Building Blocks of bbletop Game Design
Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design
An Encyclopedia of Mechanisms
Geoffrey Engelstein Isaac Shalev
ine
A crucial testimony to how issues of power and exploitation are negotiated and used while researching vulnerable groups and how more consideration of ethical issues turns the researched into co-researchers. An outstanding and thought-provoking book that provides an exceptionally powerful addition to the scarce literature on the needs of refugee professionals and the language teachers who work with them, whilst enhancing understanding of intercultural communication. 本书是一个重要的证据,证明了在研究弱势群体时如何协商和利用权力和剥削问题,以及如何更多地考虑伦理问题,将被研究者变成共同研究者。这是一本杰出的、发人深省的著作,为有关难民专业人员和语言教师需求的稀缺文献提供了非常有力的补充,同时也增进了对跨文化交流的理解。
Dr. Mohammed Ateek, Department of Languages, Cultures and Applied Linuistics Birkbeck, University of London
This book tells a success story about refugees. It is a much-needed addition to the literature on language and intercultural communication which shows, through action research and an ethically motivated agenda, how displaced people can be helped to succeed in a new society by accessing key intercultural and linguistic skills that will help them integrate into the workplace. We need positive stories about refugees and asylum seekers. 本书讲述了一个关于难民的成功故事。它是对语言和跨文化交际文献的一种急需的补充,通过行动研究和伦理议程,展示了如何通过获取关键的跨文化和语言技能,帮助流离失所者融入工作场所,从而帮助他们在新的社会中取得成功。我们需要有关难民和寻求庇护者的正面故事。
Hans J. Ladegaard, Professor and Head, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
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Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design
Second Edition
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ISBN: 978-1-032-01583-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-01581-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-17918-4 (ebk)
DOI: 10.1201/9781003179184
Typeset in Adobe Garamond pro
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
To Susan, for a wonderful 40 years, and to our children, Brian and Sydney, for always challenging my strategies across the game table and my ideas across the kitchen table.
Much of the work of this second edition was done in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. I would like to express my appreciation and gratitude to everyone who provided medical, food, and other essential services in this difficult and dangerous time. Thank you for helping us get back to the game table. 第二版的大部分工作是在 COVID-19 大流行的阴影下完成的。在此,我想对在这个艰难而危险的时刻提供医疗、食品和其他必要服务的所有人表示赞赏和感谢。感谢你们帮助我们重返游戏桌。
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Abbreviations
AI Artificial IntelligenceCRT Combat Results TableFIFO First In, First OutKotH King of the HillLIFO Last In, First OutPD Prisoner's DilemmaRPG Role Playing GameVP Victory Point
Taylor & Francis
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Foreword
Eric Zimmerman
A game is a language.
In a way, when you sit down with someone to play Chess, Poker, or Cosmic Encounter, you are beginning a conversation.
Each move you make in the game is a way for you to express yourself to your partner-a way for you to make meaning. Every reckless aggression and coy bluff, every greedy power grab, and defensive stall for time is a word, a phrase, and a statement in the language of the game. 你在游戏中的每一步棋都是你向对方表达自己的一种方式--一种表达意义的方式。每一次不计后果的进攻和忸怩作态的虚张声势,每一次贪婪地攫取权力,每一次防守性地拖延时间,都是游戏语言中的一个词、一个短语和一个陈述。
These conversations we have with each other, as we play games, can be awkward and confusing. Or deliciously cruel. Or wildly creative and unexpectedly beautiful. The kind of conversation that tickles parts of your mind that you didn't know were there, the kind of conversation that sticks with you, which turns acquaintances into bitter rivals and later into the best of friends. 在玩游戏的过程中,我们彼此间的这些对话可能会让人感到尴尬和困惑。或者残酷得令人捧腹。或是充满创意、出乎意料的美好。这种对话会让你的内心深处痒痒的,而你却不知道它的存在;这种对话会让你记忆犹新,让熟人变成死对头,后来又变成最好的朋友。
But a game is not just a language.
It's more complicated than that. The moves we make as we play are a language built on top of yet another language. Beneath the meaning we express through the moves of the game is a kind of hidden grammar.
You move a pawn, pass a ball to a teammate, or maneuver your virtual avatar: all of them are statements made through gameplay. But what are the structures that make those meanings possible? The rules that permit action? The blood and bones and spirit that animate the body of the game as it is played? 你移动一个棋子,把球传给队友,或者操纵你的虚拟化身:所有这些都是通过游戏来表达的。但使这些意义成为可能的结构是什么?允许行动的规则是什么?是血液、骨骼和精神在游戏过程中赋予游戏主体以活力?
That, exactly, is the subject of Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design. So prepare yourself. Between these covers lies the hidden grammar of games. The structures behind the structures. The DNA of fun.
This book is a dictionary for the secret language of games.
You see, although games and play are ancient human endeavors (the Egyptian game Senet is at least 5,500 years old), it's only in the twentieth
century that games shifted from folk culture to authored media. And as tabletop games, role-playing games, and video games have become industries of their own, we've done our best to understand them.
If you are reading this book, you are likely to be a serious game player. Like many others, you play games, discuss them, dissect them, and sometimes even design new ones. And for many years, many smart designers, critics, players, and scholars have been searching for the right way to talk about games, to understand how they work, and to figure out how best to approach the creation of new designs. 如果你正在阅读本书,那么你很可能是一个严肃的游戏玩家。和许多人一样,你玩游戏、讨论游戏、剖析游戏,有时甚至设计新游戏。多年来,许多聪明的设计师、评论家、玩家和学者一直在寻找一种正确的方式来谈论游戏,了解游戏是如何运作的,并找出创造新设计的最佳方法。
That's why Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design is so significant. The incredibly detailed pages that follow, pages that crack open the inner components of tabletop games, constitute a kind of Rosetta Stone for game grammar.
Make no mistake. This book is a big deal.
Building on their own impressive accomplishments as designers, their relentless intellectual curiosity, and seemingly limitless connoisseurship of analog and digital games, Geoff and Isaac have put together a tremendously rigorous, wonderfully insightful, and astoundingly accessible encyclopedia of the elements that make tabletop games tick. 杰夫和艾萨克以自己作为设计师的卓越成就、不懈的求知欲以及对模拟游戏和数字游戏的无限鉴赏力为基础,编撰了一本极为严谨、极富洞察力且通俗易懂的百科全书,介绍了让桌面游戏熠熠生辉的各种元素。
Why is this project so important? As someone who has studied, designed, and taught game design for 25 years, this volume is the sort of book I realize now I always needed. A manual for game mechanics. A foundation for structural analysis. An inspiration for new ideas. A sourcebook for teaching design. 为什么这个项目如此重要?作为一个研究、设计和教授游戏设计长达 25 年之久的人,这本书正是我现在所需要的。一本游戏机制手册。结构分析的基础。新创意的灵感源泉。一本设计教学参考书。
On its surface, Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design might seem like a deeply geeky endeavor, an obsession with rules and structures. The kind of overly formalist ludology that has (rightfully) gotten into so much trouble in recent years. And in part it is. But look deeper. In games, what seems like a pure abstract structure is inseparable from human experience. Chapter 4 , on resolving game actions (those things players do to make meaning), begins in statistics and the mathematics of randomness. But then, it moves into the thorny terrain of the prisoner's dilemma, engaging with psychology and diplomacy, and even ethics-structures that help shape how people treat one another. 从表面上看,《桌面游戏设计积木》似乎是一种极度怪异的尝试,是对规则和结构的痴迷。这种过于形式主义的游戏学近年来(理所当然地)惹上了很多麻烦。从某种程度上来说确实如此。但往深处看。在游戏中,看似纯粹的抽象结构与人类的经验密不可分。第 4 章是关于解决游戏行为(玩家所做的那些有意义的事情)的,从统计学和随机性数学开始。但随后,它进入了 "囚徒困境 "这个棘手的领域,涉及心理学、外交学,甚至伦理--这些有助于塑造人们如何相互对待的结构。
Reading any one of the dozens of modules in this book is like lifting up a big mossy rock in the forest. Underneath, there's an unexpected universe of complexity, a miniature ecosystem of moving parts, just waiting to be discovered.
The language of games is everywhere.
All of this gushing praise is well deserved. This book is a landmark in the study of games. But don't let that fool you. As enchanting as it is, Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design is not a magic bullet that is going to suddenly let you understand exactly how every game works, to help you become a tournament winner, or to guarantee that your next design will be a hit. 所有这些溢美之词都是实至名归。这本书是游戏研究领域的里程碑。但千万别被它迷惑了。尽管《桌面游戏设计的基石》令人着迷,但它并不是一颗神奇的子弹,能让你突然明白每个游戏是如何运作的,帮你成为锦标赛的冠军,或者保证你的下一个设计会大受欢迎。
The hidden grammars that this book describes, the structures behind the structures, are only part of the picture. Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design doesn't investigate how games tell stories, impact the lives of their players, embody ideological values, fit into larger cultural landscapes, or even make a profit. That's just not what this book is about. And that's perfectly all right. Its titanic strength comes from its incredibly tight focus on the fundamental elements of games. 《本书所描述的隐藏语法、结构背后的结构只是其中的一部分。桌面游戏设计的基石》并不研究游戏如何讲述故事、如何影响玩家的生活、如何体现意识形态价值、如何融入更大的文化景观,甚至如何盈利。这不是本书的主题。这完全没有问题。它的巨大力量来自于对游戏基本要素令人难以置信的严密关注。
Despite these limitations, is this book still useful? Hell yes. I was recently trying to design a bidding structure for a game and found myself jaw-droppingly enlightened, reading Chapter 8 on Auctions, which details no less than 16 distinct bidding structures. Without a doubt, I will use this text in my classes. I am planning, for example, to assign a project by having each student turn to two random pages in this book and then create a game that combines both mechanics. 尽管有这些局限性,这本书仍然有用吗?当然有用。最近,我试图为一款游戏设计竞价结构,在读到第 8 章 "拍卖 "时,我发现自己豁然开朗,这一章详细介绍了不下 16 种不同的竞价结构。毫无疑问,我会在我的课堂上使用这本书。例如,我打算布置一个作业,让每个学生随机翻阅这本书中的两页,然后制作一个结合两种机制的游戏。
But there's more. The insights and ideas in Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design can be applied outside of games.
How can we resolve an argument between two entrenched opposing positions? How should a winner in a multicandidate election be determined? What economic incentives lead to the best distribution of wealth? What's the right way to ensure fairness for all? These are dilemmas of modern society. And they are also the kinds of problems with which game designers wrestle on a daily basis. Believe it or not, the answers to these deeply important questions might begin to be answered by looking at the structures of this book. 如何解决两种截然相反的立场之间的争论?应如何确定多候选人选举中的获胜者?什么样的经济激励机制能带来最佳的财富分配?确保人人公平的正确方法是什么?这些都是现代社会的难题。它们也是游戏设计者每天都要解决的问题。信不信由你,只要看看这本书的结构,也许就能开始解答这些极其重要的问题。
Lastly, games are beautiful.
Don't get me wrong. I don't want to leave you with the impression that this book is valid only because it is useful. It doesn't matter that Building Blocks of Tabletop Games might be used to help teach classes or even make society better. This book is important because it is a heartfelt and soul-enriching love letter to games. 别误会我的意思。我不想给你留下这样的印象:这本书之所以有效,仅仅是因为它有用。即使《桌面游戏积木》可以用来帮助教学,甚至让社会变得更好,这也无关紧要。这本书之所以重要,是因为它是一封发自内心、丰富灵魂的游戏情书。
It is a lens to help us see the games we adore with fresh eyes. An advanced seminar in the complexity of systems. A spell book filled with recipes for creative play. Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design unpacks the mystery of how these nerdy, knotty collections of rules-boxed up with cards, dice, 《它是一个透镜,帮助我们以全新的眼光看待我们所喜爱的游戏。系统复杂性高级研讨会。一本充满创意游戏秘诀的魔法书。桌面游戏设计的基石》揭开了这些呆板、复杂的规则集合--包括纸牌、骰子、
and colorful tokens-produce something which is, in fact, the very opposite of rules.
