Marketplace

The marketplace is the consumption side of the coin economy. Without it, coins become an empty metric. It's also where users feel "this buddy is mine".

Anatomy of an item

Each item carries:

• name, description, image
• category (costume, background, booster, tool)
• price — in coins, tokens, or mixed
• rarity (common, rare, legendary)
• visibility rule — "stage 2+", "holds badge X", "audience = premium"
• equip slot — what part of the buddy changes when equipped

Example

"Cowboy Hat" — 50 coins, rare, unlocked for Stage 2+ buddies. Once equipped, the widget renders the buddy wearing it.

How to set it up

1. Create a marketplace (pricing mode: coin / free / mixed).
2. For each item, set an image, price, and unlock type.
3. Add visibility rules (Stage 2+, holds badge X, etc.).
4. Mount the marketplace widget on the page where users shop.

Gotchas

• Oversized images slow the marketplace widget — cap thumbnails at 512×512.
• Tune prices against the coin economy. An unsold item is usually invisible, not expensive.
• Equipped items persist across evolution stages — make sure their visual still works on the stage-3 buddy, not just the stage-1 egg.