{"schemaVersion":1,"record":{"key":"mechanic/economy-exchange--t089","type":"mechanic","id":"economy-exchange--t089","lang":"en","title":"Supply, demand and price formation","summary":"Prices reflect availability and willingness to buy, creating feedback between supply and demand.","updatedAt":"2026-10-22","status":"active","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/mechanic/economy-exchange--t089/","jsonUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/api/v1/knowledge/en/mechanic/economy-exchange--t089.json","markdownUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/mechanic/economy-exchange--t089.md","aliases":["Supply, demand and prices"],"tags":["Economy and exchange","Mechanics and variants"],"sourceIds":["source-96be186d8ada50a0","source-c5cfb02375225753"],"sources":[{"id":"source-96be186d8ada50a0","title":"Factorio: Content","url":"https://www.factorio.com/game/content","verifiedAt":null},{"id":"source-c5cfb02375225753","title":"Offworld Trading Company","url":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/271240/","verifiedAt":null}],"sections":[{"id":"principle","title":"How it works","body":"Prices reflect availability and willingness to buy, creating feedback between supply and demand."},{"id":"variants","title":"Variants","body":"### Mechanic variants\n\n<a id=\"t089-variants\"></a>\n\n- Surplus lowers the next selling price. <a id=\"t089-v1\"></a>\n- Shortages increase the value of new supply. <a id=\"t089-v2\"></a>\n- Substitutes reduce buyer dependence on one item. <a id=\"t089-v3\"></a>\n- Delayed reactions create overproduction risk. <a id=\"t089-v4\"></a>"},{"id":"example","title":"Design example","body":"A large coal delivery lowers its price and encourages shifting some vehicles to timber.\n\nPrototype check: Test price bounds and adjustment speed after one unusually large transaction."},{"id":"context","title":"Context and limits","body":"Economic rules connect production, allocation, commitments and exchange; prices should communicate scarcity and available alternatives. Each overview separates player actions, state changes and alternative rules. Examples are hypothetical design scenarios, not claims about a named game. A prototype check states an observable question for the next iteration. Existing detailed references remain separately linked from the direction map."}],"relations":[],"placements":[{"catalogId":"economy-exchange","id":"t089","title":"Economy and exchange","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/mechanics/economy-exchange/#t089","categoryIds":["mechanics"]}],"supersededBy":[],"attributes":{"preview":{"updatedAt":"2026-10-22","title":"Supply, demand and prices","description":"Prices reflect availability and willingness to buy, creating feedback between supply and demand.","image":{"src":"images/mechanics/priority-offworld-trading-00.webp","width":1440,"height":810,"crop":{"x":0,"y":0,"width":675,"height":675},"game":"Offworld Trading Company","sourceUrl":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/271240/","originalUrl":"https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/271240/ss_fdb1d1301e763bd7cdbed153a2e83a2801bbdc67.1920x1080.jpg?t=1790866876","credit":"Mohawk Games / Stardock Entertainment","rights":"Game imagery © its respective rights holders. Publisher-distributed Steam screenshot; all rights reserved. Excluded from MIT and CC BY 4.0.","caption":"Resource stocks and distinct market prices","alt":"Resource stocks and distinct market prices","markers":[{"x":17,"y":16,"label":"Resource market price"},{"x":10,"y":16,"label":"Current resource stock"}]},"tips":["Show why a price changes and how quickly the market responds."],"examples":[{"title":"Offworld Trading Company","url":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/271240/"}]}},"endsAt":null,"provenance":"Original bilingual editorial overviews authored for gamemechanics.pro on 2026-10-20 and reviewed on 2026-10-21. Scenarios are hypothetical design examples; prototype checks describe work to perform, not completed playtests. Primary sources support the stated techniques and implementation context, not every proposed variant.","license":"CC-BY-4.0","codeLicense":"MIT","attribution":"gamemechanics.pro contributors","catalogKey":"catalog/economy-exchange"}}