Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Design Practice EXERCISES
1. Devise a type of challenge that involves direct player control over one or more
units other than conflict or racing challenges. Your type of challenge should involve
units trying to accomplish some familiar task from the real world. (Your instructor
may assign you a challenge type instead.) For your challenge, create three types of
units in a transitive relationship with one another so that the attributes of the units
determine that type A is better at the task than type B, and type B is better than
type C. Document the challenge, the unit types, and the attributes that govern
their suitability for the task. Then propose a shadow cost that balances the transi-
tive relationship in a way that seems credible in the context of the challenge (such
as the fuel-tank-size example in the racing game).
2. Design a game in which robots construct simple buildings consisting of a floors,
walls, and roofs, assuming that the foundations are already laid. (Don't worry
about challenges or the victory condition for this exercise.) The construction tasks
required include fetching different kinds of raw materials from stockpiles, trans-
porting them to the building site, positioning them, and fastening them to the
building. Decide for yourself what the raw materials will be; there must be at least
four types. Devise names, attributes, and appropriate functions for at least six dif-
ferent kinds of robots that work together to perform these tasks; you may divide
the robots' responsibilities any way you like, but do it in such a way that if any one
type of robot is unavailable, the building cannot be completed. Include at least four
attributes per type of robot. Document everything that you have created, and
explain how you have differentiated the robots orthogonally (which attributes each
type possesses uniquely) as well as what features and abilities they all have in
common.
Extra credit: Now adjust the robots' functions in such a way that some of their abili-
ties overlap and if any one type of robot becomes unavailable, the others will still
be able to complete the building, but no single robot can do it all.
3. Choose three different types of challenges from Chapter 9 and describe five dif-
ferent versions of each type at different levels of absolute difficulty: very easy, easy,
moderate, hard, and very hard (fifteen in all). Explain how each type of challenge
differs for each level of absolute difficulty and give examples.
4. Modify the rules of checkers (draughts) to make the game asymmetric. Play-test
the result with a friend to see if the game is still fair. Write a short paper explaining
your changes, including types and numbers of units, types of moves allowed, and
changes to the victory conditions for one or both sides.
5. Monopoly contains one game-balance weakness: The point at which one player
becomes invincible due to the action of positive feedback is typically about an hour
before the last player goes bankrupt and the game actually ends. Write a short
paper proposing changes to the rules that would speed up the action of positive
Search WWH ::




Custom Search