Matches and a candle stub: when lighting should cost a match and when not

Every wasted match feels cruel in a horror game, but not every failure is the player's fault. Here is how to decide which attempts burn a match, how a candle keeps its wax between lightings, and what a draft changes.

Why this works

A scarce item feels fair only when it is spent by a real choice. So a match goes only on an actual try, and nothing is charged when the action could not have worked anyway. Then the player blames the draft, not the game.

When not to use it

Do not use it in a game where light is plentiful and scarcity is not the point. Counting matches and wax there is just bookkeeping, so give an endless light source and keep the tension elsewhere.

In the full entry

• What to build, step by step
• Starting values and the reason for each
• 2 common mistakes and the fix
• A diagram of every state
• 26 lines of example code with 4 checks that pass
• How your AI shows you that it works

Say this to your AI

Use the Spielerando entry "Matches and a candle stub: when lighting should cost a match and when not" (read_entry narr-candle-matches-relight-rules) in my game. Build it step by step, and show me how you checked that it works.

Or skip this and connect the MCP: your AI then finds all of this by itself.Connect the MCP