Nova series universe

This is a temporary name until a better name is picked.

Summary

The "Nova" game series takes place in a universe that is quite literally a video game world. It has video game logic, tropes and mechanics, and characters within it are aware of this and incorporate it into their decision-making. They may have abilities that are oriented toward a specific genre - like Nova herself having exceptional jumping and athleticism for platforming - or they may not.

Game Logic

Much like how reality gets bent in cartoon worlds due to the Rule of Funny, the Rule of Fun has a pretty big influence on things. Someone's convoluted plan might work simply because it would be really cool and fun if it did. Something that'd otherwise be tedious and not-fun might be different on that basis.

Characters usually have inventories (of varying sizes) that they can fit items into, able to hold a specific number of items (that may be stacked according to different stacking rules). Generally the idea of "inventory slots" is important here, and it's harder to fit a lot of unique items (that'd need different slots) than a lot of the same items (that would stack). It can be possible to upgrade your inventory to a new one with more capacity. Storage devices like chests and closets also tend to use the inventory system.

Hit points and magic points exist, and many personal statistics can be represented with a number like that. When you run out of hit points, you "die" but you reappear completely fine at the last place you felt truly safe, or whatever place you view as your home. HP and MP can be replenished easily with items.

Like in Animal Crossing, trees and fruit grow very quickly, usually exactly three days. This can provide a food source as well as an easy source of wood. Trees evidently don't need to be cut down in order to retrieve wood from them, though this only results in a small amount of daily wood each day.

Game mechanics can be exploited to create Minecraft-esque automated farms. This is the basis for Toasterland managing to become a post-scarcity society, alongside resource gathering becoming very easy.