History Main / ResourcesManagementGameplay

[[caption-width-right:244:But what if you're bleeding to death moreso later?]]

* ''VisualNovel/YuNo'' has a time traveling mechanism which allows you to instantly hop between distant parts of the storyline branches, letting you carry items between unrelated scenes. There's a catch, however: you can only travel to moments where you've "dropped" beforehand a "save-jewel", a magical jewel. There's a limited amount of these, 8 in the PC-98 and Windows versions and 10 in the Sega Saturn and remake versions. This system is in place of a conventional save-load system. The timeline is extremely complex, with dozens of confusing branches, and some of the routes require items from the end of another route. It's important to leave jewels in important moments so you can return to them later. "Loading" a dropped jewel also automatically puts it back into your pocket, so you may have to remember to instantly drop it again to keep the moment easily accessible. Furthermore, to view the in-game map which you use for loading jewel-saves, you must have at least one unused jewel in your possession. [[NintendoHard Screw up, and you may have to replay a significant chunk of the game.]]

* ''VisualNovel/YuNo'' has a time traveling mechanism which allows you to instantly hop between distant parts of the storyline branches, letting you carry items between unrelated scenes. There's a catch, however: you can only travel to moments where you've "dropped" beforehand a "save-jewel", a magical jewel. There's a limited amount of these, 8 in the PC-98 and Windows versions and 10 in the Sega Saturn and remake versions. This system is in place of a conventional save-load system. The timeline is extremely complex, with dozens of confusing branches, and some of the routes require items from the end of another route. It's important to leave jewels in important moments so you can return to them later. "Loading" a dropped jewel also automatically puts it back into your pocket, so you may have to remember to instantly drop it again to keep the moment easily accessible. [[NintendoHard Screw up, and you may have to replay a significant chunk of the game.]]

* ''VideoGame/TransportTycoon'' and its successor ''Locomotion'' have you mostly building and managing land, water and aerial based public transport, but resource management does come into play. Your available finances allow you to build infrastructure, vehicles and manage budgets and PR, your popularity standing in a particular community affects if you can build there, and you even (indirectly) manage actual industrial resources based on how you interconnect various industries present in the game world (e.g. sending coal to powerplants, iron ore to steel mills, agricultural resources to food-processing companies, etc.). Even commuting passengers become a recource of sorts, as the more you improve the passenger and cargo transport infrastructure, the more towns and cities can grow in size, population and further develop.

* ''VideoGame/EnigmaAnIllusionNamedFamily'': There's only a limited amount of matches around for Minhyuk to find. Burn through them too quickly and Minhyuk won't be able to keep his fear in check or find important items.

--> ''WebVideo/TheHappyVideoGameNerd, during his review of ''VideoGame/SweetHome'' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNz93wC7W68&t=2m37s]]''

* Matches are used in ''VideoGame/EnigmaAnIllusionNamedFamily'' to [[NoticeThis reveal plot-vital items]] and keep Minhyuk's [[SanityMeter fear of]] [[PrimalFear the dark]] under control. There's only a limited amount of them to be found, they each last only five seconds each, and '''don't''' count as 'plot-important', meaning [[AlwaysCheckBehindTheChair you'll have to hunt for them]]. And randomly checking objects can make noise, attracting the killer's attention...

* Part of many {{Adventure Game}}s (including [[ColossalCave the original]]) usually in the form of food, lighting, or ammunition. Some even offer a bit of sucker's bargain where you can sacrifice some [[ScoringPoints treasure]] in exchange for more supplies.

* ''VideoGame/UnrealWorld'' is an open-world roguelike set in a land based on prehistoric, Iron Age Finland. The primary goal is to simply survive throughout the calendar year, and one can go about it in numerous ways. The game is strongly management-focused, with the player regularly needing to eat, drink, rest and sleep, avoiding overheating, hypothermia and catching diseases. Additionally, every tool and structure needs to be built from gathered resources. Resource gathering itself can often take a while, especially if there's a need for larger quantities of building materials (e.g. for building a log cabin) or rarer, special materials (e.g. quality leather, as a tying/binding implement). Outside of exploring to find new natural resources for everyday life, the player can also barter with {{NPC}}s from established settlements and existing tribes.