For those ready to appreciate the beauty of games, the joy leaps off of every page. Isaac and Geoff have given us whole new ways to have conversations with the people and the games we love.
Happy reading.
Eric Zimmerman
Game Designer and Arts Professor
NYU Game Center
New York City, April 2019
Acknowledgments
Thank you to Erik Zimmerman and Doug Maynard for your excellent feedback and insightful comments on the manuscript. The readers thank you even more! Rob Daviau, Tim Fowers, Mark Herman, and Sen-Foong Lim provided key early enthusiastic support, without which we would not have embarked on this project. 感谢埃里克-齐默尔曼(Erik Zimmerman)和道格-梅纳德(Doug Maynard)对书稿的精彩反馈和独到见解。读者们更要感谢你们!罗布-达维亚(Rob Daviau)、蒂姆-福尔斯(Tim Fowers)、马克-赫尔曼(Mark Herman)和林森芳(Sen-Foong Lim)在早期提供了关键的热情支持,没有他们的支持,我们就不会开展这个项目。
This work would also not exist if not for those who blazed this trail and whose writings have shaped our thinking. Greg Costikyan's I Have No Words & I Must Design: Toward a Critical Vocabulary for Games (Tampere University Press, 2002) was Isaac's introduction to the world of critical thought about games. Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software (Addison-Wesley, 1994) by Erich Gamma, John Vlissides, Ralph Johnson, and Richard Helm showed Geoff how design concepts could be broken down and built back up again. Rules of Play (MIT Press, 2003) by Katie Salen and Erik Zimmerman was another foundational text. We would also like to recognize the books, lectures, and blog posts by Jesse Schell, Bruno Faidutti, and Mark Rosewater, who continue to contribute to the growing body of thinking about games and game design. 如果不是那些开辟了这条道路的人,如果不是他们的著作影响了我们的思维,这项工作也不会存在。Greg Costikyan 的《I Have No Words & I Must Design:Toward a Critical Vocabulary for Games》(坦佩雷大学出版社,2002 年)是艾萨克进入游戏批判思想世界的入门读物。设计模式:Erich Gamma、John Vlissides、Ralph Johnson 和 Richard Helm 合著的《Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software》(《可重用面向对象软件要素》)(Addison-Wesley,1994 年)向 Geoff 展示了如何将设计概念分解并重新构建起来。凯蒂-萨伦(Katie Salen)和埃里克-齐默尔曼(Erik Zimmerman)所著的《游戏规则》(Rules of Play,麻省理工学院出版社,2003年)是另一本奠基性书籍。我们还要感谢杰西-谢尔(Jesse Schell)、布鲁诺-法伊杜蒂(Bruno Faidutti)和马克-罗斯沃特(Mark Rosewater)的著作、讲座和博客文章,他们为不断增长的游戏和游戏设计思想做出了贡献。
Daniel Solis created delightful diagrams that illustrate each mechanism. His ability to concisely capture complex concepts is uncanny, and this book benefits greatly from his participation.
We are also indebted to Donald Dennis, Erik Dewey, Seth Jaffee, TC Petty III, Dirk Knemeyer, Adrienne Ezell, Sen-Foong Lim, Ben Begeal, Peter C. Hayward, Raph Koster, James Ernst, Eric Lang, Ralph Anderson, Stephanie Straw, Nicole Kline, Anthony Amato, Jr., Gil Hova, Ryan Sturm, 我们还要感谢 Donald Dennis、Erik Dewey、Seth Jaffee、TC Petty III、Dirk Knemeyer、Adrienne Ezell、Sen-Foong Lim、Ben Begeal、Peter C. Hayward、Raph Koster、James Ernst、Eric Lang、Ralph Anderson、Stephanie Straw、Nicole Kline、Anthony Amato Jr.、Gil Hova、Ryan Sturm、
Mike Fitzgerald, Tom Vasel, Eric Summerer, all the fans and listeners of the On Board Games and Ludology podcasts, and our board game Twitter family. This work is, if nothing else, a memento of our relationships, conversations, and friendships. Thank you. 迈克-菲茨杰拉德(Mike Fitzgerald)、汤姆-瓦塞尔(Tom Vasel)、埃里克-萨默默(Eric Summerer)、所有《On Board Games》和《Ludology》播客的粉丝和听众,以及我们的桌游推特大家庭。如果不出意外,这部作品将成为我们之间关系、对话和友谊的纪念品。谢谢大家
Finally, Sean Connelly and Jessica Vega at Taylor & Francis Group were absolutely stellar to work with and deftly handled two demanding authors.
Author Bio
Geoffrey Engelstein is the designer of many tabletop games, including The Ares Project, the Space Cadets series, The Dragon of Flagon, The Expanse, and more. He is the host of Ludology, a biweekly podcast about game design in its seventh year, and a ten-year contributor to the Dice Tower podcast with his biweekly "GameTek" segments discussing math, science, and psychology of games. He has published GameTek: The Math and Science of Gaming (2018), which was republished as GameTek: What Games Can Teach Us about Life, the Universe and Ourselves by Harper-Collins in early 2019. He is on the faculty of the NYU Game Center as an adjunct professor for board game design and has been invited to speak about game design at PAX, Gen Con, Metatopia, and the Game Developers Conference. When not talking about designing or playing games, Geoff runs Mars International, a product development firm focusing on consumer and medical device engineering. He has a BS in physics and a BS in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 杰弗里-恩格尔斯泰因是许多桌面游戏的设计师,包括《战神计划》(The Ares Project)、《太空学员》(Space Cadets)系列、《弗拉贡之龙》(The Dragon of Flagon)、《无垠》(The Expanse)等。他是《Ludology》的主持人,这是一个关于游戏设计的双周播客,今年已经是第七个年头了;他还是《Dice Tower》播客的十年贡献者,他的双周 "GameTek "栏目讨论游戏的数学、科学和心理学。他出版了 GameTek:游戏的数学与科学》(2018 年),后以《GameTek:游戏能教给我们关于生命、宇宙和我们自身的知识》(What Games Can Teach Us about Life, the Universe and Ourselves),将于2019年初由哈珀-柯林斯出版社重新出版。他在纽约大学游戏中心担任棋盘游戏设计的兼职教授,并应邀在 PAX、Gen Con、Metatopia 和游戏开发者大会上就游戏设计发表演讲。在不谈论设计或玩游戏的时候,Geoff 经营着一家产品开发公司 Mars International,专注于消费和医疗设备工程。他拥有麻省理工学院物理学学士学位和电子工程学士学位。
Isaac Shalev is the designer of board games including Seikatsu, Waddle, Ravenous River, and Show o Tile. He is also the co-host of On Board Games, one of the longest-running and most-respected tabletop game podcasts. Isaac also writes about game design at www.kindfortress.com, and his series on tabletop game design patterns is a favorite among game designers. Isaac's eclectic work in games includes advising publishers, editing rulebooks, consulting on game-based learning and gamification, lecturing about game design, and running board gaming fundraisers. When he's not playing games, making games, or talking about games, Isaac runs Sage70, Inc., a data strategy consultancy that works exclusively with nonprofit organizations. Isaac lives in Cary, North Carolina, with his wife, three kids, and a dog who is a very good girl. Isaac Shalev 是《Seikatsu》、《Waddle》、《Ravenous River》和《Show o Tile》等棋盘游戏的设计者。他还是《On Board Games》的联合主持人,该节目是运行时间最长、最受尊敬的桌面游戏播客之一。Isaac 还在 www.kindfortress.com 上撰写有关游戏设计的文章,他关于桌面游戏设计模式的系列文章深受游戏设计者的喜爱。Isaac 在游戏领域的工作不拘一格,包括为出版商提供建议、编辑规则手册、为基于游戏的学习和游戏化提供咨询、讲授游戏设计以及举办桌游筹款活动。不玩游戏、不做游戏、不谈论游戏的时候,艾萨克经营着一家专门为非营利组织服务的数据战略咨询公司 Sage70, Inc.Isaac 和他的妻子、三个孩子以及一条非常乖巧的狗住在北卡罗来纳州的凯里。
Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis Group
http://taylorandfrancis.com
Introduction
Geoffrey Engelstein and Isaac Shalev
There is no better time to be a tabletop board gamer. Hobbyists will debate whether the mid-1990s, which saw the rise of The Settlers of Catan and Magic: The Gathering, was the golden age of gaming or whether today is that golden age. No matter what your personal view may be, there is no doubt that modern tabletop gaming is in a period of exceptional fertility and is flourishing. 对于桌面棋牌游戏玩家来说,没有比这更好的时代了。爱好者们会争论,上世纪 90 年代中期,《卡坦殖民地》(The Settlers of Catan)和《魔法:集结》(Magic: The Gathering)的兴起是游戏的黄金时代,还是现在才是黄金时代。无论你的个人观点如何,毫无疑问,现代桌面游戏正处于一个异常繁荣和兴盛的时期。
Games have come a long way since humans invented dice, pawns, and boards, and archeologists regularly turn up these artifacts at sites dating back years ago. The standard deck of cards has its beginnings over 1,000 years ago, and with the advent of the printing press, games became an evercheaper and more ubiquitous luxury. The history of the last century or so of games encompasses mass-market titles including Monopoly, Scrabble, Clue, and Trivial Pursuit, as well as the emergence of a whole new genre of tabletop games. The genre is so new that a single name has yet to meaningfully describe it, though suggestions have included hobby games, designer games, and other strange terms like TGOO ("these games of ours"). No matter what you call them, today's games feature higher levels of player agency, meaningful decisions, and substantially improved production values and offer something entirely new to players as compared to mass-market games. 自人类发明骰子、棋子和棋盘以来,游戏已经走过了漫长的道路,考古学家经常在 年前的遗址中发现这些文物。标准扑克牌的起源可以追溯到 1000 多年前,随着印刷术的出现,游戏变得越来越便宜、越来越普遍。过去一个多世纪的游戏史涵盖了《大富翁》、《拼字游戏》、《线索》和《琐事追踪》等大众市场游戏,以及全新类型的桌面游戏。这一游戏流派是如此之新,以至于至今还没有一个有意义的名称来描述它,不过有人提出了业余游戏、设计师游戏和其他奇怪的术语,如 TGOOO("我们的这些游戏")。无论你怎么称呼它们,如今的游戏都具有更高的玩家代理权、更有意义的决策以及大幅提升的制作价值,与大众市场游戏相比,它们为玩家提供了全新的东西。
Others have written about how war games developed into modern games in America and the countervailing rise of a European design sensibility in the post-World War II period that rejected war as a setting and direct conflict as a game dynamic. Our goal here is different. We'd like to address not how games evolved but how games are designed. 还有人写道,战争游戏是如何在美国发展成为现代游戏的,以及二战后欧洲设计感的逆势崛起,这种设计感拒绝将战争作为游戏背景,也拒绝将直接冲突作为游戏动力。我们的目标有所不同。我们想讨论的不是游戏是如何演变的,而是游戏是如何设计的。
Even as gaming itself has taken flight, and even as thousands of new games are published each year to an ever-expanding audience of gamers, one
critical aspect of gaming remains in a nascent stage: the art and craft of game design itself. Games have taken great advantage of modern communication networks and methods to spread, but we encounter challenges in spreading the knowledge and skills needed to design these games. In substantial part, this is because we do not yet have a strong shared vocabulary for discussing design. 游戏的一个重要方面仍然处于萌芽阶段:游戏设计本身的艺术和工艺。游戏已经充分利用现代通信网络和方法进行传播,但我们在传播设计这些游戏所需的知识和技能时却遇到了挑战。在很大程度上,这是因为我们还没有一个强大的共同词汇来讨论设计。
In creative industries, from literature to films to video games, practitioners, participants, and critics develop a shared language, a common reference library, and a set of skills, approaches, and techniques for their fields. Film directors learn the difference between a jump cut and a dolly zoom and how different technical approaches produce different effects. Audiences and critics follow along, recognizing homages and allusions, and appreciating variations and innovations. 在创意产业中,从文学到电影再到电子游戏,从业者、参与者和评论家都在各自的领域中发展出一种共同的语言、一个共同的参考图书馆以及一套技能、方法和技巧。电影导演学习跳切和运镜变焦之间的区别,以及不同的技术方法如何产生不同的效果。观众和影评人也会跟着学习,辨别致敬和典故,欣赏变化和创新。
