Realm is built on seven design pillars. They are not aspirational goals or marketing language — they are the filter through which every feature proposal, every scope cut, and every player-facing decision passes. A feature that weakens two pillars while serving only one player convenience is a bad feature, full stop. Understanding these pillars is the prerequisite for understanding every other design choice in the sim.Documentation Index
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When in doubt, return to these pillars. Every feature decision should strengthen at least one of them.
The seven pillars
Pillar 1 — Players invent the content
Pillar 1 — Players invent the content
Definition: Designers ship rules and primitives. Players ship businesses, prices, services, currencies, alliances, scams, and stories.Implication: The engine does not contain production recipes written by designers. There are no pre-defined “iron mines.” There are no scripted tutorials where an NPC hands you a sword. The team does not balance “the economy” — it balances the physics and lets the economy balance itself. The content of the world is whatever players decide to build from the primitives they are given.Test: If a feature requires the design team to pick categories — “here are the 12 official industry verticals” — it probably violates this pillar. Find the lower-level primitive instead and let players categorize themselves.
Pillar 2 — Scarcity is real
Pillar 2 — Scarcity is real
Definition: Matter, money, time, energy, and information are all conserved or finite. Nothing comes from nowhere.Implication: Every dollar you spend went to someone else’s account. Every resource you extract came from a specific plot on the map. Every production output required real inputs — materials, labor, energy, time. The economy is closed, and the accounting always balances. There is no mechanic that allows you to create wealth without someone or something providing it.Test: If you can describe a way to “get rich without anyone else getting poorer,” scarcity is broken. Find where the leak is and fix the primitive, not the symptom.
Pillar 3 — Geography matters
Pillar 3 — Geography matters
Definition: Distance, terrain, climate, and adjacency are not decoration — they create real friction and real opportunity.Implication: Goods take time to move. Plots far from population centers trade at lower prices because reaching markets costs real in-game time and money. Coastal access is genuinely valuable because water is faster than land. Choke points exist and players who control them can extract tolls. Logistics is its own economic vertical, not a background process.Test: If a player’s strategy doesn’t change based on where their plot is located, geography isn’t doing its job. Every plot should feel different from every other plot in some meaningful, economically relevant way.
Pillar 4 — Information asymmetry creates markets
Pillar 4 — Information asymmetry creates markets
Definition: Not everything is public. Knowing things has cost. Speculation requires research.Implication: You do not see all prices everywhere the moment you log in. You do not know what materials lie beneath an unprospected plot. You cannot read your competitor’s private contracts. You have to learn the market — and other players can build analytics businesses that sell that knowledge back to you at a premium.Test: If a player can know everything relevant by opening a single dashboard, you have collapsed the market into a solved game. Something must remain hidden. If making a piece of state public removes an entire category of business, keep it private.
Pillar 5 — Reputation persists
Pillar 5 — Reputation persists
Definition: Players and businesses have identity. Their behavior over time is visible. Trust is earned and burnable.Implication: Anonymous behavior is mechanically harder in Realm than in most games. Defaulting on a contract is recorded on your public profile and follows you. Reliable suppliers can charge a premium because their track record speaks for them. Scammers eventually get priced out of every relationship — or they pay the real cost of building a new identity from scratch.Test: If a player can do something seriously harmful to another player and face no consequences beyond the immediate transaction, reputation isn’t doing its job. The reputational trail must be long enough and public enough to matter.
Pillar 6 — Solo and multiplayer share one engine
Pillar 6 — Solo and multiplayer share one engine
Pillar 7 — Mobile is a companion, not a port
Pillar 7 — Mobile is a companion, not a port
Definition: The mobile app exists to monitor and quick-react. It does not exist to play the full game.Implication: “Build a factory” does not belong on a phone screen. “Your supplier is offering a 12-month contract — accept, reject, or counter?” does. “Your stock just dropped 8%, here is why” does. “Approve this $50,000 loan request” does. The mobile app is for decisions you can make in five seconds with half your attention, while the web client handles the work that requires full focus.Test: If a feature cannot be executed well in five seconds at a stoplight, it does not belong on mobile. Build it for the web client and surface only the approval/rejection step on mobile.
How to use the pillars in practice
The pillars are most useful when you face pressure to bend them. Three situations where you should return to this list:- In design reviews. Walk through the seven pillars and ask which one the proposed feature serves. If the answer is none, reconsider the feature, not the pillars.
- In response to player requests. Players will ask for features that violate pillars — auto-resolved logistics, instant travel, hidden information revealed, permanent buildings that never need maintenance. Understand why the request feels appealing before deciding whether to grant it. Often the underlying need can be addressed without violating the pillar.
- In scope cuts. When something must be cut, cut the thing that least serves the pillars. The things that most directly strengthen a pillar are the things that make the game worth playing.
Pillars that are not on this list
Several principles came up during design and were considered as pillar candidates. They were deliberately rejected. Understanding what did not make the list is as important as understanding what did.- “Always be free-to-play.” Monetization is a tactical choice, not a design principle. The pillars govern how the simulation behaves, not how it is priced.
- “Always 2D.” Currently true, but a tactic. If three-dimensional rendering ever made the experience meaningfully better without compromising the economic design, it would be considered. The aesthetic is not load-bearing.
- “No PvP combat.” A v1 scoping decision. It could change in the distant future. It is not a pillar — it is a policy.
- “Realistic graphics.” Irrelevant to the design. The visual aesthetic is a downstream choice with no bearing on whether the economy is working correctly.
Economic primitives
The 9 atoms from which all in-game businesses are composed.
Laws of the universe
The 10 engine-enforced physics rules that keep the economy honest.