Construction and Management Simulations - Fundamentals of Game Design - page 533

plan-and-build but deducts the resources necessary for construction immediately
when it is planned. Resources drain out of the game instead of being transported to
the site. Although this is unrealistic, it means that the player can build something
only after he definitely has enough resources for it, and he doesn't have to worry
about moving resources from point to point .
Dungeon Keeper , another hybrid, makes a particularly interesting example because
construction is actually excavation; it takes place underground, and the player
can't see the area he is digging into. Excavations often encounter immovable
rock or lead to previously unknown caves, underground rivers, or pools of lava.
Excavation is also irreversible; the game offers no way to close an excavated area.
This encourages players to be cautious. Suddenly digging an opening into an area
full of enemy creatures is a major hazard of the game.
FUNCTIONAL CONSTRUCTION CHALLENGES
Construction and demolition is easy in most games: point, click, and it happens, so long
as the resources required are available. If you want to make the process more of a chal-
lenge, you can impose constraints on how things may be constructed and test to see
whether the construction meets some required standard. The game Bridge It , for
instance, requires its player to use certain predefined bridge elements — towers, beams,
cables, and a roadway — to construct a bridge across a body of water. It also requires that
the bridge actually support a load moving across it (see Figure 18.2 ). See the section
“Constrained Creative Play” in Chapter 5, “Creative and Expressive Play,” for more infor-
mation about construction challenges.
FIGURE 18.2 Bridge It challenges the player to build a functional bridge.
This one was a failure. (Image courtesy Chronic Logic and Auran.)