I actually did die the first time I played, and it does become challenging if you stay on a floor for a long time--I think what it is is that the exist cost is low so you can keep ducking out with a decent amount of profit and keep upgrading until you become nigh invincible. I LOVE your idea with the amount of gold as a win state, since that would really make you have to weigh the pros of staying in the cave to get more money while the difficulty also increases vs escaping, getting upgrades (but setting you back against the win state) and knowing that future failure is more costly since the exit cost increases with every attempt (I can't remember off the top of my head if this was already the case or not, but the starting difficulty gradually ramping up as you attempt more times would also highly incentivize risking staying on a floor a long time and somewhat counteract your upgrades too). I think you 100% have the right idea with that!! I actually liked robbing the same dragon in the same dungeon again and again, kinda explains why it gets harder to exit + any difficulty increase every time. The dragon is getting tired of your greedy butt :)