Void Installer
Category: 4X Drain Test / Resource Management
Engine: Unity (C#)
Itch.io: thyarcanist.itch.io/voidinstaller
Origin
Originally conceived as a “Shall We Date! Obey Me” fan game. Pivoted to a space station tech-janitor concept where the player cleans corruption from artifacts while managing cascading resource drains. The scope was too large for a solo project, but the proof of concept does what it set out to do: test whether a 4X-style drain economy could sustain tension in a confined environment.
Core Loop
The player sits at a terminal on a space station. Corruption nodes spawn on screen. Click them to clear them and earn Amagus (cryptocurrency). Use Amagus to buy shields and food. Survive timed supernatural events. If system integrity hits zero, the station blue-screens and the game ends.
Everything drains simultaneously. The question is which drain kills you first.
Resource Systems
System Integrity (0-100)
The station’s health. When shield points are depleted, integrity drains at 0.3/s. If it hits zero, the game transitions to the Death02 scene (blue-screen). This is the lose condition.
Shield Points (0-250)
Absorbs damage at 1/s. Applied in 100-point chunks when a shield is enabled. When shields are at zero, the drain transfers directly to system integrity. Shields are the primary expenditure.
Player Health (0-100)
Affected by Beel and Mammon events. Eating restores +25 health. When health is above 75%, system integrity passively regenerates at +1. Health is the secondary buffer.
Player Hunger (0-100)
Normal drain: 0.2/s. Fast drain: 3.4/s when triggered. Eating (E key) restores 15 hunger and consumes 1 food unit. Food costs Amagus from the delivery menu.
Amagus (Currency)
Float-precision cryptocurrency, clamped between -1.3 and 99.9. Starts at 0.3. Earned by clearing corruption nodes. Spent on shields and food. The negative floor means Mammon events can put you in debt.
Shield Economy
Four shield tiers with different point values, costs, and stock limits:
| Tier | Points | Cost (Amagus) | Stock | Restock Timer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shield 01 | +25 | 5 | 5 | 30s |
| Shield 02 | +50 | 10 | 4 | 60s |
| Shield 03 | +75 | 20 | 3 | 90s |
| Shield 04 | +100 | 35 | 2 | 180s |
Stock restocks in sequence: Shield 01 first (30s), then 02 (60s), then 03 (90s), then 04 (180s), with a 5s buffer before the cycle repeats. This means higher-tier shields are both more expensive and slower to reappear. Buying Shield 04 is efficient per-point but risky because you might not see another one for 6 minutes.
Corruption Nodes (Clicker.cs)
Nodes spawn at random locations with a random click requirement (1-5 clicks). Each node has a 5-second screen timer. The player’s click rate is measured against a 0.8 validation threshold.
Two node types:
| Type | Tag | Material | Amagus Reward |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enemy | Enemy | Red | +0.1 |
| Money | Money | Gold | +0.6 |
Gold nodes are 6x more valuable but appear less frequently. Every frame a node is on screen, it triggers ShieldValueCheck(), which means the drain is always running. Nodes are not just income, they are the clock.
Supernatural Events
Beel (Beelzebub) - Every 60s
Consumes 1 food if available. If no food: -25 health. This is the hunger pressure. Miss a food purchase and Beel punishes you directly.
Mammon - Every 80s
If Amagus > 0.5: reduces Amagus by 0-3 (random). If Amagus <= 0.4: -5 health. Mammon is the economic pressure. Hoarding currency is punished, but being broke is also punished.
Together, Beel and Mammon create a rhythm where the player must maintain both food reserves and a currency buffer. Optimizing for one makes you vulnerable to the other.
Window Breach (SpaceViewWindow.cs)
The station viewport has 25,000 integrity. If breached, a 10-second alarm triggers and the player is physically pulled toward the breach point via lerp-based suction. This is the environmental threat layer on top of the resource drains.
Boot Sequence and Login
BootSequence.cs types out a welcome message character-by-character with keypress SFX and soft-error sounds at the character limit. PlayerLoginInformation.cs generates random credentials from preset lists. Three failed login attempts trigger a 15-second lockout. This frames the entire game as a work terminal session.
Multiple Endings (EndingCheckList.cs)
Four ending branches (END00 through END03) based on accumulated event points. Events throughout the game modify a score, and EndEventChecksum() selects the ending. The object persists across scenes via DontDestroyOnLoad.
Supporting Systems
| System | Role |
|---|---|
| EntitySpawner | Spawns Enemy and Money nodes at random intervals (3-10s) |
| OtherMenus | Delivery menu with food items (Cheese Mac 0.5, Pizza 0.7, Wings 0.3, Fries 0.4, Calzone 1.0 Amagus) |
| AudioStreams | Internet radio stations streamed via URL (Arcane Radio, Third Rock Radio, etc.) |
| PlantGrowth | Plant lifecycle (Seed to Sprout to Growth to Flower to Dead) with light and water failure states |
| CameraSwitcher | Q key toggles between seated (terminal) and standing (station) views |
| Core.cs / Wallet.cs | Alternate stat system with Hunger, Health, Energy, Satisfaction, Paranoia, and Amagus tracking |
What This Proved
The drain test validated that simultaneous resource pressure (integrity, shields, hunger, health, currency) creates genuine tension without complex AI or combat systems. The supernatural events (Beel/Mammon) act as periodic stress tests that force the player to maintain balanced reserves rather than min-maxing a single resource. The scope was too ambitious for a full game, but the economic core works.