Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Pools are not the only possible nodes in a Machinations diagram. In this section, we
will describe seven more types of nodes that you can use, including special nodes
for the four economic functions (sources, drains, converters, and traders) discussed
in the previous chapter. However, as you will see, some of these nodes can actu-
ally be re-created by using clever constructions of pools, resource connections, and
state connections. Dormans has created these specialized node types to make the
diagrams easier to read. If Machinations diagrams were restricted only to pools, the
diagrams would quickly become cluttered.
Gates
In contrast to a pool, a
gate
does not collect resources. Instead, it immediately redis-
tributes them. Gates are represented as diamond shapes that often have multiple
outputs (
Figure 5.16
). Instead of a flow rate, each output is labeled with a probabil-
ity or a condition. The first type of outputs are referred to as
probable outputs
while
the others are referred to as
conditional outputs
. All outputs of a single gate must be
of the same type: When one output is probable, all must be probable, and when one
output is conditional, all must be conditional.
FIGURe 5.16
different types of gates
in a machinations
diagram
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&'
!
*
*
!!
()
&'
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