A market that talks back

In ProtoWorks you start with a 3D printer in your garage and grow a business step by step. That only works if selling isn't automatic, so this week we reworked the economy.

Buyers are finite

Every market has a limited number of buyers. Print the same keychain a hundred times and demand drops, then slowly recovers. Near-identical products share that saturation: a different colour doesn't make a new product.

Costs keep running

Wages and power are now charged continuously, even while you're not looking. The Management window shows where your money goes: materials, packaging, wages, power and marketing. A €300 efficiency installation, for example, cuts local power use by 40%.

Not finished yet

To be honest, this milestone hasn't passed acceptance yet. The balance was checked in simulations, but it still has to prove itself in a real play session. We'll come back to that later this month.