Characteristics of Games

by Elias, George Skaff; Garfield, Richard; Gutschera, K. Robert; Zimmerman, Eric; Whitley, Peter

• ISBN13: 9780262017138
• ISBN10: 026201713X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-08-24
• Publisher: Mit Pr

Summary

Characteristics of Games offers a new way to understand games: by focusing on certain traits--including number of players, rules, degrees of luck and skill needed, and reward/effort ratio--and using these characteristics as basic points of comparison and analysis. These issues are often discussed by game players and designers but seldom written about in any formal way. This book fills that gap. By emphasizing these player-centric basic concepts, the book provides a framework for game analysis from the viewpoint of a game designer. The book shows what all genres of games--board games, card games, computer games, and sports--have to teach each other. Today's game designers may find solutions to design problems when they look at classic games that have evolved over years of playing. Characteristics of Games--written by three of the most prominent game designers working today--will serve as an essential reference for game designers and game players curious about the inner workings of games. It includes exercises (which can also serve as the basis for discussions) and examples chosen from a wide variety of games. There are occasional mathematical digressions, but these can be skipped with no loss of continuity. Appendixes offer supplementary material, including a brief survey of the two main branches of mathematical game theory and a descriptive listing of each game referred to in the text.

Author Biography

Skaff Elias is Vice President of Three Donkeys LLC, a game design, development, and consulting company. Richard Garfield, mathematics professor and game designer, is the creator of many card games, including Magic: The Gathering, as well as the board game RoboRally. K. Robert Gutschera is Lead Designer at Secret Identity Studios.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Preface	p. xiii
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Introduction	p. 1
Basics	p. 11
Characteristic: Length of Playtime	p. 11
Characteristic: Number of Players	p. 21
Characteristic: Heuristics	p. 29
Multiplayer Games	p. 37
Characteristic: Player Elimination	p. 38
Characteristic: Interactivity	p. 44
Characteristic: Politics	p. 48
Characteristic: Kingmaking	p. 56
Characteristic: Teamwork	p. 61
Infrastructure	p. 71
Characteristic: Rules	p. 71
Characteristic: Standards	p. 76
Characteristic: Outcomes	p. 82
Characteristic: Ending Conditions	p. 86
Characteristic: Positional Asymmetry	p. 92
Characteristic: Sensory Feedback	p. 96
Games as Systems	p. 101
Characteristic: Abstract Subgames and Essential Games-	p. 101
Characteristic: Snowball and Catch-Up	p. 106
Characteristic: Complexity Tree Growth and Game Arc	p. 120
Characteristic: Game Balance and Strategic Collapse	p. 129
Indeterminacy	p. 137
Characteristic: Randomness	p. 137
Characteristic: Luck and Skill	p. 150
Characteristic: Hidden Information	p. 161
Player Effort	p. 167
Characteristic: Costs	p. 167
Characteristic: Rewards	p. 174
Characteristic: Downtime	p. 178
Characteristic: Busywork	p. 183
Characteristic: Reward/Effort Ratio	p. 189
Superstructure	p. 203
Characteristic: Metagame	p. 203
Characteristic: Conceit/Motif	p. 212
Characteristic: Spectation	p. 220
Characteristic: Game Customization	p. 226
Characteristic: Misbehavior	p. 231
Characteristic: Play Lifetime	p. 238
Appendixes	p. 245
Von Neumann Came Theory	p. 245
Combinatorial Game Theory	p. 255
List of Games	p. 271
Bibliography	p. 301
Index	p. 305
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