4 replies to this topic

[eddie]

So, I've been playing a lot of Dice Wars lately, and been blown away by the sheer simplicity of the game design, and it's completely galvanized my belief in simple, fun, gameplay dynamics that are repeatable, yet enjoyable.

I'm trying to figure out how to transfer this to a project of mine that's been on the backburner for a while - as I've got some rather large 'dreams' that I'm trying to quell with the mantra of 'simple is best'!

Anyhow, the game idea I'm working on is something akin to Trade Wars 2002 - the old BBS game. I want the idea of an individual 'owning' something, and being able to trade small amounts of wares around a system of planets, building up until you have better ships, or more of them, to do your bidding.

That alone seems 'easy' enough - the trade dynamic is well suited to various 'mini-game' style ideas (haggling, various attribute-enhanced interactions, etc), which I like (simple is best!).

The hard part I find comes into adding what everyone (I imagine) would be chomping at the bit for: combat. How do you make combat simplistic enough to be easy to ramp up on (not to mention to program and deal with load issues!), but not so simplistic it feels like whack-a-mole?

Anyhow: does anyone have any idea, any examples or literature on good tiny gameplay dynamics, relating to the topics I mentioned?

Thanks!

[Jare]

From the whack-a-mole comment, it sounds like you're assuming that combat has to be action-oriented. If so, I'd revise that assumption, especially in an otherwise strategy-oriented game. Tactical (limited resources to use) turn-based combat sounds like a good idea, and you can always add timers to make it more exciting. The resources could be: initial placing of combat elements (ships?), movement, scanning and detection, defensive and offensive actions... think anywhere from tic-tac-toe to Final Fantasy.

[eddie]

I suppose that's a good point, and something I was struggling with (as you can tell by my desire for simplicity, but my testosterone need for action-action-action).

I've had many a good game that's had combat that's very strategy based - things like Master of Magic, Civilization, etc.

To elaborate on what I'm thinking: I'm hoping that the universe will allow for players to bulk up their empire, and end up 'hiring' out players to do their trades, nefarious deals, or carry out bounty's (I plan on doing this by somehow making the default computer AI somewhat sub-par, yet competent, to entice people to use other humans for enforcement, trading, etc). I'm just really struggling with a concept for combat that'll be fun, innovative, and interesting enough that people won't *mind* being a trader as a full-time career: rather than an empire-builder.

I'm really trying to avoid the "OOH, I WANT TO BE A JEDI TOO!" complex that SWG had, and really mix things up. I suppose at the end of the day, empires and combat will both boil down to simple gameplay that could be boring after a hundred repetitions or so. Perhaps I should prototype it in a sandbox..

Hrmm, anyhow: I've kinda got all muse-y on this post, but if anyone has any comments or ideas, please feel free to let me know. I'm always interested to hear.

[Jare]

eddie said:

Perhaps I should prototype it in a sandbox..

Fixed that for you. :)

[eddie]

;)