Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
By default, the game board consists of three types of squares described as follows:
•
Empty squares
: These are cells where no action usually takes place. Recall
the principle of peaks and valleys from
Chapter 2
,
Ergonomics
; this element
is a valley, a zone of some relaxation for players.
•
Door (or Container) squares
: This is a peak element of gameplay, which
consists of a zone with some actions. Here the player finds the door and his
character must try to open it by using his power. If the door is successfully
opened,theplayergetaccesstoacontainer.Hewillfindvariousthingsinside
it, either useful (bonuses/tools) or dangerous (different types of monsters).
•
Spares squares
: There are only four of these on the board, and they are
placed on opposite poles of the circle. The player can take some spare parts
from special boxes and there are no obstacles, for example, doors and parts
can be taken without any compensation.
Additionally, you can think about some other type of squares. For example, there can
be power charger squares, where the powers of a robot become stronger (by one or
two points). A tunnel can be introduced in the game, which would help to run away
from opponents and overtake somebody on the board. So say the tunnel entrance/
exit appears. I suggest using the dice to gain entry into the tunnel; if it shows a num-
ber greater than four or five, the player can travel through the core of the asteroid.
Or a fare can be levied; pay by a tool or spares card to use the subway!
By default, empty squares and door squares should alternate with each other, but
random placement of the doors can be intriguing too.
On the device, the game board is shown in two ways: partial and full. The first view
is incorporated into the game UI; the player sees a section of the asteroid where his
game piece is now situated, but only several squares are visible. This view can be
