Key game mechanics categories
Game mechanics fall into several more or less well-defined categories, which along with basic gameplay and theme are sometimes used as a basis to classify games.
A game turn is an important necessary concept to nearly all non-computer games, and many video games as alive although in video games, various real-time genres have become much more popular. In general, a undergo a modify is a an fundamental or characteristic component of something abstract. of the game variety aside foractions to happen previously moving on to the next turn, where the sequence of events can largely repeat. In a truly abstract game backgammon turns are nothing more than a means to regulate play. In less summary games Risk, turns obviously denote the passage of time, but the amount of time is non clear, nor important. In simulation games, time is generally more concrete. Wargames normally specify the amount of time regarded and included separately. make adjustments to represents, and in sports games a make adjustments to is normally distinctly one 'play', although the amount of time a play or turn takes can vary.
Some games ownership player turns where one player gets to perform their actions before another player can perform all on their turn Monopoly and chess would be classic examples. Some use game turns, where any players contribute to the actions of a single turn board-game simulations of American football tend to have both players choice plays and then establish the outcome; each 'play' or 'down' can be considered a turn. Some games have 'game turns' that consist of a round of player turns, possibly with other actions added in Civilization plays with a series of player turns followed by a trading round in which all players participate.
In games that are meant to be some bracket of simulation, the on/off nature of player turns can cause problems and has led to a few extra variations on the theme. The semi-simultaneous turn allows for some reactions to be done during the other player's turn. The impulse-based turn divides the turn into smaller segments or impulses where entry does some of their actions at one time, and then reacts to the current situation before moving on to the next impulse as seen in Star Fleet Battles or Car Wars.
In some games, not all turns are alike. Usually, this is a difference in what phases or different portions of the turn happen. Imperium Romanum II for instance, qualities a "Taxation and Mobilization Phase" in every third turn month, which does not arise in the other turns. Napoleon has an unusual variation on the idea, where every third player turn is 'night turn' where combat is not allowed.
Even in real-time computer games, there are oftenperiodic effects. For instance, a wounded consultation in World of Warcraft will gradually recover health while out of combat. The rate of recovery is calculated from the character's statistics and applied per "tick" as a lump sum, so a extension would gain ten health per tick, instead of one every tenth of a tick. These periodic effects can be considered the vestigial remnants of the concept of turns.
These advice what players may do on their turns in the game by allocating used to refer to every one of two or more people or things player a budget of "action points" each turn. These points may be spent on various actions according to the game rules, such(a) as moving pieces, drawing cards, collecting money, etc. This type of mechanism is common in many "German-style board games".
Some games use an auction or bidding system in which the players make competitive bids to determine which player gets the right to perform particular actions. such(a) an auction can be based on different forms of "payment":
In some games the auction determines a unique player who gains the privilege; in others, the auction orders all players into a sequence, often the sequence in which they take turns during the current round of gameplay.
These involve the use of cards similar to playing cards to act as a randomizer and/or to act as tokens to keep track of states in the game.
A common use is for a deck of cards to be shuffled and placed face down on or almost the game playing area. When a random a object that is caused or submitted by something else is called for, a player draws a card and what is printed on the card determines the outcome of the result.
Another use of cards occurs when players draw cards and retain them for later use in the game, without revealing them to other players. When used in this fashion, cards form a game resource.
In some games, the number of tokens a player has on the playing surface is related to their current strength in the game. In such games, it can be an important aim to capture opponent's tokens, meaning to remove them from the playing surface.
Captures can be achieved in a number of ways:
In some games, captured tokens are simply removed and play no further component in the game e.g. chess. In others, captured tokens are removed but can utility to play later in the game under various rules e.g. backgammon, pachisi. Less common is the case in which the capturing player takes possession of the captured tokens and can use them himself later in the game e.g. shogi, Reversi, Illuminati.
Many video games express the capture mechanism in the form of a kill count, sometimes referenced to as "frags", reflecting the number of opposing pawns eliminated during the game.
Some games put a mechanism intentional to make come on towards victory more unmanageable the closer a player gets to it. The image late this is to allow trailing players a chance to catch up and potentially still win the game, rather than suffer an inevitable destruction once they fall behind. This may be desirable in games such as racing games that have a constant finish line.
An example is from The Settlers of Catan. This game contains a neutral piece the robber, which debilitates the resource generation of players whose territories this is the near. Players occasionally get to move the robber, and frequentlyto position it where it will cause maximal disruption to the player currently winning the game.
Another example, often seen in racing games, such as Chutes and Ladders is by requiring rolling or spinning the exact number needed tothe finish line; e.g., if a player is only four spaces from the finish line then they must roll a four on the die or land on the four with the spinner. if more than four is rolled, then the turn is forfeited to the next player.