Tabletop game design is at a somewhat earlier stage, and this book is our attempt to begin to build a broader game design vocabulary and body of knowledge. Rather than attempting to formalize a specific game design language-an approach that is both daunting and perhaps premature-we've chosen to look at the building blocks of games themselves: the mechanisms or, if you prefer, the mechanics, as they're also frequently called by gamers. (We'll use the terms interchangeably through this book.) 桌面游戏设计还处于一个较早的阶段,本书是我们开始构建更广泛的游戏设计词汇和知识体系的尝试。我们并没有试图将特定的游戏设计语言形式化--这种方法既令人生畏,或许也为时过早--而是选择了研究游戏本身的构件:机制,或者如果你愿意的话,机械,游戏玩家也经常这样称呼它们。(在本书中,我们将交替使用这两个术语)。
The second-best piece of advice any new designer gets is to play more games. (The first piece of advice, by the way, is to create a physical prototype as quickly as possible.) Playing more games helps designers learn and grow by seeing, first-hand, a large variety of possible game experiences and mechanics. This is no different from any other creative field: every artist is enriched by experiencing the art and craft of other creators. Yet games, like books, can take a long time to experience, to master, and to fully appreciate, particularly for games that require large player counts, have long play times, or demand many repeated plays. 对任何新设计师来说,第二好的建议就是多玩游戏。(顺便提一下,第一条建议是尽快制作一个物理原型)。多玩游戏可以帮助设计师学习和成长,因为他们可以亲眼目睹各种可能的游戏体验和机制。这与其他创意领域没有什么不同:每个艺术家都会通过体验其他创作者的艺术和工艺而变得更加丰富。然而,游戏就像书籍一样,需要长时间的体验、掌握和充分欣赏,尤其是那些需要大量玩家、游戏时间长或需要多次重复玩的游戏。
In an effort to accelerate the learning process, we present this book, which is a compendium of game mechanisms, grouped together thematically, that map the territory of modern gaming. Our goal is not to give a list of steps or instructions for how to design a game. To use a cooking metaphor, this is not a recipe book but rather a catalog of ingredients and how they can enrich a dish. We define close to 200 different mechanisms and variants, spanning topics like Movement, Game End and Victory, Economics, and more. Within each topic, we discuss how different mechanisms create different player experiences, what types of games 为了加快学习进程,我们推出了这本书,这是一本按主题分类的游戏机制汇编,描绘了现代游戏的疆域。我们的目标并不是提供如何设计游戏的一系列步骤或说明。用烹饪的比喻来说,这不是一本菜谱,而是一份食材目录,以及它们如何丰富一道菜。我们定义了近 200 种不同的机制和变体,涵盖移动、游戏结束和胜利、经济等主题。在每个主题中,我们都会讨论不同的机制如何创造不同的玩家体验,什么类型的游戏
these mechanisms give rise to, common pitfalls in implementing them, and even some of the physical user-interface issues raised by these mechanisms. With each mechanism, we present illustrative examples and games for further study, running the gamut from modern classics to contemporary new releases, as well as some lesser-known titles that nonetheless have much to teach. A good resource for learning more about the included examples is the website BoardGameGeek.com, which contains a massive game database featuring images and rulebooks that can assist in further inquiry. 这些机制引起的问题,实施这些机制的常见误区,甚至这些机制引起的一些物理用户界面问题。针对每种机制,我们都提供了可供进一步研究的示例和游戏,其中既有现代经典游戏,也有当代新发布的游戏,还有一些不太知名的游戏,但也有很多值得学习的地方。BoardGameGeek.com 网站是了解更多所列实例的良好资源,该网站包含一个庞大的游戏数据库,其中的图片和规则手册有助于进一步的探究。
Our hope is that this book serves many purposes. New designers can certainly benefit from reading this book and taking in many mechanisms in a short period of time, but this book can also be used as a reference. Whether you're an experienced designer looking for an overview of auctions, for example, or a gamer interested in exploring the worker placement genre, this book offers an easy way to review the topic and learn more. We feel this book will be of use to educators, students, professional and amateur designers, and anyone interested in reading about game design. 我们希望本书有多种用途。新手设计师当然可以从阅读本书中获益,在短时间内掌握许多机制,但本书也可以用作参考。无论您是想了解拍卖概况的资深设计师,还是想探索工人安置类型的游戏玩家,本书都能为您提供回顾主题和学习更多知识的便捷途径。我们认为这本书对教育工作者、学生、专业和业余设计师以及任何对游戏设计感兴趣的人都有帮助。
As important as what this book is, is what it is not: a comprehensive listing of all game mechanisms. Though we strove to be broad and inclusive, an exhaustive compilation of all game mechanisms was never our intention and is arguably impossible. While we do brush lightly on topics like narrative, dexterity, and pantomime, for example, there remains a lot of unmapped terrains. Similarly, while we do sometimes bring in examples from war-gaming, miniatures gaming, classic card games, and collectible card games, we largely center ourselves on modern board and card games. These lines are certainly artificial, and we have not sought to put forward a definition of what games are in drawing the lines as we did. Rather, we are eager to look to a future that continues to stretch, experiment with, and reconsider what games can be in light of new innovations in gaming. 与本书的内容同样重要的是,它不是一本全面罗列所有博弈机制的书。尽管我们努力做到广泛而包容,但详尽无遗地汇编所有游戏机制绝不是我们的初衷,也可以说是不可能的。虽然我们对叙事、灵巧性和哑剧等主题轻描淡写,但仍有很多领域尚未涉及。同样,虽然我们有时会引入战争游戏、微型游戏、经典卡牌游戏和收藏卡牌游戏的例子,但我们主要还是以现代棋盘游戏和卡牌游戏为中心。这些界限当然是人为划定的,我们在划定这些界限时并没有试图为游戏下定义。相反,我们渴望展望未来,根据游戏领域的新创新,继续延伸、尝试和重新考虑游戏的内涵。
We also do not mean to imply in any way that the well of new mechanisms has run dry. The opportunity for innovation in gaming is limitless.
Our intention is to make it easier for designers to learn to design, to talk with one another about design, and to mine the existing canon of board games for insight into how to design better games. We hope this collection is useful and inspirational to designers, and we look forward to playing the next generation of their games. 我们的目的是让设计者更轻松地学习设计,相互交流设计心得,并从现有的棋盘游戏中汲取灵感,从而设计出更好的游戏。我们希望这本集子对设计师们有用并能给他们带来灵感,我们也期待着能玩到他们的下一代游戏。
A Note on References in This Book
For your convenience, whenever we refer to another part of this book, we include a chapter reference, presented as an abbreviation. For example, the abbreviation ACT is for the chapter about Actions. A reference like ACT-02 means the second section of the Action chapter. This additional information may be helpful to you in understanding the context of the reference, even if you don't choose to look it up right away and may help in searching for references in digital versions of this text. 为方便起见,每当提到本书的其他部分时,我们都会用缩写的形式列出章节参考。例如,缩写 ACT 表示有关操作的章节。ACT-02 表示 "操作 "一章的第二节。这些附加信息可能有助于您理解参考文献的上下文,即使您没有选择立即查找,也可能有助于在电子版中搜索参考文献。
Introduction to the Second Edition
Geoffrey Engelstein and Isaac Shalev
As we were writing the first edition of Building Blocks, we swung back and forth between thinking it was a terrific idea and a horrible idea. Games are so varied, and the creativity and imagination that designers bring to the medium are so expansive that it seemed quixotic and hubristic for us to attempt to draw boundaries around gameplay and say here is something that is worth naming and learning about. Getting laughed out of the room was a distinct possibility. 在撰写第一版《积木》时,我们在认为这是一个了不起的想法和一个可怕的想法之间来回摇摆。游戏是如此丰富多彩,设计师们为游戏媒介带来的创造力和想象力是如此博大精深,以至于如果我们试图为游戏玩法划定界限,说这是值得命名和学习的东西,这似乎是杞人忧天、狂妄自大。我们很可能会被嘲笑。
Instead, we have been overwhelmed by the support this project has received since publication and gratified that it was accepted in the manner in which it was intended—as a stepping-stone to building a common vocabulary among game designers and not an exhaustive, definitive reference. It has been exciting to hear from teachers who have used it to give students a good grounding in core concepts, new designers looking for a place to start, and experienced designers brainstorming and drawing connections between mechanisms they may not have considered or may have simply forgotten about. 相反,我们对这个项目自出版以来所获得的支持感到欣喜若狂,并对它被接受的方式感到欣慰--它是游戏设计者建立通用词汇的垫脚石,而不是详尽无遗的权威参考资料。令人兴奋的是,教师们用它为学生们打下了核心概念的良好基础,新手设计师们也在寻找一个起点,而经验丰富的设计师们则在集思广益,在他们可能未曾考虑过或根本已经遗忘的机制之间建立联系。
Shortly after publication, we were approached by BoardGameGeek.com, the premier online database of board game information, about incorporating the nomenclature of Building Blocks into their mechanism classification system. We were very pleased to work with them to develop that and also to review the classification of new games as a way to help us hone our definitions of certain mechanisms and identify new and overlooked mechanics, many of which have been incorporated into this new edition. 出版后不久,BoardGameGeek.com(棋盘游戏信息的主要在线数据库)与我们联系,希望我们将《积木》的术语纳入他们的机制分类系统。我们很高兴能与他们合作开发该系统,并对新游戏的分类进行审查,以此帮助我们完善某些机制的定义,并识别新的和被忽视的机制,其中许多机制已被纳入新版中。
We were also approached by Matt Smith and Andrew Peterson of Ferris State University, who had incorporated the mechanisms into their curriculum and developed a card deck to help designers brainstorm and iterate
through their designs. We were happy to support the project, which has since been published as The Rapid Prototyping Game by CRC Press.
We are also very grateful and pleased that Building Blocks has been translated into several foreign languages, with more languages on the way. Creating a common design language means reaching across and bridging many language and culture gaps, and we have been lucky to work with partners from around the world who are as passionate as we are about game design. 我们也非常感谢和高兴《积木》已被翻译成多种外语,更多语言的译本即将面世。创造一种共同的设计语言意味着跨越和弥合许多语言和文化鸿沟,我们很幸运能与来自世界各地的合作伙伴合作,他们和我们一样对游戏设计充满热情。
The success of the first edition has enabled the publication of this expanded and enhanced version. We have added many mechanisms which needed to be cut from the first edition due to space constraints, as well as incorporated color photographs of game elements to better illustrate certain mechanisms. We hope that you find this new version even more useful. 由于第一版的成功,我们得以出版这本扩充增强版。我们增加了许多由于篇幅限制而需要从第一版中删减的机制,并加入了游戏元素的彩色照片,以更好地说明某些机制。我们希望您能发现这个新版本更加有用。
For those who are familiar with the first edition, these are the new mechanisms that have been added:
ACT-19 Bingo
ACT-20 Layering
ACT-21 Slide/Push
ACT-22 Matching
ACT-23 Drawing
AUC-17 Bids as Wagers
AUC-18 Auction Compensation
CAR-07 Deck Constructions
CAR-08 Multi-Use Cards
CAR-09 Tags
ECO-20 Resource Queue
RES-23 Hot Potato
RES-24 Flicking
RES-25 Stacking and Balancing
RES-26 Neighbor Scope
UNC-12 Deduction
UNC-13 Induction
UNC-14 Questions and Answers
VIC-21 Ordering
In addition, many of the mechanisms have been updated and expanded with new examples and considerations.
