Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Sometimes it makes sense to prey on weaker players in order to gain territories or
cards, and sometimes it is important to oppose stronger players to keep them from
winning. The number of continents a player holds has a strong influence on this.
Because continents generate bonus armies, players will generally attack aggressively
to prevent others from keeping a continent (
Figure 6.27
). The important thing is
that in
Risk
there is some form of friction caused by other players, and the influence
of this friction increases when the player has captured continents. This type of fric-
tion is a good example of the negative feedback that can almost always be found in
multiplayer games where players can act against each other, especially if they are
allowed to collude against the lead player.
FIGURe 6.27
The fourth feedback
loop in
Risk
: capturing
continents provokes
increased attacks by
other players.
NOTE
in the diagram,
the loss of territories
taken by other play-
ers' attacks is indicated
by the multiplayer
dynamic label (an icon
depicting two pawns)
affecting the resource
flow to the Opposition
drain. see
table 6.2
for
more information about
this and other types
of nondeterministic
behavior.
Figure 6.28
shows the entire
Risk
diagram. It does not model the entire game
exactly; like our
Pac-Man
example in Chapter 5, this is an approximation. See the
“Level of Detail” sidebar.
FIGURe 6.28
The complete
Risk
diagram
