Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
elaboration and desiGn Focus
elaboration and its reverse, simplification, can be great tools to match the mechanics of
your game to its design focus: your intended gameplay. if your game is primarily about
combat, you might create elaborate mechanisms for that part of the game and use sim-
pler mechanisms for parts of the game that the player will spend less time on (and care
less about). if you notice that the mechanisms controlling secondary gameplay (construc-
tion or inventory management, for example) are too elaborate, try replacing them with
simpler patterns or even single elements. sometimes it is better to replace a complex
production mechanism with a simple source that has a random flow rate. By choosing to
elaborate the mechanisms that generate the most important gameplay and simplify the
other aspects, you can focus your design on what matters most to your player.
extending the Pattern language
The patterns in this topic are the result of many studies of existing games and also
of using Machination diagrams to help design games. However, we do not mean to
suggest that the pattern language as presented here is complete. Although the pat-
terns we have described already capture many important aspects of a wide variety of
games, we expect that in the near future we will add more patterns to this collec-
tion. In fact, we encourage you to keep an eye out for more interesting patterns that
emerge from your own designs or from your analysis of other people's games.
When encountering a new pattern, it is important to try to describe it in generic
terms. You might have found a new pattern in a science-fiction game about inter-
galactic trade, but that doesn't mean the pattern and its participants should take
their names from that game. When describing new patterns, stick to the description
format and general terms described in the earlier section “Pattern Descriptions.”
Identify and name the most important participants; try to think of a number of dif-
ferent ways to implement the pattern, but most importantly identify the common
design problems your pattern solves.
 
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