We have also replaced some of the examples from the first edition in response to the revelations of unacceptable conduct and odious beliefs,
including misogyny, violence against women, racism, homophobia, and transphobia among designers of many beloved and excellent games. When we wrote the first edition, we did not consider the impact of including these games in our discussion, and we now try to rectify that mistake. We have replaced references when we could find equivalent examples, but we did retain references that we felt we could not omit or substitute for because of their uniqueness or importance. This is an uncomfortable and imperfect compromise that we reached in consultation with a diverse group of advisers, including people directly impacted by the conduct in question. We hope we made an honorable and constructive decision, and we are grateful to everyone who guided us. This book is better thanks to their labor. 在我们撰写第一版时,我们没有考虑到将这些游戏纳入讨论所带来的影响,现在我们试图纠正这一错误。在撰写第一版时,我们没有考虑到将这些游戏纳入讨论的影响,现在我们试图纠正这一错误。在我们能找到对等例子的情况下,我们替换了参考文献,但我们保留了那些我们认为因其独特性或重要性而不能省略或替换的参考文献。这是我们在与不同顾问群体(包括受相关行为直接影响的人员)协商后达成的一个令人不舒服且不完美的妥协。我们希望自己做出了一个光荣而有建设性的决定,我们对所有给予我们指导的人表示感谢。有了他们的辛勤劳动,这本书才会更好。
Thanks again to the gaming community that has supported this project and made it a success.
Isaac and Geoff
Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis Group
http://taylorandfrancis.com
Game Structure
The first choice that designers make about a game is the game's basic structure. Who wins? Who loses? What is the overall scope of the game experience? Will it be just one game or perhaps a series of hands? Maybe, the game will encompass many scenarios, with game-state information persisting from play to play? The last 20 years of tabletop gaming have brought us enormous innovation in game structures, with no signs of slowing down. 设计者对游戏做出的第一个选择就是游戏的基本结构。谁会赢?谁会输?游戏体验的总体范围是什么?是只有一局游戏,还是一系列手牌?也许,游戏会包含许多场景,游戏状态信息会在不同的游戏中持续存在?过去 20 年的桌面游戏给我们带来了巨大的游戏结构创新,而且丝毫没有放缓的迹象。
Consideration of game structure raises the question of what it means to actually play the game. In a cooperative game, is the discussion among the players over which action to take the core of the gameplay, or is it the active player executing the action that is core? In games which limit communication, is the main gameplay overcoming the communication limits or solving the puzzle that the game presents? Designers need to be sensitive to participation issues in team games as well, because the game itself may force most of the action over to one teammate at the expense of another, which impacts player experience. 对游戏结构的考虑提出了一个问题,即实际玩游戏意味着什么。在合作游戏中,玩家之间讨论采取哪种行动才是游戏的核心,还是主动执行行动的玩家才是游戏的核心?在限制交流的游戏中,主要玩法是克服交流限制还是解决游戏中的难题?在团队游戏中,设计者还需要对参与问题保持敏感,因为游戏本身可能会迫使一名队友承担大部分行动,而牺牲另一名队友的利益,从而影响玩家的体验。
An increasingly popular trend is the inclusion of multiple game structures in the same box. For example, Mage Knight includes ways to play competitively, cooperatively, and solo. This extends the potential audience for the game.
In this chapter, we'll consider both the traditional structures like competitive and team games, as well as the latest ideas in scenario-based, legacy, and consumable games.
STR-01 Competitive Games
Description
A game with two or more players and a single winner.
Discussion
This is the most familiar game structure, the one we encounter as children in games like Candyland and Snakes o Ladders. Competitive games still make up the large majority of the market for tabletop games. They typically offer a symmetry of expectations: putting aside the impacts of unusual luck and skill, each player begins the game with a roughly equivalent chance of victory. When this promise is broken, the game is considered imbalanced and may even be tagged with the label "broken." As we'll discuss later (see "Variable Player Powers" in this chapter and "Variable Setup" in Chapter 6), players may have perfectly symmetric factions and starting conditions or highly asymmetric ones. But, in both cases, it's important that the game offers roughly even chances of victory to each player (Illustration 1.1). 这是最熟悉的游戏结构,也是我们小时候在《糖果乐园》和《蛇梯子》等游戏中遇到的结构。竞技游戏仍然占据桌面游戏市场的绝大部分。它们通常提供一种对称的预期:抛开非同寻常的运气和技巧的影响不谈,每个玩家在游戏开始时都有大致相等的获胜机会。当这一承诺被打破时,游戏就会被认为是不平衡的,甚至会被贴上 "破损 "的标签。正如我们稍后将要讨论的(见本章 "可变的玩家力量 "和第 6 章 "可变的设置"),玩家可能拥有完全对称的派系和起始条件,也可能拥有高度不对称的派系和起始条件。但在这两种情况下,重要的是游戏要为每位玩家提供大致均等的获胜机会(插图 1.1)。
In many games, there is an asymmetry that in-game balancing alone can't solve, like the first-mover advantage in chess or the service advantage in tennis. Competitive games often balance these advantages through meta-structures, like tournaments, that offer each player an equal number of chances to play from the advantaged position. In multiplayer games, this may be less practical. Instead, players may be offered other opportunities to balance any perceived or actual inequities, like the bidding in Bridge, betting in Poker, or the early alliances in Diplomacy. 在许多游戏中,存在着仅靠游戏内平衡无法解决的不对称问题,例如国际象棋中的先发优势或网球中的发球优势。竞技游戏通常会通过元结构(如锦标赛)来平衡这些优势,为每位玩家提供同等数量的机会从优势位置开始游戏。在多人游戏中,这可能不太现实。相反,玩家可能会有其他机会来平衡任何感知到的或实际存在的不平等,比如桥牌游戏中的竞价、扑克牌游戏中的下注或外交游戏中的早期结盟。
Illustration 1.1 The Egyptian game Senet is one of the oldest board games known, going back to 2600 BCE. This set dates around 1350 BCE.
The promise of balance in a competitive game gives rise to several related issues, like methods for determining victory and breaking ties. Tie-breaking (RES-18), in particular, is interesting because crowning a winner in a competitive game depends upon the game storing information that allows players to determine who played the better game. For many games, this information may not be available. Once we have to look beyond who scored the most victory points or who crossed some finish line first, there may not be relevant game-state information that could allow us to reasonably determine which of the tied players played best. And yet, in competitive games, many players disdain a game that ends in shared victory. Experience-oriented designers should consider that players tend to recall how a game ended more than the rest of the play experience, and hence the designers should seek to avoid an indecisive conclusion. 在竞技游戏中保持平衡的承诺引发了几个相关的问题,比如决定胜负和打破平局的方法。打破平局(RES-18)尤其有趣,因为在竞技游戏中决出胜负取决于游戏是否存储了信息,让玩家可以确定谁玩得更好。对于许多游戏来说,这种信息可能并不存在。一旦我们不得不关注谁获得了最多的胜利点数或谁最先冲过终点线,可能就没有相关的游戏状态信息能让我们合理地判断出并列玩家中谁玩得最好。然而,在竞技游戏中,许多玩家都不喜欢以分享胜利告终的游戏。以体验为导向的设计者应该考虑到,玩家对游戏结束方式的回忆往往多于游戏体验的其他部分,因此设计者应该设法避免出现优柔寡断的结局。
Sample Games
Acquire (Sackson, 1964)
Candyland (Abbot, 1949)
Chess (Unknown, 〜1200)
Diplomacy (Calhamer, 1959)
Senet (Unknown, всE)
Snakes đ Ladders (Unknown, 〜200 вСЕ)
STR-02 Cooperative Games
Description
Players coordinate their actions to achieve a common win condition or conditions. Players all win or lose the game together.
Discussion
Quite a few games call for cooperative play among players, including team games, one-vs.-many games, role-playing games, and games with secret traitors. These can be viewed as belonging to a hierarchical category of cooperative games. Some might even include solo games in this group. For our purposes, we'll treat each of these as separate categories and limit ourselves here to "pure" cooperative games in which all players play on one side and win or lose as a group. 很多游戏都需要玩家之间的合作,包括团队游戏、一对多游戏、角色扮演游戏和有秘密叛徒的游戏。这些游戏可以被视为属于合作游戏的一个等级类别。有些人甚至会把单人游戏也归入这一类。出于我们的目的,我们将把这些游戏分别作为不同的类别来处理,在这里我们只讨论 "纯粹的 "合作游戏,在这些游戏中,所有玩家都是一方,并且作为一个团体来决定输赢。
Since 2008, when Matt Leacock released Pandemic, the genre of cooperative tabletop games has exploded. Earlier games like Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, Arkham Horror, and Lord of the Rings laid a foundation and enjoy enduring popularity, but Leacock started a wave of innovation in cooperative gaming that continues to reshape modern gaming a decade and more later. 自 2008 年马特-利科克(Matt Leacock)发布《大流行》(Pandemic)游戏以来,合作桌面游戏的类型已呈现爆炸式增长。早期的游戏如《福尔摩斯探案集》、《阿卡姆惊魂记》和《指环王》奠定了基础,并享有持久的人气,但利考克掀起了合作游戏的创新浪潮,十多年后仍在重塑现代游戏。
Cooperative gaming is accessible because it lowers barriers to entry for a game. Disparities in skill level can often make a competitive game a sour experience both for the expert and the newcomer. Complex competitive games can be intimidating to new players. Being coached by your opponent in such a game introduces some negative play dynamics because of the misaligned incentives of helping your opponent. The power imbalance between the players can also create awkward social dynamics. Cooperative games put 合作游戏之所以容易进入,是因为它降低了进入游戏的门槛。技能水平的差距往往会让竞技游戏的专家和新手都感到不愉快。复杂的竞技游戏会让新玩家望而生畏。在这种游戏中,由于帮助对手的动机不一致,被对手指导会带来一些负面的游戏动力。玩家之间的力量不平衡也会造成尴尬的社交动态。合作游戏将
players on the same team and foster comradery while allowing experienced players to help teach both the mechanics and strategy of the game, without facing conflicting incentives. For many new players, cooperative games are not only a gateway into gaming but a mainstay of their ongoing consumption of games. 对许多新玩家来说,合作游戏不仅是他们进入游戏的敲门砖,也是他们持续消费游戏的支柱。对许多新玩家来说,合作游戏不仅是进入游戏的大门,也是他们持续消费游戏的支柱。
