probably look familiar: Google Sheets - balancing, numbers, simulations Miro - mapping systems and flows Notion - documenting logic and decisions Each tool solves a different problem. Together, they form a patchwork system. And that’s exactly where the issues begin. The Hidden Cost of Spreadsheets Spreadsheets are incredibly flexible — which is both their strength and their weakness. 1. Complexity Creeps In What starts as a simple table turns into: Dozens of interconnected sheets Deeply nested formulas Hardcoded assumptions References that are hard to trace At some point, the sheet stop