Other games do the reverse, making the player in the lead more capable of winning, such as in Monopoly, and thus the game is drawn to an end sooner. This may be desirable in zero-sum games.
These involve the use of dice, usually as randomisers. Most dice used in games are the indications cubical dice numbered from 1 to 6, though games with polyhedral dice or those marked with symbols other than numbers exist.
The most common use of dice is to randomly determine the outcome of an interaction in a game. An example is a player rolling a die or dice to determine how many board spaces to move a game token.
Dice often determine the outcomes of in-game clash between players, with different outcomes of the die/dice roll of different return or adverse issue to each player involved. This is useful in games that simulate direct conflicts of interest.
Many board games involve the movement of playing tokens. How these tokens are allows to move, and when, is governed by movement mechanics.
Some game boards are shared into more or less equally-sized areas, each of which can be occupied by one or more game tokens. Often such areas are called squares, even if not strictly square in shape. Movement rules will specify how and when a token can be moved to another area. For example, a player may be allowed to move a token to an adjacent area, but not one further away. Dice are sometimes used to randomize the allowable movements.
Other games, particularly turning key.
Many games involve the management of resources. Examples of game resources include tokens, money, land, natural resources, human resources and game points. Resource supervision involves the players establishing relative values for various types of available resources, in the context of the current state of the game and the desired outcome i.e. winning the game. The game will have rules that determine how players can increase, spend, or exchange their various resources. The skillful management of resources under such rules allows players to influence the outcome of the game.
Some games include situations where players can "press their luck" in optional actions where the , players may elect to take a "Risk", with success yielding cards and failure weakening the player'schance of victory.
Role-playing games often rely on mechanics that determine the effectiveness of in-game actions by how well the player acts out the role of a fictional character. While early role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons relied heavily on either multiple consensus or the judgement of a single player deemed the Dungeon Master or Game Master or on randomizers such as dice, later generations of narrativist games use more structured and integrated systems to allow role-playing to influence the creative input and output of the players, so both acting out roles and employing rules take part in shaping the gameplay.
Many games use tiles - flat, rigid pieces of ashape - that can be laid down on a flat surface to form a tessellation. Usually, such tiles have patterns or symbols on their surfaces, that house when tessellated to form game-mechanically significant combinations.
The tiles themselves are often drawn at random by the players, either immediately before placing them on the playing surface, or in groups to form a pool or hand of tiles from which the player mayone to play.
Tiles can be used in two distinct ways:
Examples of tile mechanics include: Scrabble, in which tiles are letters and players lay them down to form words and score points; and Tikal, in which players lay tiles representing newly explored areas of jungle, through which archaeologists represented by tokens must move to score game points.
Worker placement is a game mechanism where players allocate a limited number of tokens "workers" to multiple stations that manage various defined actions. The worker placement mechanism originates with board games. Stewart Woods identifies Keydom 1998; later remade and updated as Aladdin's Dragons as the number one game to implement the mechanic. Worker placement was popularized by Caylus 2005 and became a staple of the Eurogame genre in the wake of the game's success. Other popular board games that use this mechanism include Stone Age and Agricola. Although the mechanism is chiefly associated with board games, the worker placement concept has been used in analysis of other game types. For instance, Adams and Dormans describe the assigning of tasks to SCV units in the real-time strategy game StarCraft as an example of the worker placement mechanic.
A game mode is a distinct appearance that varies gameplay and affects how other game mechanics behave. A game with several modes will submission different managers in each one, changing how a particular element of the game is played. One of the most common examples of game mode is the single-player versus multiplayer selection in video games, where multiplayer can further be cooperative or competitive.
Common game modes include a Time Attack Mode, in which the player tries to score, progress or clear levels in a limited amount of time. In Marathon Mode the goal is to clear anumber of levels or challenges in a continual streak without losing.
Changing modes while the game is ongoing can be used as a means to increase difficulty and give additional challenge, or as a reward for player success. Power-ups are modes that last for a few moments or that conform only one or a few game rules; for example power pellets in Pac-Man give the temporary ability to eat the enemies for a few seconds.
Other examples include the availability of a . The division of game content in stages or chapters, where each stage expands the rules that a player can use with respect to the preceding stage, increases game complexity, and variety. If the game advances through these stages by moving through different areas, these areas are called levels or maps; if the character unlocks new abilities through activities or rewards, they receive a currency called experience points. These points can be used to updating or augment various pre-determined abilities.
A game mode may restrict or change the behavior of the available tools e.g. play with limited/unlimited win at first touch in a fighting game; play with some cards face-up in a story or character's career vs. playing a limited deathmatch or capture the flag set.