* The first two ''VideoGame/IronGrip'' games are a blend of first person shooter and tower defence. In ''Iron Grip Warlord'', your primary resources are "Power" (basically finance, used for building defensive structures) and "Morale" (self-explanatory; the game's progress and outcome depends on lowering the attacking enemy's morale to zero).

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' games, while some of your tools are virtually always present and available, you can run out of many items, including [[BoringButPractical regular]] and [[TrickArrow trick arrows]] (the ammo), [[TrickBomb trick explosives]] (used mostly for stunning or stalling opponents) and helpful potions (for increasing health, breath, etc.). Replenishing these items involves either finding spares strewn around the missions themselves, or buying the items anew in secret shops in between missions. Depending on how a mission is structured and what challenges it poses, one often has to adopt his tactics to ration certain ammo and items more carefully than others. Naturally, you can handle a lot of things with just stealth alone, but certain tools are very helpful in getting to places or ensuring you won't be detected as easily (e.g. water arrows for putting our lights, rope arrows for vertical exploration).

* ''VideoGame/OperationFlashpoint'' and the ''VideoGame/{{ARMA}}'' series have you managing your and fellow teammate's health, available weaponry and ammunition, available vehicles, etc., in their campaigns.

* ''VideoGame/ThisWarOfMine'' puts you in the role of an ordinary civilian trying to survive in a besieged city during a devastating modern war (the setting is inspired by the siege of Sarajevo during the [[UsefulNotes/TheYugoslavWars Bosnian War]]). You have to construct shelters in available surviving buildings, scavenge for edible supplies, fuel, materials needed for repairs, etc. You need to regularly venture outside of your (relatively safe) camp and barter or scavenge for new supplies and resources on your own. The game mechanics involve the specific group of survivors working as a team to keep a steady supply of items needed for daily survival. Though you can come across some lighter weapons and ammunition for potential self-defence, these are hard to come by and scarce.

* The ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' series offer you a lot of resource management, including food and medical items, ammunition, weapon parts, and most impressively of all, cybernetic implant modules and other software (which you can use to improve your abilities, or for accessing devices and hacking). The initial version of the second game was somewhat infamous for overdoing it with [[BreakableWeapons quickly-weathering firearms]]. Due to all the games' heavily RPG-esque approach and {{cyberpunk}}-based items, they are something of a precussor to the first ''Deus Ex'' game, which built on their ideas.

* ''VideoGame/UnrealWorld'' is an open-world roguelike set in a land based on prehistoric, Iron Age Finland. The primary goal is to simply survive throughout the calendar year, and one can go about it in numerous ways. The game is strongly management-focused, with the player needing to regularly needing to eat, drink, rest and sleep, avoiding overheating, hypothermia and catching diseases. Additionally, every tool and structure needs to be built from gathered resources. Resource gathering itself can often take a while, especially if there's a need for larger quantities of building materials (e.g. for building a log cabin) or rarer, special materials (e.g. quality leather, as a tying/binding implement). Outside of exploring to find new natural resources for everyday life, the player can also barter with {{NPC}}s from established settlements and existing tribes.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Caesar}}'' series, by the same developers as '''Pharaoh'', has very similar resource-and-distribution management. Due to the ancient Roman setting, this includes building reservoirs and aquaducts for supplying cities with water, and so on.

* ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' derives most of its challenge from this trope, once you get past the controls and other complexities. Every single resource has to be accounted for, whether you produce it yourself, acquire (or "[[VideoGameStealing acquire]]") it from caravans, or loot it from invaders.
* ''VideoGame/{{Pharaoh}}'': While resources are infinite, the rate of collection is not, and depends on many factors (building placement, workforce, distance from the raw materials, ''availability'' of raw materials if imported, having enough storage space, the weather for floodplain farming...). And if maintaining a suitable balance between having enough of a particular product both to export and satisfy your citizens' needs wasn't enough, you often get demands for ridiculous quantities that almost require you to set up dedicated storage facilities. Juggling them all is the defining aspect of the game, even with the considerable AcceptableBreaksFromReality and AntiFrustrationFeatures. The ''Caesar'' series, by the same developers, has very similar resource-and-distribution management.

* ''VideoGame/MonsterRancher''. Since monsters have a life-span ranging from 1 year to [[MinMaxing 11 years]], you have to be ''very'' cautious of what you make your monster do, and when. In general, the money in this game could be considered as no Economy Management.

* In the ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade'' series, you have to manage the health, morale and income of both your character and his band of companions and adventurers. Availability and variety of food, how well you handle battles or diplomacy with rivals, and how much you regularly pay your companions (the better the soldier, the higher the wage) all factors into troop morale. Additionally, there's also the matter of buying or acquiring better mounts, armour and weaponry throghout the course of the game, as you start alone and [[WithThisHerring with humble equipment]].

* The late 1980s Japanese horror adventure game ''VideoGame/SweetHome''. Often cited as an influence on early survival horror games, including ''Resident Evil''.
* The central gameplay mechanic in ''VideoGame/{{Turgor}}'', otherwise known as The Void. This is further complicated by the fact that there is ''one'' resource to manage that does ''everything'' (health, ammo, currency, etc). A limited amount appears in each time cycle, and it's alarmingly easy to render the game {{unwinnable}} through clumsy or reckless spending of color.

* IcePick Lodge's ''VideoGame/{{Pathologic}}'' has fairly extensive survival resource management. Everything from food and water (in various states of freshness), medical supplies (major items, given the story; incl. tablets, painkillers, special potions, tourniquets, bandages...), protective clothing (for medical reasons), to ammo (different bullets for each gun type), extra fuel for your lamp (not as important) and various baubles and cheap goods you can use for bartering. You have to have clothes and weapons repaired over time, due to wear and tear. Even resting and sleeping is something of a resource, as it's ill-advised to continue investigating or solving {{NPC}} quests without regularly caring for the player character's needs. The extensiveness of this management is logically justified by the premise, as the town the game takes place in is overrun with an ever-expanding mysterious plague. Even the prices of all these goods can grow and fluctuate a lot, both in official shops and while bartering with people, due to the ongoing crisis. The authorities and society as a whole are slowly crumbling, even though the player can somewhat dampen the worst of the spreading epidemic while also investigating the backstory of the town and the locals.

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' games, while some of your tools are virtually always present and available, you can run out of many items, including [[BoringButPractical regular]] and [[TrickArrows trick arrows]] (the ammo), [[trick explosives]] (used mostly for stunning or stalling opponents) and helpful potions (for increasing health, breath, etc.). Replenishing these items involves either finding spares strewn around the missions themselves, or buying the items anew in secret shops in between missions. Depending on how a mission is structured and what challenges it poses, one often has to adopt his tactics to ration certain ammo and items more carefully than others.

* The main resource to manage in the ''VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis'' series include finances, manpower available for recruitment, and various diplomatic statistics.

* Parodied in one strip of ''VG Cats'', where Cloud will not even spend one of his inn coupons[[note]]Not only are inn coupons useless for anything else, but even without them, it hardly costs anything to stay at an inn[[/note]] to heal a badly wounded party.

* [[http://humbit.com/rogue/ A False Saint, An Honest Rogue]] has food and temperature. Drop too low on either of those, and you start seeing things.

