Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURe 4.3
a short game with
quick reversals of
fortune
The Shape of a Game of Chess
We can take the development of players' fortunes in a game of chess as a basis for
studying shapes in game economies. In chess, the important resources are the players'
pieces. Chess players (and computer chess programs) assign a point value to each
piece depending on what kind it is. For example, in one system, pawns are worth
one point, rooks five, and the queen nine. Adding up the value of all the pieces one
player has on the board produces a number called
material
. Players use their pieces
to maneuver on the board to gain strategic positions.
Strategic advantage
can be
measured as an abstract resource in the game.
Figure 4.4
depicts what might be the
course of play between two players in a game of chess.
FIGURe 4.4
The course of a par-
ticular game of chess.
The color of a line indi-
cates the color of the
player it refers to.
