Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
desiGn challenGe
devise three different ways to add obstacles or events to
Lunar Colony
. Work out the rules
and playtest the gameplay for at least one of them.
desiGn challenGe
create mechanics and an interesting scenario for a single-player version of
Lunar Colony
.
Additional economic Strategies
In economy-building games it is always a good idea to provide multiple viable
economic strategies. We widened the economic options for
Lunar Colony
with the
addition of purifiers and refineries. In this last section, we will discuss one more
option that will also create more interaction between players: raiding.
Raiding is best implemented by using the
attrition
design pattern (see Appendix B),
but in a form in which the opposition's resources are stolen rather than destroyed.
You must be careful that a new mechanism like this one doesn't unbalance the
game. If raiding is too effective, it will become a dominant strategy: The players will
use raiding only, and the other mechanisms will become obsolete. If it is too weak,
nobody will use it, and there was no point in including it at all.
In general, two design approaches can help you create a balanced experience:
n
Make sure that the two strategies (in this case building versus raiding) are differ-
entiated in the risks and rewards they might bring. We have already seen this in the
previous chapter when we discussed SimWar. In this case, it makes sense to at least
increase the risk involved in raiding.
n
Don't try to balance two strategies, but create three strategies in a rock-paper-
scissors relationship. These relationships are more stable than a two-strategy balance,
because even if one strategy appears to be better most of the time, players can start
choosing the strategy that beats it more frequently. Rock-paper-scissors relationships
are less affected by slight imbalances between the strategies.
In the case of
Lunar Colony
, we opt for the first design approach. We will make raid-
ing more risky. At the same time, we will make the raiding more effective for players
who are falling behind. This way, it creates an additional negative feedback loop
that will keep the game tight and fun.
