CORE MECHANICS

Matt Nelson

Core Mechanics & Gameplay

Core Mechanics manage the gameplay: Implement all actions Implement challenges

Challenges & Core Mechanics

A game's core mechanics (CM) implement the mechanisms by which most challenges operate Also checks if that challenge has been overcome

Level design specifies particular challenge core mechanics provides the pieces to implement it

Passive vs Active Challenges

Passive:

Do not necessarily need to be instantiated Perhaps an unchanging feature in the landscape

May cause triggers or get rewards for completing particular challenge

Passive vs Active Challenges

Active:

more complex, designed specifically and carefully:

A puzzle within a dungeon A boss fight

Pic of AC: Borgia Tower

Crouching mechanism in most FPS games symbolic posture changes (upright to crouching) camera change may also change other mechanics

aim sway movement speed accuracy character size

Actions & the Core Mechanics

Player's actions that trigger mechanics:

Binary data Pressing the X button

Boolean – true/false

Analog data Tilting the joystick (or mouse)

Direction Value

Actions & the Core Mechanics

Player's actions that come with data:

Core Mechanics Design

“Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.”

(Do not create more entities than necessary)

– Attributed to William of Occam

“It is simple to make something complex, and complex to make it simple.”

- Matt Nelson of McMaster

What is the point of a game?

Goals of Design

What is the point of a game?

Goals of Design

TO ENTERTAIN!

What is the point of a game?

Goals of Design

TO ENTERTAIN!

Strive for simplicity and elegance

Look for patterns, then generalize

Don't try to get everything perfect on paper

Find the right level of detail

Strive for simplicity and elegance:

Goals of Design

Simple games are easier for players to learn. That gives the game a broader appeal.

Soccer: 1 ball 2 teams Put the ball in the other net No hands

Look for patterns, then generalize:

Goals of Design

Pokemon's damage multiplier system:DamageMultiplier =weaknessTable(moveType,

pokeType)

Make the common case fast.

Goals of Design

Weakness table.

Don't try to get everything perfect on paper:

Goals of Design

Requires iterative refinement Build prototype that implements the Core

Mechanics

Test + adjust

Find the right level of detail:

Goals of Design

Familiar cases / ordinary scenarios can use less detail.

The first car to complete 500 laps wins.Unambiguous, but simple.

Less familiar cases need more detail.Anything fantasy

Goals of Design

Pseudo-code works well when designing

Video-game INDUSTRY, not just an art studio.

Core Mechanics Design

Revisit earlier design work

Look for (and list): Nouns: Likely an entity (class) Verbs: Likely a mechanic

Keywords: If/When/Then/Until/As long as All translate into programming terms. May be needed in creating mechanics

Core Mechanics Design

What is the player going to do?

Your flowboard of the game's structure

Your list of gameplay modes and your plans for them

General outline of the story you want to tell

Characters

General plan for each level

Victory and loss conditions

Non Gameplay actions

Core Mechanics Design

What is the player going to do?

Core Mechanics Design

What is the player going to do?

Build a civilization!

Core Mechanics Design

What is the player going to do?

Build a civilization!

“A game is a series of interesting choices.”-Sir Meier

Core Mechanics DesignEconomic/Growth choices Spread out with lots of low level cities?

Large land mass: more resources more to defend

More ability for tech advancements Have fewer but larger cities Smaller land mass

less to defend less ability to defend

More ability for Culture advancements

Core Mechanics DesignMilitary choices Types of units-Modified Triangle:

Strong at 1 particular thing (counter) Weak at other roles.

Political choices Ally with someone? Sacrifice military strength for economic

advantage? Ravage enemies with less economy/tech, but

military strength?

Core Mechanics DesignDevelopment choices Where to place new cities:

Near the mountains? Little food- slow growth More ability to produce stuff – higher potential,

but takes much longer to get there. Near the coast?

Less potential to make stuff. Plenty food - quick growth

Your Civ might not be able to deal with a city too large too early.

Core Mechanics DesignEntities: Each Civilization/Player is its own entity. Within each:

Tech Tree Political standing with other players. Each city Each unit

Mechanics: Combat system City growth rate Production Rate Researching new techs. Then adding to Tech Tree

after completed.)

Core Mechanics Design

Your flowboard of the game's structure: Mechanic for keeping track of what state the

game is in. Only certain mechanics are available in certain

modes. Ex. Loading a saved game only allowed when

you're in the menu state

Core Mechanics Design

General outline of the story you want to tell:

If someone died earlier in the game, and the story reflects that - there's a mechanic that decides which ending the player sees

Characters: will likely will be entities.

Core Mechanics Design

General plan for each level:

You might know what you want to have happen in each level (challenge wise)

Challenges might be either an entity: Boss a mechanic: Puzzle

Core Mechanics Design

Victory and loss condition: Need to implement a mechanic to check these

conditions

Non Gameplay actions: Mechanic to:

Save the game. Move the camera /dance

WoW had dances. THAT needs a mechanic

Core Mechanics DesignLIST YOUR ENTITIES AND RESOURCES What does the noun represent?

Resource? Independent Entity? Element of another entity? Something Else?

If it's an entity, is it simple or compound? If it's compound, what are its components

(attributes/other entities)?

Core Mechanics DesignADD THE MECHANICS

Reread the designs: Look for somehow s

These must be tuned to be precise instructions

Mechanics consist of: Relationships Events Processes Conditions

Core Mechanics DesignADD THE MECHANICS

Think about resources

Must consider: Sources Drains Converters

Each of these are mechanics that need to be included

Core Mechanics DesignPic of advanced wars.

Core Mechanics Design The player somehow gets money

The player somehow builds new units

The player somehow repairs units using money

Core Mechanics Design The player somehow gets money

The player gets some money from captured cities $1000 per city per turn

The player somehow builds new units Particular cities (factory/airport/seaport) can build

new units The player somehow repairs units using money.

At the start of the turn if a unit is sitting on an appropriate type of city it gets some health back 20% per turn at the cost of 20% of its value to

buy a new one.

Core Mechanics Design

Random Numbers

Computed between 0 and 1 then scaled to cover the range needed.

To see if an event occurs, a random number is generated and if it's less than the event's probability, the event happens.

Pseudo Random Numbers

The random number function takes a value called a “seed” determines the sequence of random numbers the algorithm

produces. Identical seeds mean identical numbers.

If a seed is used twice, the same “random” value will appear

Seed is usually a function of the system clock Usually sufficient enough to keep things random.

Monte Carlo Simulation

“Sim game” option in sports games. A weak team may beat a strong team

While testing the sim function is run many times Overtime the win/loss record will converge on the

appropriate %.

Uniform Distribution

1 2 3 4 5 60

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.1

0.12

0.14

0.16

0.18

Non-Uniform Distribution

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 120

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.1

0.12

0.14

0.16

0.18