No Second Currency

The question

Most live-service economies run on two currencies: one you earn, one you buy. The earned one is throttled so the bought one feels necessary. No Second Currency removes the second one entirely and asks what’s left.

The concept

A short roguelite where every run pays out a single resource — marks — earned only by playing well. Marks buy permanent unlocks, but nothing that shortcuts skill: no stat boosts, no revives, no time-savers. They open options, not advantages. The design bet is that removing the pay-to-skip lever forces the progression to justify itself on feel alone.

Why it matters

The dark pattern in most progression systems isn’t the grind — it’s the manufactured grind, tuned to a length that makes the wallet the path of least resistance. Strip the wallet out and the tuning has to become honest. If the loop is still compelling at that point, it was well designed. If it collapses, the monetization was load-bearing, and that’s the tell.