Designing Game Mechanics - Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design - page 6

Using different media can help when creating prototypes. Programming software
usually takes much more work than simply writing down mechanics as rules for
a board game. If the same game can be played in a board game or physical game
form, it's a good idea to try the rules/mechanics in one of those forms before going
to the trouble and expense of implementing them on a computer. As you'll see in
the next section, efficient prototyping techniques are important tools in the game
designer's toolbox.
Five Different Types of Mechanics
The term mechanics has come to indicate many different types of underlying rela-
tionships between entities in games. Here are five different types of mechanics that
you might expect to find in a game:
n Physics. Game mechanics sometimes define physics—the science of motion and
force—in the game world (which can be different from the physics of the real world).
In games, characters commonly move from place to place, jump up and down, or
drive vehicles. Computing a game element's position, the direction in which it is
moving, and whether it intersects or collides with other elements makes up the bulk
of the calculations in many games. Physics plays a large role in many modern games,
from ultrarealistic first-person shooters to the popular physics-puzzle games such
as Angry Birds . The implementation is seldom strict; however, games with so-called
cartoon physics use a modified version of Newtonian mechanics so that characters
can do non-Newtonian things such as change direction while in midair. (We also
consider such things as timing and rhythm challenges to be part of a game's physics.)
n Internal economy. The mechanics of transactions involving game elements
that are collected, consumed, and traded constitute a game's internal economy .
The internal economy of a game typically encompasses items easily identified as
resources : money, energy, ammunition, and so on. However, a game's economy
is not limited to concrete, tangible items; it can also include abstractions such as
health, popularity, and magical power. In any Zelda game, Link's hearts—a visible
measure of his life energy—are part of the internal economy. Skill points and other
quantified abilities in many role-playing games also qualify; these games have very
complex internal economies.
n Progression mechanisms. In many games, level design dictates how a player can
move through the game world. Traditionally, the player's avatar needs to get to a
particular place to rescue someone or to defeat the main evil-doer and complete the
level. In this type of game, the progress of the player is tightly controlled by a num-
ber of mechanisms that block or unlock access to certain areas. Levers, switches, and
magical swords that allow you to destroy certain doors are typical examples of such
progression mechanisms.