Quotas and When to Quit
Hit the quota and you can leave; stay longer for more, at more risk.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Solo decisions
- Design focus
- Risk · Planning · Optimization
No.055Deep Rock Galactic01The core loop
Action → feedback → next choice- 01Take a quota
- 02Gather toward it
- 03Decide to stay or go
- 04Settle rewards and risks
↻Feedback changes the situation — the next round starts from there.
Walk through one round
A simplified design example. Situations and numbers illustrate the mechanic, not exact rules from a reference game.
- T1
Turn 1 · The situation
Primary ore is at 225/225, 50 slots remain, and a swarm is due in 2 minutes.
- T2
Turn 2 · The player chooses
The player mines secondary minerals for one more minute, then calls extraction.
- T3
Turn 3 · The feedback
The pack reaches 40, the swarm arrives early, and the run home ends at 20% health.
- T4
Turn 4 · The next decision
They make it out and plan to leave more buffer next time.
How it plays
Each outing has a required quota; once met you can leave or keep gathering extras. Staying invites more enemies, less time or higher risk, and failure may cost what you already have.
What the player weighs
- Leave at quota vs. greed for bonuses
- Focus on the main quota vs. side objectives
02Start small
Scope is an editorial estimate for the minimum prototype, not the reference game or a production schedule.
03One mechanic, different implementations
Deep Rock Galactic
Missions have a primary quota and optional secondary goals; afterward you call the drop pod and fight back to it, and latecomers get left behind.
Stardew Valley
There's no hard quota, but mine runs are bounded by energy and the clock; staying past 2 AM makes you pass out and can lose items, while Community Center bundles provide long-term collection goals.
The difference worth noticing
In Deep Rock Galactic quitting is a tense extraction; in Stardew Valley it's spread across daily time and energy management.
Case notes are Yoroll editorial summaries; rules may change between versions.
04What could you combine?
Layer in oxygen: after meeting quota the pod takes time to arrive while air keeps draining, so greed can strand you.
Prototype this combo in Yoroll→Follow the next idea
Dig to the Right Depth
The ore you want lives at a certain depth, so you have to get there.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Solo decisions
- 01Choose a target resource
- 02Descend to its layer
- 03Mine and face danger
- 04Save a shortcut, return
Air-Limited Harvesting
Every breath is a countdown; one more pickup is one step farther from the surface.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Solo decisions
- 01Dive with full air
- 02Gather while watching air
- 03Decide when to turn back
- 04Surface, refill, repeat
Break It Down for Parts
Strip furniture and wrecks for parts, at the cost of time, tools and the object itself.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Solo decisions
- 01Find something to break down
- 02Weigh yield and time
- 03Dismantle with a tool
- 04Keep the useful parts