* ''FireEmblem'' games. You can't repeat battles, and the items you have are the ones you'll use in next battle, so not wasting your equipment is crucial for progress.
** Many of the games tend to give heaps of gold on an irregular and [[GuideDangIt unpredictable]] basis, so you can end up with no gold for several chapters if you spend it all too early.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Wild ARMs 3}}'' and ''[[VideoGame/WildArms1 Alter Code F]]'', healing items are not available in shops for any price, because the world is a dying wasteland where plants like Heal Berries just don't grow anymore. Later in the game you can grow your own healing items in a garden, but you're still limited in the number of slots for plants and how many can be produced per time period passed.
* As denoted by the quote above, ''VideoGame/SweetHome''.

* ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent'' has lantern oil [[CaptainObvious (for your lantern)]] and tinderboxes, used to light candles in the environment. Without light, your SanityMeter drops rapidly. ''VideoGame/{{Penumbra}}'' (by the same developers) has battery life for your flashlight.
* Part of many {{Adventure Game}}s (including [[ColossalCave the original]]) usually in the form of food, lighting, or ammunition. Some even offer a bit of sucker's bargain where you can sacrifice some [[ScoringPoints treasure]] in exchange for more supplies.

* ''VideoGame/{{SWINE}}'''s campaigns have this trope, despite the game being a tactical RTS. This is because ''everything'' is limited - you only earn Strategic Points at the start of every mission, which you use to field your units, upgrade them and keep them supplied with fuel, ammunition and armor repairs. The number of units you can field is finite, and all three kinds of supplies are finite - in longer missions the supply trailers used to replenish your combat units will themselves run dry. Hence the conservation of the supplies you have, or Points with which to airlift more in, becomes and important strategic factor.
* ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'' has the Staff of Life, which can only be obtained once and only used 42 times.
* In ''VideoGame/MechCommander'', salvage is everything. The credits you're paid for each mission don't cover all the repairs and upgrades you need, and some items can't be bought in stores, so you'll have to constantly gather salvage to upgrade your mechs. Also, on each mission, you're given ''very'' limited supplies of {{SupportPower}}s, such as artillery and sensor probes.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Receiver}}'', bullets are only found by threes and fours (or even ones and twos) scattered widely over the map, and you have no EmergencyWeapon. Make every shot count, in other words.
* ''VideoGame/SirYouAreBeingHunted'' makes being tracked by mustachioed, tweed-clad robots that much harder by limiting you to whatever you can scavenge and fit inside your grid. Rifles and shotguns in particular can really mess up your tetris game.
* Survival mode in ''[[VideoGame/NintendoWars Advance Wars: Dual Strike]]'' tasks you with completing several maps in a row with a limited amount of money, turns, or time. The goal is not merely to win, but to win as quickly and efficiently as possible so that you don't run out of that resource later.
* Sieges in ''VideoGame/{{Stronghold}}'' require you to make effective use of the troops, traps and structures you're given throughout the whole scenario. You can't replenish your forces, so a mistake early on can make things very difficult later.
* ''Hyperspeed'' is a game of fuel economy. You are exploring a distant galaxy, and once you travel out of range of your home base, the only ways to replenish fuel are to barter it from aliens (unreliable, costly, and often requires entangling yourself in byzantine alien politics) or through destroying alien starbases (of which there are a limited supply, and is guaranteed to make the offended species and its allies declare war on you.) Becoming stranded between stars is a constant peril; if you do become stranded, the only recourse is to bail out and lose all progress you made on your starship, effectively beginning over at level 1.
* Parodied in one strip of ''VG Cats'', where Cloud will not even spend one of his inn coupons[[note]]Not only are inn coupons useless for anything else, but even without them, it hardly costs anything to stay at an inn[[/note]] to heal a badly wounded party.
* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' has electricity. You start at 99%, and it drains constantly throughout the night, although it drains faster when you have the lights on or the doors closed. You need to make it from midnight to 6AM. If the power runs out, the robots kill you. If you run out of power between 5 and 6AM, you ''might'' be able to survive by PlayingPossum - [[spoiler: Freddy always shows up in person for power outages, and spends nearly a minute (an in-game hour) celebrating with a creepy song.]]
* ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' derives most of its challenge from this trope, once you get past the controls and other complexities. Every single resource has to be accounted for, whether you produce it yourself, acquire (or "[[VideoGameStealing acquire]]") it from caravans, or loot it from invaders.
* [[http://humbit.com/rogue/ A False Saint, An Honest Rogue]] has food and temperature. Drop too low on either of those, and you start seeing things.
* ''VideoGame/{{Pharaoh}}'': While resources are infinite, the rate of collection is not, and depends on many factors (building placement, workforce, distance from the raw materials, ''availability'' of raw materials if imported, having enough storage space, the weather for floodplain farming...). And if maintaining a suitable balance between having enough of a particular product both to export and satisfy your citizens' needs wasn't enough, you often get demands for ridiculous quantities that almost require you to set up dedicated storage facilities. Juggling them all is the defining aspect of the game, even with the considerable AcceptableBreaksFromReality and AntiFrustrationFeatures.
* ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'' could easily turn into a game of resource management, especially early on. Unlike most RTS games you carried your units and remaining resources from one mission to the next, and you didn't always have the luxury of vast resources available to replenish your forces on every map. Suffering too many loses or being forced to abandon parts of your fleet in a hasty retreat could easily lead to an {{Unwinnable}} situation. Using cheap workers to capture powerful enemy ships quickly became a go-to favorite for veteran players.