Cooperative games can broadly be placed into two categories: those with artificial intelligence (AI) and those without. Cooperative games with an AI, like Sentinels of the Multiverse and Mice and Mystics, feature an opponent or opponents who behave according to a simple artificial intelligence, encoded by the designer. In Sentinels, the AI is driven by a deck of cards that governs the actions of the enemy villains and the players they will target. Mice has a simple algorithm that players use to control the play of enemy figures. 合作游戏大致可分为两类:有人工智能(AI)的游戏和没有人工智能的游戏。有人工智能的合作游戏,如《多元宇宙哨兵》(Sentinels of the Multiverse)和《小老鼠与神秘人》(Mice and Mystics),都有一个或多个对手,他们按照设计者编码的简单人工智能行事。在《哨兵》中,人工智能由一副扑克牌驱动,这副扑克牌控制着敌方恶棍的行动以及他们的目标玩家。老鼠》中有一种简单的算法,玩家可以用它来控制敌方人物的行动。
Non-AI games like Hanabi, the revolutionary Antoine Bauza title, and Mysterium present players with a puzzle to solve and limitations on time, resources, and interaction that players must contend with. However, these games have no villain or opposing force that drives the action and actively confronts the players. 非人工智能游戏,如革命性的 Antoine Bauza 作品《Hanabi》和《Mysterium》,为玩家提供了需要解决的谜题,以及玩家必须面对的时间、资源和互动限制。然而,这些游戏没有反派或敌对势力来推动游戏的进行并与玩家积极对抗。
Another consideration for the designer of cooperative games is keeping the difficulty consistent while scaling with a number of players. If each player has a set number of actions they may perform on their turn (as in Pandemic, for example), four players will have twice as many actions per round as two players. While there are many techniques, a very common design pattern is alternating between a player taking a turn and the game taking a turn-basically alternating "Good thing" (player actions) with "Bad thing" (game actions). This scales naturally as the number of players increases. 合作游戏设计者要考虑的另一个问题是,在保持游戏难度一致的同时,还要根据玩家人数进行调整。如果每个玩家在自己的回合中可以执行的操作数量是固定的(例如在《大流行》中),那么四个玩家每回合的操作数量将是两个玩家的两倍。虽然有很多技巧,但一种非常常见的设计模式是玩家轮流和游戏轮流--基本上是 "好事"(玩家行动)和 "坏事"(游戏行动)轮流。随着玩家数量的增加,这种模式也会自然扩展。
Another distinction between different kinds of cooperative games is whether each player retains agency over their in-game resources, actions, and choices or they seek consensus for all decisions, even if they nominally represent separate in-game characters. We might call the former game a partnership game and the latter a collaborative one. In general, cooperative games will tend to be played collaboratively unless the rules specifically and substantially impede this collaboration and force players to make independent decisions rather than build consensus. Examples include limits on communications, time, and focus. 不同类型的合作游戏之间的另一个区别在于,每个玩家是对自己在游戏中的资源、行动和选择保留代理权,还是对所有决定寻求共识,即使他们名义上代表不同的游戏角色。我们可以称前者为合作游戏,后者为协作游戏。一般来说,合作游戏倾向于以合作的方式进行,除非游戏规则明确地、实质性地阻碍了这种合作,迫使玩家做出独立的决定,而不是达成共识。例如,对交流、时间和注意力的限制。
For some players, collaborative play contributes to the "alpha player problem," also known as "quarterbacking," in which some player takes control of the group discussion and decision-making and creates a negative play experience by overriding other players. There are many possible reasons for the 对某些玩家来说,协作游戏会导致 "阿尔法玩家问题",也被称为 "四分卫",即某些玩家控制了小组讨论和决策,并通过凌驾于其他玩家之上来创造负面的游戏体验。造成 "阿尔法玩家 "问题的原因可能有很多。
rise of an alpha player problem, many ways that problem can manifest, and a thicket of contributory social dynamics that are beyond the scope of this work. While some players and designers believe that the alpha player problem is a group-composition problem or a problem of unshared assumptions rather than a design problem, some design choices will make a game more vulnerable to alpha player takeovers. In particular, when all players share the same information and the game state is not too complex, alpha player behavior becomes likelier. 阿尔法玩家问题的兴起,该问题的多种表现形式,以及大量的社会动态因素都超出了本文的研究范围。虽然一些玩家和设计者认为阿尔法玩家问题是一个群体构成问题或未共享的假设问题,而不是一个设计问题,但一些设计选择会使游戏更容易被阿尔法玩家接管。尤其是当所有玩家共享相同的信息且游戏状态不太复杂时,阿尔法玩家的行为会变得更容易发生。
At the other end of the spectrum are games which cannot be taken over by an alpha player. Magic Maze and others of its type make player communication a game mechanism, such that players can't freely share information or advise one another on how to play. The Mind takes this to an extreme by forbidding players from having any kind of communication about which cards they hold. These types of communication limitations (UNC-06) may be presented like any other rule, but they do not actually create a bright line of which conduct is and is not permitted. Rather, these games can be played somewhat differently by each group, with the precise contours of allowable communication varying by tacit or overt agreement. This approach is deeply polarizing, and some players will utterly reject these kinds of games or cast doubt on whether they are games at all. That said, these communication restrictions have the potential to create incredible experiences that connect participants to one another on an almost mystical level. 而另一类游戏则无法被阿尔法玩家接管。魔幻迷宫》和其他同类游戏将玩家交流作为一种游戏机制,这样玩家就不能自由分享信息或就如何玩游戏相互提供建议。心智》将这一点发挥到了极致,它禁止玩家就自己持有的牌进行任何形式的交流。这些类型的交流限制(UNC-06)可能会像其他规则一样被提出来,但它们实际上并没有为哪些行为是允许的、哪些行为是不允许的划出一条明线。相反,每个群体玩这些游戏的方式可能有些不同,允许交流的确切范围因默契或公开协议而异。这种做法会造成严重的两极分化,一些参与者会完全拒绝这类游戏,或者对它们是否属于游戏产生怀疑。尽管如此,这些交流限制仍有可能创造出令人难以置信的体验,在近乎神秘的层面上将参与者彼此联系在一起。
Communication limitations are only one approach to preventing players from achieving consensus-based play. Space Cadets, Space Alert, and FUSE introduce a real-time element that forces players to make independent decisions because there is no time for players to collaborate. Other games attempt to strongly connect players to their roles, provide them with hidden information, or make operating their roles especially complicated. Mechs vs. Minions and Spirit Island both make it challenging for players to decipher each other's powers and possibilities. Sentinels of the Multiverse attempts something similar by providing each player with a unique preconstructed deck. Escape room games from T.I.M.E Stories to the Exit and Unlock series sometimes bar players from sharing information too specifically as well. The variety of challenges and puzzles these games offer, and even the various roles that players can take in the solving effort, all help ensure that every player finds a satisfying way to participate in the game. 通信限制只是阻碍玩家达成共识的一种方法。太空学员"、"太空警报 "和 "FUSE "引入了实时元素,迫使玩家做出独立决定,因为玩家没有时间进行合作。其他游戏则试图将玩家与他们的角色紧密联系在一起,为他们提供隐藏信息,或使他们的角色操作变得特别复杂。机甲大战小兵》和《精神岛》都让玩家在破解彼此的能力和可能性方面面临挑战。多元宇宙哨兵》(Sentinels of the Multiverse)也有类似的尝试,它为每位玩家提供了一套独特的预制卡组。从《T.I.M.E Stories》到《Exit》和《Unlock》系列的密室逃脱游戏有时也会禁止玩家分享过于具体的信息。这些游戏提供的各种挑战和谜题,甚至玩家在解谜过程中可以扮演的各种角色,都有助于确保每个玩家都能找到令人满意的游戏参与方式。
Another notable trend in cooperative game design is the conversion of one-vs.-many, "overlord"-style games into co-ops with the assistance of an app. Mansions of Madness: Second Edition and Star Wars: Imperial Assault
both introduced apps that allow the games to be played cooperatively. More generally, games are being released with cooperative and solo modes alongside competitive modes of play. Sometimes, as has been the case with Orleans and Oh My Goods!, cooperative modes have been introduced in expansions to competitive games. 这两款游戏都推出了允许合作游戏的应用程序。更普遍的情况是,除了竞技模式外,游戏还推出了合作模式和单人模式。有时,就像《Orleans》和《Oh My Goods!
The ongoing design exploration of cooperative games and their possibilities is one of the most exciting and fruitful trends in tabletop gaming today. Designers are encouraged to experiment with this popular and adaptable game structure. 对合作游戏及其可能性的持续设计探索是当今桌面游戏领域最令人兴奋、最富有成果的趋势之一。我们鼓励设计者尝试这种流行且适应性强的游戏结构。
Sample Games
Arkham Horror (Krank, Launius, Petersen, and Willis, 1987)
Exit: The Game (Brand and Brand, 2016)
FUSE (Klenko, 2015)
Hanabi (Bauza, 2010)
Lord of the Rings (Knizia, 2000)
Magic Maze (Lapp, 2017)
Mansions of Madness (Koneisczka, 2011)
Mechs vs. Minions (Cantrell, Ernst, Librande, Saraswat, and Tiras, 2016)
Mice and Mystics (Hawthorne, 2012)
The Mind (Warsch, 2018)
Mysterium (Nevskiy and Sidorenko, 2015)
Oh My Goods! (Pfister, 2015)
Orleans (Stockhausen, 2014)
Pandemic (Leacock, 2008), and the complete line of Pandemic games
Sentinels of the Multiverse (Badell, Bender, and Rebottaro, 2011)
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: The Thames Murders & Other Cases (Edwards, Goldberg, and Grady, 1981)
Space Alert (Chvátil, 2008)
Space Cadets (Engelstein, Engelstein, and Engelstein, 2012)
Spirit Island (Reuss, 2017)
Star Wars: Imperial Assault (Kemppainen, Konieczka, and Ying, 2014)
T.I.M.E Stories (Chassenet and Rozoy, 2015)
Unlock! series (Various, 2017)
STR-03 Team-Based Games
Description
In team-based games, teams of players compete with one another to obtain victory. There are a variety of possible team structures, including symmetrical teams like 2 v 2 and 3 v 3 , multiple sides like 2 v 2 v 2 , and even One vs. All.
