The Eco-System was designed as an answer to a Game Design expertise test: "You're working on a game with a resource-gathering economy. You're tasked with creating a system that justifies the presence, movement and respawning of said resources in the world. Provide a simple interaction design that fulfills these goals." The system was later reworked to be game-agnostic, keeping the original logic intact.

The framing that shaped the design: the prompt wasn't asking for an economy system — it was asking for a system that justified resource behavior in the open world. That distinction matters, because a system that explains why wildlife exists, moves, and respawns is also, necessarily, a system that makes the world feel alive. The economy follows. The life comes first.