* It is possible to run out of starship fuel in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. It's not instantly fatal, as you can expend other resources to get you to the nearest star port. But if you run out of fuel ''and'' resources you can't move and the game is over. Fortunately, this is so hard to do you basically have to try to do it in order to pull it off.
* Matches are used in ''VideoGame/EnigmaAnIllusionNamedFamily'' to [[NoticeThis reveal plot-vital items]] and keep Minhyuk's [[SanityMeter fear of]] [[PrimalFear the dark]] under control. There's only a limited amount of them to be found, they each last only five seconds each, and '''don't''' count as 'plot-important', meaning [[AlwaysCheckBehindTheChair you'll have to hunt for them]]. And randomly checking objects can make noise, attracting the killer's attention...

* ''VideoGame/TheLongDark'', being a survival game, involves collecting and preserving sustenance, supplies, tools, and shelter in the midst of the harsh winter.

* ''{{SWINE}}'''s campaigns have this trope, despite the game being a tactical RTS. This is because ''everything'' is limited - you only earn Strategic Points at the start of every mission, which you use to field your units, upgrade them and keep them supplied with fuel, ammunition and armor repairs. The number of units you can field is finite, and all three kinds of supplies are finite - in longer missions the supply trailers used to replenish your combat units will themselves run dry. Hence the conservation of the supplies you have, or Points with which to airlift more in, becomes and important strategic factor.
* ''{{Spore}}'' has the Staff of Life, which can only be obtained once and only used 42 times.
* In ''MechCommander'', salvage is everything. The credits you're paid for each mission don't cover all the repairs and upgrades you need, and some items can't be bought in stores, so you'll have to constantly gather salvage to upgrade your mechs. Also, on each mission, you're given ''very'' limited supplies of {{SupportPower}}s, such as artillery and sensor probes.

** ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent'' has lantern oil [[CaptainObvious (for your lantern)]] and tinderboxes, used to light candles in the environment. Without light, your SanityMeter drops rapidly. ''VideoGame/{{Penumbra}}'' (by the same developers) has battery life for your flashlight.

* ''{{Pharaoh}}'': While resources are infinite, the rate of collection is not, and depends on many factors (building placement, workforce, distance from the raw materials, ''availability'' of raw materials if imported, having enough storage space, the weather for floodplain farming...). And if maintaining a suitable balance between having enough of a particular product both to export and satisfy your citizens' needs wasn't enough, you often get demands for ridiculous quantities that almost require you to set up dedicated storage facilities. Juggling them all is the defining aspect of the game, even with the considerable AcceptableBreaksFromReality and AntiFrustrationFeatures.