Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
The diagram omits a number of mechanics. It doesn't show how ice and ore must
be transported across the table, and it doesn't show the Transportation Capacity
and Long-Range Shuttles technology upgrades that affect that part of the game.
Some of the mechanics are unspecified: The Luxurious Habitats technology has a
positive effect on the number of points, but this depends on the size of the players'
stations. Similarly, having more enlarged stations is likely to increase the energy
production, but this also depends on factors such as station positioning and other
player decisions.
The game features two design patterns. First there is a
dynamic engine
: ore and ice are
used to produce research stations and energy points. The energy points in turn are
used to improve the production of ore and ice. It's easiest to spot this by looking at
the loop for ice. A second dynamic engine increases the number of actions available
per turn as the result of spending ore to build more stations. The second pattern is
the
engine-building pattern
. Through technology research, the player has some con-
trol over what parts of her engine to improve (actions per turn or production rates).
Two things to notice about this economic structure are that it includes only positive
feedback, and the game allows little direct interaction between the players. There's
no concept of attacking other players or stealing their resources. The most impor-
tant source of friction in the game comes from having to build way stations, which
occurs if the distance between the resources on the tabletop is large. However, this
friction is mostly static (it doesn't change with the state of the engine) and is deter-
mined by the initial setup. As the game progresses, the friction may increase as the
players need to build more way stations to get to the last resources on the table.
The basic game is already fairly balanced between the players in this initial proto-
type, although the starting positions they choose matter a great deal. The player
who picks the best starting position is very likely to win, as you might have guessed
from the lack of negative feedback in the economy.
desiGn challenGe
The end conditions for
Lunar Colony
might not be the best. can the game continue until
all resources are removed from the surface or when all of them are consumed? What would
happen if the game ends when somebody collects four or five points? What would be a
better number of points, and why? design a different type of end condition for the game.
desiGn challenGe
By looking at the basic economic structure of the first prototype for
Lunar Colony
, think of
a way to add negative feedback to the game. as a place to start, you might want to start
by going over the design patterns in appendix B.