Discussion
Team-based play is an ancient human pastime and is prevalent in sports, classic card games, and war games. Thematic board games that model some conflict often have to deal with a bilateral narrative, whether in the conflict of good vs. evil like in War of the Ring, the eponymous conflict of Axis & Allies, or the entirely fabricated battle between villagers and their lycanthropic tormentors in Werewolf. Team games allow designers to faithfully recreate these two-sided conflicts while making space for more players at the table. 团队游戏是一种古老的人类消遣方式,在体育运动、经典卡牌游戏和战争游戏中十分普遍。以冲突为模型的主题棋盘游戏通常需要处理双边叙事,无论是《魔戒战争》中的善恶冲突、《轴心国与同盟国》中的同名冲突,还是《狼人杀》中村民与虐待他们的狼人之间完全虚构的战斗。团队游戏可以让设计者忠实地再现这些双面冲突,同时为更多玩家在游戏桌前留出空间。
Most team games assign players to one team or another at the outset and allow collaboration and communication among partners. In some cases, partners may share territory and resources or even move each other's pieces around the board. Early editions of Axis & Allies, for example, featured Commander-in-Chief rules to model the historical reality of coordinating attacks by multinational armies. 大多数团队游戏一开始就将玩家分配到一个或另一个团队,并允许伙伴之间进行协作和交流。在某些情况下,合作伙伴可以共享领土和资源,甚至在棋盘上移动对方的棋子。例如,早期版本的 "轴心国与同盟国"(Axis & Allies)就采用了 "总司令"(Commander-in-Chief)规则,以模拟多国军队协调进攻的历史现实。
Assigning players to teams in secret is a common trope in social deduction and betrayal-style games. In Werewolf, the werewolves know one another, but the villagers are left to deduce who is a fellow human and who might devour them in the night. In Battlestar Galactica, neither humans nor Cylons are revealed to one another, leading to intense suspicion and paranoia. Battlestar Galactica features a further twist: team assignments are not static, and a player might start the game as a human, only to become a Cylon in a mid-game loyalty phase that can potentially reassign players from the human to the Cylon side. 在社会推理和背叛类游戏中,将玩家秘密分配到不同的团队是一个常见的套路。在《狼人》中,狼人彼此认识,但村民们只能推断谁是人类同胞,谁可能在夜里吞噬他们。在《太空堡垒卡拉狄加》(Battlestar Galactica)中,人类和赛昂人之间互不相识,导致了强烈的猜疑和偏执。太空堡垒卡拉狄加》的另一个特点是:团队分配并不是一成不变的,玩家可能在游戏开始时是人类,但在游戏中期的忠诚阶段却变成了赛昂人。
Some games support partnering at the meta-game level. In Risk, Diplomacy, and many other games, the rules specify that alliances can be formed and broken freely. There are even games that further encode these alliances into the rules. Dune provides for different end-game conditions for alliances with different numbers of factions, includes a specific phase when alliances may be formed, and has rules governing the conduct of allies (e.g., they may not attack each other). Eclipse establishes economic advantages for allying with other players, while limiting the number of these allegiances and enforcing in-game penalties on betrayers. There is a great deal of fluidity between games that allow for coordination in play and those that have explicit mechanisms to support that coordination. 有些游戏在元游戏层面支持结盟。在《风险》、《外交》和许多其他游戏中,规则规定联盟可以自由结成和打破。甚至有些游戏还将这些联盟进一步编码到规则中。沙丘》为不同派系数量的联盟规定了不同的终局条件,包括一个可以结成联盟的特定阶段,并有规则约束盟友的行为(例如,他们不能互相攻击)。Eclipse 规定了与其他玩家结盟的经济优势,同时限制了这些联盟的数量,并对背叛者实施游戏中的惩罚。允许在游戏中进行协调的游戏和那些有明确机制支持协调的游戏之间有很大的流动性。
Another common approach to team-based games is to assign players different roles in the game. This goes well beyond the distinct player abilities common to many co-op games. Party games from Celebrity to Taboo to Codenames feature one player in a clue-giving role, with one or more teammates in a guessing role. This structure is especially suitable for party games because of the concurrent play of the guessers and the ability for the game structure to support large numbers of players at any one time. It also allows players to easily enter and exit from a game without negatively impacting the overall play experience for other players. 团队游戏的另一种常见做法是在游戏中为玩家分配不同的角色。这远远超出了许多合作游戏中常见的不同玩家能力的范围。从 "名人 "到 "禁忌 "再到 "代号 "等聚会游戏,都是由一名玩家扮演提供线索的角色,一名或多名队友扮演猜谜的角色。这种结构特别适合派对游戏,因为猜谜者可以同时进行游戏,而且游戏结构可以同时支持大量玩家。它还允许玩家轻松进入和退出游戏,而不会对其他玩家的整体游戏体验产生负面影响。
It is not just party games that embrace role separation, though. Space Cadets: Dice Duel and Captain Sonar both have players crewing a ship as engineers, radar operators, captains, and weapons specialists. Each player plays a mini-game to model their function within the ship, and the broader game is the sum of these coordinated parts. Sometimes, these roles can be fixed for the whole game, sometimes, players will rotate through the roles every round, and sometimes, the game itself will force players to change roles. This last approach can be thematically interesting and appealing to experienced players but can be especially challenging for new players, who can easily be disoriented when forced to change roles. It also makes teaching 不过,并不是只有派对游戏才采用角色分工。太空学员:骰子对决》和《声纳舰长》都让玩家在一艘飞船上扮演工程师、雷达操作员、舰长和武器专家。每个玩家都会玩一个小游戏来模拟他们在飞船中的功能,而更广泛的游戏则是这些协调部分的总和。有时,这些角色在整个游戏中都是固定的,有时,玩家每轮轮流扮演这些角色,有时,游戏本身会迫使玩家改变角色。最后一种方法可能在主题上很有趣,对有经验的玩家很有吸引力,但对新玩家来说可能特别具有挑战性,因为他们在被迫变换角色时很容易迷失方向。这也使得教学
these games much more difficult, since, in theory, every player needs to know every mini-game before the play can begin. Designers need to take this into account, perhaps by reserving role-changing cards and other triggers for advanced play only. 因为从理论上讲,在游戏开始之前,每个玩家都需要了解每个小游戏。设计者需要考虑到这一点,也许可以把角色转换卡和其他触发器留给高级游戏。
Somewhat less common are team games with more than two teams competing at once. Skirmish games like Star Wars: X-Wing can allow for these types of modes, but there are even more unusual examples. Cyclades with the Titans expansion enables a 2v2v2 mode, and Ticket to Ride: Asia also supports 2 v 2 v 2 play. 比较少见的是同时有两支以上队伍参赛的团队游戏。像《星球大战:X 翼》这样的小兵游戏可以支持这类模式,但也有更特别的例子。带有泰坦扩展的《独眼巨人》可以实现 2v2v2 模式,《乘车券:亚洲》也支持 2v2v2 游戏。
Team modes are fairly common in otherwise non-team games, and some team modes are attempts to enable a 1 v 1 game to scale to a higher player count. The aforementioned Axis & Allies and War of the Ring have team modes, but players may simply choose to play using the 1 v 1 rules and have teammates collaborate in decision-making instead of using the formal rules for team play. 团队模式在其他非团队游戏中相当常见,有些团队模式试图让 1 对 1 游戏扩展到更多玩家。前面提到的《轴心国与同盟国》和《环形战争》都有团队模式,但玩家可以选择使用 1 对 1 规则进行游戏,让队友合作决策,而不是使用正式的团队游戏规则。
Two other game genres feature partnerships. Card games, especially those in the trick-taking family, are one. The other partnership genre is dexterity games. Flick 'em Up has explicit partnership rules, and many flicking games like PitchCar and Caveman Curling are amenable to alternating play. 《还有两种游戏类型以伙伴关系为特色。纸牌游戏,尤其是那些取巧类游戏,就是其中之一。另一种合作类型是灵巧游戏。弹弹堂》(Flick 'em Up)有明确的合作规则,许多弹弹堂游戏(如 PitchCar 和 Caveman Curling)也适合交替进行。
Another very popular game structure is One vs. All. This structure is especially suitable for hidden-movement hunting games, in which one player attempts to escape from a group of hunters, like Scotland Yard, Specter Ops, and Hunt for the Ring. It's also common in overlord-style games where one player controls the "bad guys" and the other players each control an individual hero. Conan, Star Wars: Imperial Assault, and Level 7 [Omega Protocol] all feature this style of play. Fantasy Flight Games has converted many of its overlord games into cooperative games by introducing an app to control the overlord player. 另一种非常流行的游戏结构是 "一人对众人"(One vs. All)。这种结构尤其适用于隐藏移动的狩猎游戏,在这种游戏中,一名玩家试图从一群猎人手中逃脱,如《苏格兰场》、《幽灵行动》和《猎环》。这种游戏在霸王游戏中也很常见,其中一名玩家控制 "坏人",其他玩家各自控制一名英雄。柯南》(Conan)、《星球大战:帝国突袭》(Star Wars: Imperial Assault)和《第 7 级[欧米茄协议]》(Level 7 [Omega Protocol] )都采用了这种玩法。Fantasy Flight Games 通过引入一个控制霸主玩家的应用程序,将其许多霸主游戏转换为合作游戏。
What distinguishes One vs. All most sharply from other team games is the asymmetric nature of the factions. In hunting games, each player typically controls only one character, but the characters tend to have very distinct abilities, and the victory conditions for the two sides are different too. In overlord games, the overlord usually controls a whole host of minions that they can deploy, whereas the other players control only one One vs. All》与其他团队游戏最显著的区别在于派系的不对称。在狩猎游戏中,每个玩家通常只控制一个角色,但角色的能力往往截然不同,而且双方的胜利条件也不同。在霸王游戏中,霸王通常控制着一大堆可以部署的小兵,而其他玩家只能控制一个
character. These games can be difficult to teach and learn because players need to learn how both factions work in order to play the game effectively. While the genre remains very popular, that challenge continues to bedevil designers and players. 角色。这些游戏可能很难教授和学习,因为玩家需要了解两个派别的运作方式,才能有效地进行游戏。虽然这类游戏仍然很受欢迎,但这一难题仍然困扰着设计者和玩家。
Sample Games
Axis & Allies (Harris, Jr., 1981)
Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game (Konieczka, 2008)
Captain Sonar (Fraga and Lemonier, 2016)
Caveman Curling (Quodbach, 2010)
Celebrity (Unknown)
Codenames (Chvátil, 2015)
Conan (Henry, Bauza, Bernard, Cathala, Croc, Maublanc, and Pouchain, 2016)
Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) (Clark, Konieczka, Sadler, and Wilson, 2012)
Diplomacy (Calhamer, 1959)
Dune (Eberle, Kittredge, and Olatka, 1979)
Eclipse (Tahkokallio, 2011)
Flick 'em Up (Beaujannot and Monpertuis, 2015)
Hunt for the Ring (Maggi, Mari, and Nepitello, 2017)
Level 7 [Omega Protocol] (Schoonover, 2013)
Mansions of Madness: Second Edition (Valens, 2016)
PitchCar (du Poël, 1995)
Risk (Lamorisse and Levin, 1959)
Scotland Yard (Burggraf, Garrels, Hoermann, Ifland, Scheerer, and Schlegel, 1983)
Space Cadets: Dice Duel (Engelstein and Engelstein, 2013)
Specter Ops (Matsuuchi, 2015)
Star Wars: Imperial Assault (Kemppainen, Konieczka, and Ying, 2014)
Taboo (Hersch, 1989)
War of the Ring (Second Edition) (Di Meglio, Maggi, and Nepitello, 2012)
STR-04 Solo Games
Description
A solo game is a game or game mode intended for play by a single player.
