Game Mechanics

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Systems, Progression, Economy, Balance

Related notes: Ludology Game Design Game Mechanics Game Theory Level Design

[[08-01-01-GameDesign]] [[10-01-01-GameTheory]] [[Classic_Mechanics]] [[05-01-01-MechanicsSingle]] [[09-01-01-Ludology]] [[10-01-01-GameTheory]] [[12-01-01-Lore]]

https://youtu.be/Nj7EaryBgak crafting !!!

  • collecting < exploring need to be
  • lab -
    • skill base controll
  • purpose of things
    • -

CASINO

  • oportunity - get sth of valu
  • unpredictable rewards - you have no ida when
  • quick repetibility -

variable reinfocement loop

  • near misses
  • losses disguises wins - whenn you win less than you put but it can be stil thought as a win.

Randomnes

Types: input - good pre random - fair, more strategic game, post random output randomness - less

limit randomnes to get exxpected effect more offten.

Casino.

mechanics - how game works dynamics - how player acts asthetics - how player feels

thrill of unknow struggle to survive can be also feeling > relax (flowe) experience - comanding a strship character

Structure

Mechanics should be part of narration - We’ve now gone from just having a really simplistic puzzle about opening a door to an entire story experience. Justification of gameplay mechanics written in to the lore

  • Enable narrative through systems
  • Use mechanics as metaphor how rules incentivize to act stories.

Systems

Game as system

  • Interaction with system
  • Control
  • Feedback

Random Encounters

Beacons - random dice rolls for multiplayer. posted publicly over time for later verification + link to previous number (like posting time & date)

Emergent systems

Emergence - phenomena where Entirety of system exhibit properties that parts of system don’t have. emerge arise from complexity. World is build upon its emergence. Enable larger possibilities with simpler components

Modeling techniques:

  • Explicitly pre-determined - calculation is linear > linear story
  • Emergent Systems - simulation parallel > parallel gameplay
    • Systemic emergent - when rules of system can be combined in novel outcomes
    • Narrative emergence - sequence of event .

Structure dynamics:

| |Topologies (how elements are connected. relationship between objects. Linear, tree, network, )| |-|-| |Agents | (very flexible, sims) |Network | (longer time boundaries - sims online, or structures like city) |Layers | (SimCity). Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mind Overall, the concept of a social network with flexible agents and rigid layers offers a dynamic environment where structure allows for focused interaction, but individuals still have the freedom to adapt and explore.

Complex systems, specifically focusing on networks and group dynamics:

  Dynamics
Propagation Flow: material(people cargo), information (communication), pattern(compression of traffic). propagate through space and time. Vector fields. Wave. (farther is less amplitude but longer wave) vertical propagation. (like corporate delegation, if actor cannot resolve ask up node), propagation through agents (bees & flowers)
Growth (in size or number, more links, network,) s-curve is natural. Faster growth until lack of resources
Group Cooperation driven by competition. Depend on economies of scale, enabled by communication and control, encourage specialization (when efficiency of group is better than being alone, breeds network (competing interdependent balanced with cooperation)). Groups of similar items is classification. Group soldiers if to many decision on lower level. / Attraction tend to create groups. Flocks, Gravity/ Group have boundaries (Go)
Order  
Allocation Allocation of time, how to spend time. (game of priorities)
Mapping Forming temporary networks, (Tetris), fighting game (what weapon use against sth,..). State machines have inside mapping. Map correct response,
Specialization Like town districts. need enough components, strategic allocation of resources,
Nesting  

Ways topologies are mapped on dynamics:

  Paradigms (ways topologies are mapped on dynamics)
Network Theory  
Adaptive system Complex systems like biological (watch not adaptive). Machine learning
Chaos Theory Small change in initial condition will have vast change in system.
Cellular automata Highly emergent. Conway’s Game of Life
System Dynamics  

Competitions > growth > Grouping > specialization > propagation > allocation > network > boundaries >nesting, level up (can start competition again on higher level)

Will Wright’s Dynamics for Designers 2003 GDC

Generative systems

Potential of generative stories depend on how elements of mechanics are connected together If you generating the whole story your mechanics must include loss and recovery

