Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 1.2
The Blackjack “basic strategy� card shows the
mathematically optimum play for every combination
of what the player has and what the dealer is showing.
My Choices…Your Choices…
The astute reader might notice that, in a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors or Tic-Tac-
Toe, the other player
is
making a choice. Upon further examination, however, what
can we really say about those choices? In Rock-Paper-Scissors, for example, there
are only three options. As a player, you have no information about what your
opponent is going to do (unless we dig into some major data analysis on long-term
play patterns of our opponent—or just happen to know that he has a particular
affinity for geology). Therefore, there is no real guide for the strategy that we should
adopt throughout the course of our 3-second game. At that point, we are left with
the somewhat-tepid realization that all three of our options are, for purposes of se-
lection, the same. All the results are tied up in the scoring matrix alone. Whether we
admit it or not, our selection is basically random. Or, in theory, it would be no bet-
ter than a random selection. So, while we can operate under the pretense that we are
making a choice of which option to play, truly our act of volition doesn't matter.