Discussion
Solo games can stretch the definition of what a game is, but solo games have been around for some time. Patience, or Solitaire card games, war games, interactive fiction (e.g., Choose Your Own Adventure books), crossword puzzles, paper-and-pencil games, word searches, and many more singleplayer, game-like pursuits are very popular and have been there for years. What is new is the explosion of demand, and supply, for solo board games, whether as standalone games or as game modes in multiplayer games. Rather than quibbling over the definition, we choose to embrace the varieties and possibilities of solo gaming. 单人游戏可以扩展游戏的定义,但单人游戏已经存在了一段时间。耐心 "或 "接龙 "纸牌游戏、战争游戏、互动小说(如《选择你自己的冒险》)、填字游戏、纸笔游戏、单词搜索以及更多类似游戏的单人游戏都非常受欢迎,并且已经存在多年。新出现的是对单人棋盘游戏的需求和供应的爆炸式增长,无论是作为独立游戏还是作为多人游戏中的游戏模式。与其在定义上争论不休,我们选择拥抱单人游戏的多样性和可能性。
Solo games are closely related to cooperative games in the sense that the player plays against the game system itself, rather than a sentient opponent. Solo games can be considered as a special case of co-op games in which there is only one player-and thus, no alpha player problem. While most co-ops can be, and are, played solo, communications-based co-op games like The Mind typically can't be played solo at all. Cooperative Limited Card Games (a genre, i.e., a blend of collectible card games and deck-building games) are very popular among solo players, and the dungeon-crawl-style rogue-like game seems especially amenable to solo play. Players can usually brew their own unofficial solo game from these games or from many non-communicationbased co-ops by playing more than one position in a co-op game, for example. 单人游戏与合作游戏密切相关,因为玩家的对手是游戏系统本身,而不是有生命的对手。单人游戏可以被视为合作游戏的一种特例,其中只有一个玩家,因此不存在阿尔法玩家的问题。虽然大多数合作游戏都可以单人玩,而且现在也是单人玩,但像《心灵》这样基于通信的合作游戏通常根本无法单人玩。合作限定卡牌游戏(一种流派,即收集卡牌游戏和牌组制作游戏的混合体)在单人游戏玩家中非常流行,而地牢抓取式的流氓类游戏似乎特别适合单人游戏。玩家通常可以从这些游戏或许多非交流型合作游戏中酝酿出自己的非官方单人游戏,例如在合作游戏中扮演多个角色。
The modern solo design pushes beyond that basic approach to solo play. We can classify a few kinds of solo games: goal-based, record-based, and
AI-based. In goal-based games, players try to achieve some goal, usually a Victory Point (VP) total, within a certain number of turns, or a certain amount of time. This type of design is most similar to multiplayer cooperative games. These games might have an AI opponent of sorts, but typically the opponent is an asymmetric villain of some kind, or even an entirely abstract process, like a spreading fire in Flash Point: Fire Rescue. The AI is not an automated version of a human player who competes as another human player might. 基于人工智能。在基于目标的游戏中,玩家试图在一定回合数或一定时间内达到某个目标,通常是胜利点(VP)总数。这种类型的设计与多人合作游戏最为相似。这些游戏可能会有某种人工智能对手,但通常对手都是某种不对称的小人,甚至是一个完全抽象的过程,比如《闪点》中正在蔓延的大火:火灾救援》中的大火。人工智能并不是人类玩家的自动化版本,它不会像其他人类玩家那样参与竞争。
Record-based games are those whose goal is to beat your previous high score. While this may seem like a mundane and dull victory condition, some games have developed large solitaire followings, complete with ladders and statistics that transform the game from a solo game to a community-based meta-competition. Ganz schön clever is one example of this type of game and community competition. Some goal-based games can also work as recordbased games, as long as some scoring metric can be captured that adequately measures game performance. Super Skill Pinball uses this method to great effect, as the pinball metaphor naturally lends itself to players competing for the high score. 记录类游戏的目标是超越自己之前的最高分。虽然这似乎是一个平凡而无趣的胜利条件,但有些游戏已经拥有了大量的接龙追随者,并配备了梯子和统计数据,将游戏从单人游戏转变为基于社区的元竞赛。Ganz schön clever》就是这类游戏和社区竞赛的一个例子。一些基于目标的游戏也可以作为基于记录的游戏,只要能获得一些充分衡量游戏表现的评分标准。超级技能弹球》使用这种方法取得了很好的效果,因为弹球的隐喻自然会让玩家争夺高分。
AI-based games attempt to recreate the multiplayer experience by introducing an automated player or players. Typically, this means some basic algorithm governs the moves of the AI player. These systems can be challenging to design and usually depend on decision flowcharts, as well as dice, cards, or other randomizers to create uncertainty about the AI player's choices. However, other approaches to AI opponents are also possible, as shown by Morten Monrad Pedersen's Automa system. 基于人工智能的游戏试图通过引入一个或多个自动玩家来重现多人游戏体验。通常,这意味着人工智能玩家的行动受一些基本算法的控制。这些系统的设计很有挑战性,通常依赖于决策流程图,以及骰子、纸牌或其他随机器来制造人工智能玩家选择的不确定性。不过,人工智能对手也可以采用其他方法,如莫滕-蒙拉德-佩德森的 Automa 系统。
Pedersen's Automa system is more a philosophy and approach than an official system, and he and many other designers have used its principles to create Automas for games as varied as Scythe, Anachrony, Baseball Highlights 2045, and Between Two Cities. The key principles are that the solo game should feel as much as possible like the multiplayer game and that AIs should be representational, rather than procedural. The AI doesn't observe the rules and doesn't play the game as a player might. Rather, the AI focuses on the impact that an opponent has on the player's plans and emulates those-a kind of Potemkin player. In Pedersen's words, the AI is only the shell of a human player, and while the humans in a game of Viticulture have vineyards and grow grapes, the Automa players do not; they just give the impression that they do. In practice, Automas will claim action spaces, draft cards, block routes, and otherwise interfere with human players, but they will not collect resources, build buildings, or score victory points. Pedersen 的 Automa 系统与其说是一个官方系统,不如说是一种理念和方法,他和许多其他设计师都曾利用该系统的原则为《镰刀》、《Anachrony》、《棒球集锦 2045》和《双城记》等不同游戏创造过自动机。其主要原则是,单人游戏应尽可能给人以多人游戏的感觉,人工智能应具有代表性,而不是程序性的。人工智能不会遵守规则,也不会像玩家那样玩游戏。相反,人工智能会关注对手对玩家计划的影响,并模仿这些影响--一种潜在的玩家。用佩德森的话说,人工智能只是人类玩家的外壳,在《葡萄栽培》游戏中,人类拥有葡萄园并种植葡萄,而 Automa 玩家却没有,他们只是给人这样的印象。实际上,Automas 会占用行动空间、起草卡片、封锁路线并以其他方式干扰人类玩家,但它们不会收集资源、建造建筑或获得胜利点数。
Another method for determining the behavior of an AI opponent is to have the player be the opponent as well. In this approach, the player wins or loses based on the fate of their primary faction, but they also play for the other factions in the game. At certain points in the game, the player may be required to change factions, typically switching from controlling their original faction to controlling the weakest of the other factions. Knowing that changes of faction control are part of the game gives the player incentive to keep all the factions relatively close, while putting their currently controlled faction in a position to grab victory. The Peloponnesian War is one of the earliest examples of this genre of solo play. 另一种确定人工智能对手行为的方法是让玩家也成为对手。在这种方法中,玩家的输赢取决于其主要派系的命运,但他们也为游戏中的其他派系效力。在游戏的某些阶段,玩家可能需要更换派系,通常是从控制自己原来的派系转为控制其他派系中最弱的派系。知道更换派系控制是游戏的一部分,玩家就有动力让所有派系保持相对接近,同时让自己目前控制的派系处于夺取胜利的位置。伯罗奔尼撒战争》是这种单人游戏类型的最早范例之一。
Solo games are enjoyed by a large, active, and growing community that continues to homebrew solo versions of multiplayer games, host contests, and challenges and enjoy an unexpected comradery despite the solitary nature of their pastime. Increasingly, including a solo mode is a desirable feature for published multiplayer games, and the success of a number of solo-only games, like Friday and Hostage Negotiator, has established that there is a market even for the loneliest of player counts. 单人游戏拥有一个庞大、活跃且不断增长的社区,他们不断自制单人版的多人游戏,举办比赛和挑战,尽管他们的消遣是孤独的,但却享受着意想不到的友谊。越来越多的已发行的多人游戏都希望加入单人模式,而《星期五》和《人质谈判专家》等一些单人游戏的成功也证明,即使是最孤独的玩家也有市场。
Sample Games
Ambush (Butterfield and Smith, 1983)
Anachrony (Amann, Peter, and Turczi, 2017)
Arkham Horror: The Card Game (French and Newman, 2016)
B-17: Queen of the Skies (Frank and Shelley, 1981)
Baseball Highlights: 2045 (Fitzgerald, 2015)
Between Two Cities (O'Malley, Pedersen, and Rosset, 2015)
Flash Point: Fire Rescue (Lanzig, 2011)
Friday (Friese, 2011)
Ganz schön clever (Warsch, 2018)
Hostage Negotiator (Porfirio, 2015)
Lord of the Rings: The Card Game (French, 2011)
Mage Knight Board Game (Chvátil, 2011)
One Deck Dungeon (Cieslik, 2016)
Onirim (Torbey, 2010)
Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island (Trzewiczek, 2012)
Scythe (Stegmaier, 2016)
Terraforming Mars (Fryxelius, 2016)
The Peloponnesian War (Herman, 1991)
STR-05 Semi-Cooperative Games
Description
A game which ends with either no winners or the players winning as a group but a single player being recognized as the individual winner as well.
Discussion
Semi-cooperative games are like cooperative games because players can all lose together to the game itself. However, if the players manage to overcome the game, one of the players will be crowned the individual victor, or a kind of most valuable player, based on some in-game achievement. A group's enjoyment of this style of the game depends on all members having the same answer to the question of whether a group win, coupled with an individual loss, is superior to a total group loss. If players are split on this question, those for whom an individual loss is as bad as a group loss will not seek optimal cooperative plays and may even sabotage the group while trying to secure a winning individual position. Players who prefer to win as a group, even if they lose as individuals, will be incensed by this conduct, and unhappiness will follow for everyone. 半合作游戏与合作游戏类似,因为玩家可能会一起输给游戏本身。但是,如果玩家们设法战胜了游戏,其中一名玩家就会根据游戏中的一些成就,被授予个人胜利者或最有价值玩家的称号。一个小组能否享受这种游戏方式,取决于所有成员对 "小组获胜加上个人失利,是否比小组全败更有优势 "这个问题的答案是否一致。如果棋手们在这个问题上意见不一,那么那些认为个人输棋和集体输棋一样糟糕的棋手就不会寻求最佳的合作下法,甚至会在试图确保个人获胜的同时破坏集体。那些即使个人输了也希望团体获胜的棋手会被这种行为激怒,大家都会不高兴。
There's a strong connection between semi-cooperative games and roleplaying games (RPGs). RPGs typically feature a similar dynamic: all players want to follow the main plot narrative and defeat the big bad, but each player has individual motivations that may sometimes work at cross-purposes, and in any case, each player is motivated to secure the greatest in-game rewards in terms of wealth, experience points, glory, etc. These competing motivations can help weave a complex and gripping narrative. In tabletop games, 半合作游戏和角色扮演游戏(RPG)之间有着密切的联系。角色扮演游戏通常具有类似的动态特征:所有玩家都想跟随主情节叙事,打败大坏蛋,但每个玩家都有各自的动机,有时可能会相互冲突,而且无论如何,每个玩家都想在游戏中获得最大的奖励,如财富、经验值、荣誉等。这些相互竞争的动机有助于编织复杂而扣人心弦的故事。在桌面游戏中、
a semi-cooperative structure can create memorable moments of last-second betrayal and competitive jockeying for position.
Semi-cooperative games are fascinating as a design study because of how players engage with them. Many groups will play semi-cooperatives as co-ops, ignoring the individual win conditions or treating them as a means for recognizing a great performance by some players, rather than as a win condition to be claimed. Others will embrace the notion of an individual win and engage in brinksmanship in almost total violation of the cooperative element of the game. Despite the broad range of possible play styles, each group typically has a very narrow idea of the "right way" to play the game. In other words, it's unlikely that the same group would play Arkham Horror as a total co-op one night and then as a semico-op another night. Actually, you might be hard-pressed to find anyone who plays Arkham Horror with any care for the individual win condition. The game holds little attraction for players looking for that experience. Crafting a semi-co-op that is satisfying to play and that manages to incentivize both the individual and cooperative aspects of the game is like trying to land a jet plane in a phone booth. 作为一项设计研究,半合作游戏的魅力在于玩家如何参与其中。许多小组会把半合作游戏当作合作游戏来玩,忽略了个人获胜的条件,或者把它们当作表彰某些玩家出色表现的一种手段,而不是一个需要争取的获胜条件。其他人则会接受个人获胜的概念,几乎完全违背游戏中的合作元素,大打擦边球。尽管可能的游戏风格多种多样,但每个群体通常对游戏的 "正确方式 "都有非常狭隘的看法。换句话说,同一个小组不太可能在某天晚上以完全合作的方式玩《阿卡姆惊魂》,而在另一天晚上又以半合作的方式玩。事实上,你可能很难找到一个玩《阿卡姆惊魂》的人会在意个人的获胜条件。对于追求这种体验的玩家来说,这款游戏几乎没有吸引力。要想制作一款让玩家满意的半合作游戏,并同时激励游戏的个人和合作方面,就好比要在电话亭里降落一架喷气式飞机。
Another route a designer can consider is introducing cooperative elements into a competitive game without creating a cooperative loss condition. Games like Kingsburg and Survive: Escape from Atlantis achieve this in different ways. In Kingsburg, all players must face a common foe at the end of each year. In Survive, players can share common resources like lifeboats to escape the ocean's dangers. These cooperative opportunities can enrich the game and create internal drama without confusing players as to their incentives or causing distress over what type of game players they thought they sat down to. 设计者可以考虑的另一条途径是在竞技游戏中引入合作元素,而不创造合作失败的条件。像 Kingsburg 和 Survive:逃离亚特兰蒂斯》等游戏以不同的方式实现了这一点。在《金斯堡》中,所有玩家都必须在每年年底面对一个共同的敌人。在《生存》中,玩家可以共享救生艇等共同资源,以逃离海洋的危险。这些合作机会可以丰富游戏内容,创造内部戏剧,同时又不会让玩家对自己的动机感到困惑,也不会让玩家对自己以为是在玩哪种类型的游戏感到苦恼。
Note that this structure is not applicable to games where players sometimes cooperate and sometimes compete but where one player ultimately wins. The "everyone loses" condition is a necessary component of semi-cooperative games under our definition. Games that feature both cooperation and competition but only a single winner are not structurally distinct from competitive games (STR-01), though they often have explicit Negotiation mechanisms (ECO-18). 请注意,这种结构不适用于有时合作有时竞争但最终有一方获胜的博弈。根据我们的定义,"大家都输 "是半合作博弈的必要条件。既有合作又有竞争但只有一个赢家的博弈在结构上与竞争性博弈没有区别(STR-01),尽管它们通常有明确的协商机制(ECO-18)。
Sample Games
Archipelago (Boelinger, 2012)
Arkham Horror (Krank, Launius, Petersen, and Willis, 1987)
Castle Panic (De Witt, 2009)
(Lacerda, 2012)
Defenders of the Realm (Launius, 2010)
Kingsburg (Chiarvesio and Iennaco, 2007)
Legendary Encounters family of deck-building games (Cichoski and Mandel, 2014)
The Omega Virus (Gray, 1992)
Republic of Rome (Berthold, Greenwood, and Haines, 1990)
Survive: Escape from Atlantis (Courtland-Smith, 1982)
STR-06 Single-Loser Games
Description
A game with three or more players in which players are not assigned to static teams and which ends with only one loser.
