Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
All of this is fairly simple so far… no surprises yet. In fact, we can do much the
same calculation with regard to the value of the goals themselves. Without getting
too deep into what the goals are and how we arrived at the values (we'll tackle this
problem later on in the topic), let's assume that the value of goal A (
V
a
) is 50 and
the value of goal B (
V
b
) is 75. Performing the same sort of calculation as we did with
the time expenditures, we could determine that the difference in the values of the
goals is:
In English, the value of achieving goal B is one and a half times more valuable
than what we secure by achieving goal A. Putting numbers like this into the form
of relative difference helps us put things into perspective when comparing unlike
types of values. For instance, if the difference in the value of the goals was 50%
(such as above), but the difference in the time was only 1%, then the time difference
isn't nearly as significant as the goal value difference.
All of that is well and good, but the question still comes up: Which goal should
we pursue? Goal A is closer but not worth as much. Goal B is farther away but
worth more. The only way we can solve this equation is to find a way of equating
the value of
time
and the values of the
goals
themselves. We need to place some sort
of algorithmic translation between the goal values and the time values. To do this,
we need to have an idea of what their relationship is. The problem is very context
specific, of course. The values would depend largely on the game design. Some ex-
amples might be:
Destroying an army before it can attack
Destroying a building before it can be completed
Destroying a building before it can finish producing something
Arriving at a defense location prior to the arrival of opposing forces
Of course, there may not be a particular reason that it is important to even pay
attention to the time factor. However, if there is no time pressure involved in com-
pleting either goal A or goal B, and if we know that we could do both if we want
to—and only need to select which
order
in which to do them—this problem is no
longer a big deal. Naturally, the course of action would be to accomplish goal A first
since it is nearby and then proceed to goal B when we are finished with A (Figure 7.15).
