In-game currency systems are almost always "cash" based. You go out, get gold, spend it. Therefore, the value of gold diminishes toward the end-game, as item values inflate.
In a cyberpunk world, maybe the player has credit established. They can borrow up to a certain amount, but then there is the expectation of repayment. Ideas of minimum monthly, better rates, or some real investment opportunities depending on "credit score". Likewise, a real serious penalty for late or non-payment. Corporate death squads from the betrayed bureaus, forced to find shady dealers "off-cred"
CASTLEVANIA ROGUELIKE SIMILAR
Start out destitute, that is, broke. Have to figure out how to get back in the graces of the society around you…
You're an out of work vampire hunter because your family destroyed the vampires. Now you are sort of a liability because, with no vampires around, you're just this superhuman warrior that threatens the puny humans. Humans hate others, so they hate you.
Game is actually about avoiding becoming a vampire yourself. That is, avoiding siphoning off of others. Stand on your own two feet.
Can own property = rent-seeker
can coerce people with violence
These types of ideas
If you become in debt, then the mob flashes and presumably ends you. Can you escape? Sure, becomes a survival game without the benefit of being able to visit the town = game clock (you can't [easily] survive without the town). If you get defeated, you become homeless again, in the slums near the city you were defeated by
Story design
- initial "cutscene" is an obvious PC's final blow on an obvious boss character.
- "20 years later" A generation has passed since the Vampire Hunters clan has been relevant. You know that in 100 years there will be a resurgence of the evil, but what to do in the meantime?
- "Make a living; survive against a new challenge: the distrust of the general population who view your supernatural abilities as a threat, and to pass down the knowledge of vampire hunting to your kin"
Game starts you out on a Friday night. Just after work
Player has to decide whether to stick with the job (go in on Monday) and have similar responsibilities = guaranteed paycheck
Or to explore the world
Lots of mini games. This is not a victory style game. Could incorporate work / jobs as revenue generators; mercenary work in the form of debt collection (papers please), or repo man = more combat oriented
Ebb and flow of money.
Investment opportunities, including scams -- this is the future where if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Perhaps some vigilante justice available
Combat is unforgiving. One shot dead, unless no guns involved, in which case it's quite a challenge to subdue someone. Should not be a violence based game
Broken earth "magic" -- enter a mode that draws power from living things nearby
sip too much and you lobotomize or otherwise disable the nearby humans. This is why they don't trust you. You don't just kill their loved ones, you convert them into drained husks. Maybe these husks can then transition to ghouls when the evil spirits enter the empty vessel
Mechanic: immediate pause while animating into "gather" stance. This allows player to cancel out if erroneous push. If still holding, zoom out to regional abstraction with dots of energy/warmth = the humans' essence moving to player. Continue to hold to expand area of effect. Lerp color to appropriate gradients. Release button for the effect to take place
this needs to be an "I win" button, because it will break the game. Allow player to fall to darkness and reap benefits = become the new dracula essentially. This is the "cycle" that is always discussed in castlevania where every 100 years evil returns and the next generation vampire hunters rise up to resist
Supernatural debt?
resurrection puts you deeper in debt
do you continue to fight the "good fight" for slow recovery, or turn to more exploitative means of earning money -- if only for a short period of temporary relief
= player decision, at what cost do we work?
Simulation type mechanics and systems:
1. PC movement and interaction mechanics
2. PC combat mechanics
3. PC magic mechanics
- Energy siphon / NPC husk and trust system
4. Retail / 9to5 system
5. debt / currency mechanics - Soul debt / rebirth mechanic = pact with demonic forces