Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Carol is inside a small shed with two entrances when she glimpses
Dave approaching. She retreats farther inside so that the two players can
no longer see each other.
The game-theoretic yomi-driving thought process begins. These play-
ers have entered a matching pennies game as each chooses between the
two entrances to the shed. Carol can watch one entrance, and Dave wants to
attack through the entrance Carol is not watching and come up behind her.
If this was all there was to it, the players could work out their
mixed strategy proportions, flip their weighted coins, and get on with
it. Fortunately,
Modern Warfare 2
has lots of fuzzy yomi-forming edges
around its core game mechanics to add interest.
Here is Carol's thought process as she thinks through her options.
She may choose to stay in the shed or charge out of it through either
door. If Carol chooses to stay:
• She may focus on watching one door. If Dave comes through this
door, he will walk directly into her sights and she'll fire, instantly kill-
ing him. If Dave comes through the other door, he will shoot her in
the back before she has time to turn around. But which door should
she watch?
• She may choose to watch the door through which she saw Dave.
Dave might anticipate this and go in the back. She might antici-
pate that, and so on.
• She might choose to watch the door closer to Dave for some time,
then, having not seen him yet, switch to the other door. In this
case, she is using the fact that Dave has not attacked yet as in-
formation indicating he may have chosen the other path. Again,
Dave might anticipate this line of reasoning and counter it.
• She may look back and forth between both doors. This is a hedge.
Looking back and forth means that she will at least see Dave soon
after he enters. The downside is that Carol is disorienting herself and
disturbing her aim by looking back and forth constantly. Even if a door
is visible when Dave comes through it, Carol's aim is likely not perfectly
settled on it as it would be if she was aiming steadily at one door.
• She may choose to move around constantly within the shed. Again,
this is a hedge. Moving around makes Carol a harder target, so Dave
will likely have a slightly harder time of killing her in time even if