  • repeated consents (non procedural) is where you cannot do otherwise

Structure

  • Relationships
  • Ecosystem

Progres

… also by probability with advancement in progression and pacing

how to reflect growht in mechanics

Feedback loops (output pushed to input)

Good feedback techniques ! !!!! important part

  • Positive: … increase ains to more gains , loses to more loses (loose chest figure mean u weeker)

  • Negative - balance out failures and posit. - Mario carts, those at back get powerful weapons. winners punished and losers are rewarded (keep changes in equilibrium)

  • Positive, - help push to conclusion for party game where everyone is equal - frustrating for weaker players (snowball problem)
  • Negative - unfair to successful players. - can send mixed signals

Pyre - mix

Achievements

Leveling

leveling curves - rpgs - more u level up, more time takes to level up again

Risk aversion problems:

Grind

Repeated battles for the sole purpose of increasing party level, stats

  • czasowy jak w Ogame

Farming

Repeated battles for the sole purpose of finding a rare item drop

Backward pedaling

doom 2016 forward combat - build forward momentum from glory kills

Camping

Like in gears

Puzzles

A food puzzle

  • Tells you how to solve it, inherent in its design
  • Doesn’t relay on outside knowledge
  • is also adjustable in difficult by adding or reducing information

types:

  • find clues with key parts
  • puzzle

game eg. with simple rules with costs. of building : offence - 2 defence - 1 production - 5 maping decisions how to play (what build next).

  • short / long term
  • hi risk hi reward / lo risk
  • order (productopn, missions, what to build first)
  • Allocation suplay network
  • Boudries

Balance

Math + syste, + psychology gamebalanceconcepts.wordpress.com/ + GDC Video

Appearance of balance in experience. Math + systems + psychology
Methods:

  • Designers intuition and experience
  • Playtesting (and changes on exploits)
  • Analytic (data from game and drawing statical conclusion )
  • Math modeling (model and choose proper One)

trade danger for time for advancemetn … and more

  • Economy - balanced
  • Ecology - emergent

YT GDC Board Game Design Day: Board Game Design and the Psychology of Loss Aversion
YT GDC Three Statistical Tests Every Game Developer Should Know
YT GDC 2016 MuteA Course About Game Balance
YT GDC 2018 Power Curve
Gamebalanceconcepts

.

Creating/deriving a cost Curve

Balance on skill
Balance between benefit and cost
Can reward certain playstyles

Grim Dice

Deices that beat each other in circle - highest number win

Numeric relationship Between Resources

linear and identity triangular and polynomial exp and log chains of relationships

Probability

balance on chance Dices Cards

Gamble Beating mechanics.

Probability Fallacies and failures

human intuition get probability wrong

Situational balance
Probability recursion

monte carlo + avarage
markov chains - A Markov chain or Markov process is a stochastic model describing a sequence of possible events in which the probability of each event depends only on the state attained in the previous event. ..

https://datagenetics.com/blog.html !!!!,

Metrics

Prevent yourself from opinions, and look how they related to team final goal. Outline golas and define succes. Separate facts (metrics) form opinions and use fact for understanding (analytic). and guide decision making. What you are budling / Why / Who for « this define goals.

Metrics Analytics
Mathematics Social science
Tangible Intangible
Past Future
Information Transformation
Gathering Asking questions
Reporting Analyzing
Statistical analysis

how to calculate when have probability … you are threat it as probability

statistics is revert probability

mean, mediana standard deviation z test statistic significance

Progression & Reward Curves

also by probability with advancement in progression and pacing

leveling curves

etics !

Intransitive mechanics. game theory

Payoff matrices

transitivity-in-game-theory https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2019/10/the-math-of-games-what-is-transitivity-in-game-theory.html

difficulty

  • not only HP or strength but also what u see on screen

https://datagenetics.com/blog.html

statistics

  • avarage can be different when sample is small, and sensitive to outliers
  • p - chance of being wrong false positive
  • mediana - half
  • corelation and association is not causation: direction of causality may be unclear ot there may be a hidden confounding variable.

t-test - mann-whitney test -

Bargaining

game theroy config that preclude domininat solutions - non nash equilibrium games

stelth is a puzzle stelthGamerBR YT

Exapmple mechanics for single player shooters:

  • extraction
  • rouglike
  • survival

etics !

mini games

minigames color words numbers logic zrecznosciowy ./ arcade time

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