Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
phase, the player spends his resources fast, while his production rate grows quickly.
During the exploration phase his resources accumulate because his focus is on a dif-
ferent aspect of the game. During the offensive phase, the number of resources go
up and down as the player switches between building and launching attack waves.
FIGURe 11.22
charting phases in an
rTs game
These three phases do not have to occur in the game, and when they do occur, they
might occur in a different order. The rushing strategy (see the section “Balancing
SimWar” in Chapter 8, “Simulating and Balancing Games”) partly depends on
executing a very short building phase and then skipping the exploration phase
and going on the offensive immediately. There are also other possible phases. For
example, a level that requires that the player capture and use resources spread
around the landscape might have consolidation phases that are mixed in between
different exploration phases. If there are multiple enemy bases, the first offensive
phase is probably followed by a similar consolidation phase. Games that emphasize
technology tree mechanics probably have a research phase, a period during which
neither offensive activity nor construction takes place, but players invest resources
to upgrade their units and production buildings.
phase transitions and complexity theory
shifts between multiple stable states in dynamic systems are an important research
topic in the science of complexity. For example, congestion in traffic is often studied
in the same terms. There are two main phases of the system, normal flow and traffic
jams, with some intermediate states. researchers hope to learn what triggers the shifts
between these phases. Phase shifts in traffic flow seem to be somewhat analogous to the
phase transition between solids, fluids, and gasses in chemistry. For example, when you
gradually heat water, nothing much happens until you reach the boiling point, when it
suddenly changes into a gas. something similar happens with roads. if you increase the
“traffic pressure” by adding more cars, the flow and average speed will be normal for a
while, until it suddenly drops and the road is jammed. shifting back to a noncongested
state might require decreasing the traffic pressure far below the point where the jam
started in the first place. in many complex systems, you see a similar asymmetry in the
changes required to go from one state to another. if this asymmetry is large, the phases
tend to be more stable; if the asymmetry is small, the system can oscillate between the
phases more easily.
