Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Games with many random factors become hard, if not impossible, to predict. In
games that have too many random factors, players often feel that their actions have
little impact on the game. One of the strengths of creating games with emergent
gameplay is that most of the dynamic behavior of the game arises from the com-
plexity of the systems, not from the number of dice rolled.
It is our conviction that a well-designed game relies on pure chance only sparingly.
A game with only a few deterministic feedback loops can show surprisingly dynamic
behavior. When you use emergence rather than randomness to create dynamic
gameplay with uncertain outcomes, all decisions made by the player will matter.
This encourages her to pay attention and engage with the game.
Frequency and impact oF randomness
When using randomness, you should be aware of how its frequency and impact affect
the game. The impact of the randomness of a mechanic is often related to the range and
distribution of random numbers created. For example, in some board games, players roll
one die to move, and in others they roll two. With one die, they have an equal chance of
moving from 1-6 spaces. With two, they can move much farther, from 2-12 spaces, but
the probability distribution is not equal; they are more likely to roll a 7 than any other
number.
When designing games of emergence, it is almost always best to aim for random me-
chanics that operate frequently but have a relatively low impact on the game. increasing
the frequency of a random mechanism is generally a good way of reducing its impact:
You can expect that in the long run the odds even out.
There are two situations in which adding randomness is a useful design strategy:
It can force players to improvise, and it can help counter dominant strategies.
Use Randomness to Force Improvisation
Many games use randomness to create a situation in which the player is forced to
improvise. For example, the random maps generated for games such as
Civilization
and
SimCity
create new and unique sets of challenges each time players start a new
game. In the collectible trading card game
Magic: The Gathering
, each player builds
his own deck by selecting 40 or so cards from his collection. But every time he starts
a new game, he needs to shuffle them. Players might control the cards in the deck,
but they must deal with them in a random order. Planning and building your deck
is one part of the skill that goes into playing
Magic: The Gathering
. Improvising and
spotting opportunities as they occur while the game develops is another.
