Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Large decisions such as the ones that Kathy faced in her quest for fifth-grade total-
itarianism can be daunting. What's more, the relationship between the various pieces
and parts can be obscure and intertwined. How, then, do we approach unwinding
this mass of threaded relationships until we have broken them down to their
component parts? Once we have reached a reasonably atomic level, we can begin to
make judgments about
just that one item
. The smaller the decision, the fewer factors
are involved in analyzing it. The fewer the factors, the easier it is to see how they
interrelate. Therefore, the trick is to start small… and then simply ask, “What is
important?�
The Layer between Supply and Demand
If I may play the role of the proud father once again, I will relate what my youngest
son, Aaron, surprised me with the same time as Kathy's socio-political epiphany.
Aaron is a little more than a year younger than his sister and was, therefore, nine
years old when this lightning bolt struck.
We were playing
Zoo Tycoon
together (which I whole-heartedly recommend as
a teaching tool for elementary school children). We had been working on a new zoo
for a while and had a handful of exhibits up and running. Aaron, pausing in
thoughtful analysis commented, “Dad, we've got some interesting stuff for people
to see now… and there are more people coming into our park. We should think
about raising the park admission price. That way we would have more money to
build with.�
Eager to turn this into one of those vaunted “teaching moments,� I asked him
how much he thought we should raise the admission. He sat back slightly and nar-
rowed his eyes in thought and then gave a response that seemed very odd coming
out of a fourth-grader. The following is probably an over-dramatized recollection
of the exchange due to my unconscious desire to make my kid look brilliant.
However, to the best of my knowledge, it is pretty darn close to what he really said
that day.
Aaron: “Well… I'm not sure. But we can't raise it too much.�
Curious Dad: “Why not?�
Aaron: “Because if we raise it too much, we could actually lose money.�
Astounded Dad: “Really? Aren't we raising it so we can make more money?�
Aaron: “Yeah… but if the price is too high, then less people will come. We will
make lots of money off the ones that do come in, but we won't get the money of the
people who decide not to come in.�
