Words, numbers and rewards on screen

Error copy that helps, one number formatter, and the reward rules players notice.

1 min read

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Error text names the exact blocker and the fix: "Need 3 wheat", not "Not enough resources".
Never show raw ids, "?", "nil" or empty interpolations ("Season begins!"). Guard every string that interpolates data.
Pluralise and pick a/an in one helper. "Fishermans", "a Egg" and "Sword (Gold)s" all shipped from inline string building.
Toasts are about 40 characters with one verb. Longer ones get more time on screen. Tutorial lines stay at six words or fewer.

One formatter for HUD and panels. Two formatters will disagree on screen.
Watch the suffix bug: stripping trailing zeros from whole numbers turns 250K into "25K" and 100K into "1K". Strip only after the decimal point.
Currency prefix first: "$1.36K", not "1.36K$".
Count-up tweens: one per key, cancel the previous one, and always land on the exact target.

One denominator everywhere. "Conquer 7 more" in one place and "0/8" in another breaks trust.
Compute tags per item, never type them in. Every crate saying "SAVE 10%" while real savings were 10, 16 and 13% is a lie the player can check.
Show net values. Income net of upkeep, not gross.
Overwrite every mock value on a screen's first draw. Search the mockup for its sample strings; leftover demo numbers ship surprisingly often.

Hide zero rewards entirely: no "+0 gems".
Never auto-claim. A silent join reward is never seen and quietly breaks the starting balance. Claims go through a visible button.
Unaffordable: a grey plate. Tapping it says how much is missing and pulses the currency counter.
Dedupe identical toasts: restart the timer and pulse instead of stacking copies. Cap the stack at about four.
Don't spoil a reveal with a generic "purchase granted" toast before the reveal plays.