The Game Isn’t Fair, and That’s the Point

Crunched looks like a clicker, but it’s not about winning. It’s about surviving a system that rewards obedience, exploits collaboration, and punishes stillness — all while smiling.

This post is about the core balance that drives everything.

📊 Three Bars, One Lie

There are three bars:

• Performance — goes up when you click task messages quickly
• Team Work — rises when you click colleague messages
• Composure — drops the longer you juggle everything without breaking

On paper, it looks simple. Manage your time, click well, stay balanced. But the truth is: you can't win.

If you focus on your job, your team resents you. If you focus on your team, your numbers drop. If you do both for too long, your Composure drains in silence.

The system does not reward balance — it punishes maintenance.

The game tracks which bar stayed high the longest across 10 days. That bar decides your ending:

• High Performance = you get praised, but lose your humanity
• High Team Work = they like you, but forget you exist
• High Composure = maybe you get out alive, but you lose the job

There are no “good” outcomes. Only choices that look good on paper.

💀 Burnout Isn’t a Bar. It’s a Slow Kill.

There is no Burnout stat in the UI. That’s intentional.

If you overperform for too long, the game starts to push back:

• Your mouse drifts
• You misclick
• Time feels faster
• You don’t react the way you used to

Burnout is invisible — because that’s how it works in real life. It doesn't show up on a bar. It just takes things from you until you're not sure if you’re failing… or just tired.

🔁 Daily Loop, Permanent Pressure

Each day lasts 3 minutes.

• Tasks spawn in 3 zones (Tickets, Mail, Team)
• Each message click affects bar values
• After the day ends, you get a clean break
• But the stats don’t lie — and they don’t reset

The message rate scales up every day. So does the weight of each click. The longer you play, the harder it is to juggle without slipping.

You will slip. That’s part of the design.

👎 The Best You Can Do

The core balance is built to look achievable — like there’s an optimal way to please everyone. There isn’t.

That’s the horror of it. Not jumpscares. Just the slow understanding that trying your best is still failing — in someone’s eyes.