Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
We can expand this basic combat construction in two ways. First, we can take into
account different unit types by using color coding. For example, we might distin-
guish between stronger and weaker offensive units by having each type of unit
activate a different drain. This is illustrated in
Figure 6.50
. Blue units have more
offensive power than green units, because they have a higher chance of destroying
an enemy.
orthoGonal unit diFFerentiation
ideally, every type of unit in a real-time strategy game should be unique in some way
and not just a more powerful (but otherwise identical) version of another unit. This
design principle is called
orthogonal unit differentiation
and was first introduced by
designer harvey smith at the 2003 Game developers' conference (smith 2003). in Figure
6.50, the blue units have a greater chance of defeating an enemy than the green units,
but they are otherwise identical, so they violate this principle. One way to (slightly)
improve the design would be to lower the price of the blue units but also to make them
available only after constructing an expensive building. This would differentiate their
impact on the game: investing in the blue units presents the player with a considerable
risk and with a potential high reward against the fairly low-risk and low-gain strategy of
going for green units.
FIGURe 6.50
combat with different
unit types
We can also add the ability to switch between offensive and defensive modes. This
can be modeled using two different pools for attack and defense (
Figure 6.51
). By
moving units from the defense to the attack, you start attacking your enemy. In this
case, color coding can be used to prevent immobile units (such as towers or bunkers)
from rushing toward the attack.
