Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
WHAT DOES THE PLAYER DO?
A genetic A-life game might not seem to have much for the player to do except
wind it up and watch it go. A closer look shows a fair number of ways the player
can interact with the creatures. She can create completely new individuals and add
them to the population to observe how their genes influence the population. She
can add and remove environmental hazards that would tend to weed out certain
genes. She can play with the rate and nature of mutation by adding or modifying
mutagenic objects or areas of the environment. She can also mate particular indi-
viduals to select particular characteristics (with animals, this is considered useful
and is called breeding ; with people, it is considered evil and is called eugenics ).
WHERE DOES
SPORE
BELONG?
Spore is a five-level game in which the player starts with a customizable “single-celled”
organism in a 2D world and builds it, in stages, into a civilization of creatures that roam
the galaxy terraforming planets to make them habitable and fighting, or negotiating
with, other species. The first two stages of the game most closely resemble an artificial
pet, because in those stages the player designs and cares for a single individual. (Even if
it is killed, it spontaneously regenerates at no cost.) The remaining stages are more like
RTS games, although the player does not have quite as much direct control as in a pure
RTS. In these stages, the player interacts with a population of creatures who are
semiautonomous.
Spore is in fact five games rather than one, with different camera and interaction models
for each, a different economy, and different victory conditions. As a result, it's not easy to
categorize. It's not a genetic A-life game; despite references to “DNA points” and a cute
form of sexual reproduction, it does not support natural selection. (Early publicity for the
game led some biologists to expect a serious simulation of evolution; they were disap-
pointed.) Spore is probably best characterized as a hybrid combination of artificial pet
and RTS, with some god game qualities as well.
Puzzle Games
Puzzles appear in games in several genres. Many single-player computer games con-
tain puzzles; in action games, the player often has to figure out the boss opponent's
weakness; adventure games are full of puzzles, frequently about obtaining inacces-
sible objects or getting information from other people; even first-person shooters
offer the occasional puzzle, figuring out how to get past locked doors and other
obstacles. Puzzle design is an essential element of game design, and it's harder than
you might think.
 
 
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