Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Resources
All economies revolve around the flow of resources. Resources refer to any concept
that can be measured numerically. Almost anything in a game can function as a
resource: money, energy, time, or units under the player's control all are examples
of resources, as are items, power-ups, and enemies that oppose the player. Anything
the player can produce, gather, collect, or destroy is probably a resource of some
sort, but not all resources are under the player's control. Time is a resource that nor-
mally disappears by itself, and the player usually cannot change that. Speed is also
a resource, although it is generally used as part of a physics engine rather than part
of an internal economy. However, not everything in a game is a resource: platforms,
walls, and any other type of inactive or fixed-level features are not resources.
Resources can be tangible or intangible. Tangible resources have physical properties
in the game world. They exist in a particular location and often have to be moved
somewhere else. Examples include items the avatar carries around in an inventory
or trees that can be harvested in Warcraft . In a strategy game, the player's units are
also tangible resources that must be directed through the world.
Intangible resources have no physical properties in the game world—they do not
occupy space or exist in a particular location. For example, once the trees in
Warcraft have been harvested, they are changed into lumber, which is intangible.
Lumber is just a number—it doesn't exist in a location. The player doesn't need to
physically direct lumber to a site to build a new building. Simply having the right
amount of lumber is enough to start building, even if the building is constructed far
away from the location where the lumber was harvested. Warcraft 's handling of trees
and lumber is a good example of how games can switch between tangible and intan-
gible treatments of resources. Medical kits (tangible) and health points (intangible)
in shooter games are another example.
Sometimes it is useful to identify resources as either abstract or concrete . Abstract
resources do not really exist in the game but are computed from the current state
of the game. For example, in chess you might sacrifice a piece to gain a strategic
advantage over your opponent. In this case, “strategic advantage” can be treated
as an abstract resource. (Abstract resources are intangible too—obviously, “strategic
advantage” is not a thing stored in a location.) Similarly, the altitude of your avatar
or units can be advantageous in a platform or strategy game; in this case, it might
make sense to treat altitude as a resource, if only as a way of factoring it into the
equation for the strategic value of capturing particular positions. The game nor-
mally does not explicitly tell the player about abstract resources; they are used only
for internal computation.
 
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