Discussion
Games with one loser flip the script by incentivizing players not to perform better than everyone else, but better than at least one other person. Like the old saw about not needing to outrun a ravenous bear, these games emphasize impeding other players more than advancing yourself. Old Maid is a wellknown classic card with this structure. Alcatraz: The Scapegoat is a modern game in which all players, but one, escape prison. Alcatraz can end with all players losing, if they fail to break out of prison in time, which makes it a bit of a hybrid with a cooperative game. 只有一个失败者的游戏则不同,它激励玩家不要比其他人表现得更好,而是至少要比另外一个人表现得更好。就像老话说的不需要跑赢贪婪的熊一样,这些游戏强调的是阻碍其他玩家,而不是提升自己。老处女》就是采用这种结构的著名经典游戏。恶魔岛:替罪羊》是一款现代游戏,游戏中除一人外,所有玩家都能逃出监狱。如果未能及时越狱,《恶魔岛》可能会以所有玩家输掉游戏而告终,因此它有点像合作游戏的混合体。
Stacking games often feature a single-loser structure, because many of them end when a player knocks over the shared structure. Jenga and Rhino Hero are examples of this dynamic, though Rhino Hero does offer some rules for determining who the winner is among the surviving players. In practice though, groups often ignore this final scoring or even scoring of any kind. 堆叠游戏通常采用单败结构,因为许多堆叠游戏会在一名玩家推倒共享结构时结束。简加(Jenga)和犀牛英雄(Rhino Hero)就是这种动态的例子,不过犀牛英雄确实提供了一些规则来决定谁是幸存者中的赢家。但在实践中,小组通常会忽略最后的计分,甚至是任何形式的计分。
Single-loser structures are not very common in modern games, perhaps because they encourage sharply confrontational "take-that" play in which players can directly impede or harm one another. These structures can also be susceptible to a bash-the-loser pattern, in which the player who falls behind becomes the most attractive target to all other players and has no chance to recover their position. This structure represents an innovation horizon for designers to explore. 单败结构在现代游戏中并不常见,这也许是因为它们鼓励激烈对抗的 "吃子 "游戏,在这种游戏中,棋手可以直接妨碍或伤害对方。这种结构还容易出现 "抨击失败者 "的模式,在这种模式中,落后的玩家会成为最吸引其他玩家的目标,并且没有机会恢复自己的位置。这种结构为设计者提供了一个探索创新的空间。
Sample Games
Alcatraz: The Scapegoat (Cywicki, Cywicki, and Hanusz, 2011)
Aye, Dark Overlord (Bonifacio, Crosa, Enrico, Ferlito, and Uren, 2005)
Cockroach Poker (Zeimet, 2004)
Jenga (Scott, 1983)
Pairs (Ernest, Glumpler, and Peterson, 2014)
Rhino Hero (Frisco and Strumph, 2011)
STR-07 Traitor Games
Description
A traitor game can be seen as a kind of team game or as a cooperative game with a betrayal mechanism. The traitors typically win by triggering a failure condition for the players, though an affirmative win condition can also exist. For our purposes, a traitor game is characterized by traitors that begin the game with hidden identities. 叛徒游戏可以看作是一种团队游戏,也可以看作是一种带有背叛机制的合作游戏。叛徒通常通过触发玩家的失败条件来获胜,但也可能存在肯定的获胜条件。就我们的目的而言,叛徒游戏的特点是叛徒以隐藏身份开始游戏。
Discussion
Traitor games sit at the overlap in the Venn diagram of social deduction games, team games, and cooperative games. The cooperative game engine sets the overall parameters for how players interact in the game, and those choices provide information that players can use and manipulate to deduce, accuse, and mislead. The team element provides coordination options for both sides, both out loud and in secret. These designs must add a layer of obfuscation to preserve uncertainty and mystery. Thus, in Dead of Winter, the cards contributed by players to meet the current crisis are shuffled prior to being revealed to hide which player contributed which card. 叛徒游戏位于社交推理游戏、团队游戏和合作游戏的维恩图重叠处。合作游戏引擎为玩家如何在游戏中互动设定了总体参数,这些选择提供了玩家可以使用和操纵的信息,以进行推理、指控和误导。团队元素为双方提供了公开和秘密的协调选项。这些设计必须增加一层模糊性,以保持不确定性和神秘感。因此,在 "亡冬 "游戏中,玩家为应对当前危机而贡献的纸牌在揭晓之前会被洗牌,以隐藏哪位玩家贡献了哪张牌。
In designing traitor games, it's important to consider how the game plays at different stages of knowing the traitor's identity. The tension and suspense of not knowing who is on which side is great fuel for the beginning of the game, but once the traitor has been sussed out, is the game still fun? Does the traitor still 在设计叛徒游戏时,重要的是要考虑在了解叛徒身份的不同阶段游戏的玩法。不知道谁是哪一方的紧张感和悬念是游戏开始时的最佳助燃剂,但一旦内奸被识破,游戏还好玩吗?内奸是否还
have meaningful and interesting choices? Is catching the traitor a victory condition itself? Betrayal at House on the Hill is a traitor game with many story modules, each with its own mechanisms, that designers can treat it as a case study on this exact issue. Betrayal does not quite fit our definition of traitor game, in that the traitor is not determined at the start of the game. The initial part of the game, prior to the haunt that assigns the traitor role to one player, could perhaps be seen as an extensive gamified setup phase. In any case, the lessons from Betrayal's story modes apply to games that fall more firmly within our definition. 有意义和有趣的选择?抓住叛徒本身就是胜利条件吗?山丘上的背叛》是一款叛徒游戏,有许多故事模块,每个模块都有自己的机制,设计者可以把它作为一个案例来研究这个问题。背叛》并不完全符合我们对叛徒游戏的定义,因为叛徒并不是在游戏开始时就确定的。游戏的初始部分,也就是将叛徒角色分配给一名玩家的闹鬼之前,或许可以被视为一个广泛的游戏化设置阶段。无论如何,从《背叛者》的故事模式中汲取的经验适用于更符合我们定义的游戏。
Another challenge facing traitor games is learnability. Like in team or One vs. All games, players have to learn how all the sides work to play properly. In traitor games with hidden identities, players can't readily ask questions or consult the rules without giving away their loyalties. Good player-aids and reference material need to be the areas of focus. These games also usually require that the traitor player knows the game well, to maximize the potential of their position. This emphasizes the need for an easily learned game. Good player-aids can go a long way too, especially when the player-aids for both factions help explain how the opposite faction plays too. 叛徒游戏面临的另一个挑战是可学习性。与团队游戏或 "一个人对所有人 "游戏一样,玩家必须了解各方是如何运作的,才能玩得得心应手。在隐藏身份的叛徒游戏中,玩家无法在不暴露自己忠诚的情况下随时提问或查阅规则。好的玩家辅助工具和参考资料需要重点关注。这些游戏通常还要求叛徒玩家对游戏非常了解,以最大限度地发挥他们的潜能。这就强调了游戏需要简单易学。好的玩家辅助工具也能起到很大作用,尤其是当两个派别的玩家辅助工具都能帮助解释对立派别的玩法时。
Sample Games
Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game (Konieczka, 2008)
Betrayal at House on the Hill (Daviau, Glassco, McQuilian, Selinker, and Woodruff, 2004)
Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game (Gilmour and Vega, 2014)
Saboteur (Moyersoen, 2004)
Shadows over Camelot (Cathala and Laget, 2005)
Werewolf (Davidoff and Plotkin, 1986)
STR-08 Scenario/Mission/Campaign Games
Description
This is a game system that can be applied to a variety of different maps, starting resources and positions, and even different win and loss conditions. These variable conditions can be assembled into a broader narrative or campaign, or they can be entirely disconnected from one another. 这是一个可以应用于各种不同地图、起始资源和位置,甚至不同胜负条件的游戏系统。这些多变的条件可以组合成更广泛的叙事或战役,也可以完全互不关联。
Discussion
The roots of scenario-based games are in storytelling, history, war games, and RPGs. The idea is that a rich experience can be woven out of multiple episodes, planned out to be experienced sequentially.
In war games like Advanced Squad Leader, the same core system, together with substantial supplements, enables players to model an enormous variety of possible conflicts. As players gain mastery, they can attempt more challenging and complex scenarios. At the other end of the spectrum, a warthemed game like Memoir' ' 44 gives players the opportunity to play the many battles and confrontations that made up the D-Day invasion with an intuitive ruleset that can be taught in ten minutes. 在《高级小队长》等战争游戏中,同样的核心系统加上大量的补充内容,可以让玩家模拟各种可能的冲突。随着玩家对游戏的掌握,他们可以尝试更具挑战性和更复杂的场景。在另一个极端,像《回忆录'44》这样的战争主题游戏让玩家有机会通过直观的规则集,在十分钟内学会 D-Day 入侵的许多战斗和对抗。
Scenario structures are popular in dungeon crawler games. Swap in a new dungeon map, a new boss monster, maybe some new mission types, and players can enjoy new challenges without learning new rules. Scenarios can also be completely detached from any narrative and simply allow players to face off against one another in a skirmish mode that provides some basic rules for force construction. Scenarios are also prevalent in cooperative settings, both for offering different levels of difficulty and for creating variety. 场景结构在地牢爬行游戏中很受欢迎。换上一张新的地牢地图、一个新的头目怪物,或许还有一些新的任务类型,玩家就能在不学习新规则的情况下享受新的挑战。场景也可以完全脱离任何叙事,只是让玩家在小规模战斗模式中互相对抗,并提供一些部队建设的基本规则。场景在合作设置中也很普遍,既能提供不同难度,又能创造多样性。
A "campaign" structure differs from the scenario in that the output from one scenario feeds into the next. Campaigns can have a specific set of scenarios that players go through in order or a tree-like structure where winning or losing a scenario determines which scenario is played next, or other structures. Typically, the impact of the past scenario on the next scenario is on the resources that players or enemy characters have access to (such as surviving units, character levels, or abilities). However, these are not the only options. In Oath, each game has different deck compositions, kingdom locations, and even victory conditions based on the prior game. 战役 "结构与场景不同,一个场景的输出会反馈到下一个场景。战役可以有一组特定的场景,玩家按顺序进行;也可以是树状结构,一个场景的胜负决定下一个场景的胜负;还可以是其他结构。通常情况下,上一个场景对下一个场景的影响在于玩家或敌方角色可以获得的资源(如幸存单位、角色等级或能力)。然而,这些并不是唯一的选择。在《誓言》中,每局游戏都有不同的卡组构成、王国位置,甚至胜利条件都是基于前一局游戏。
Recently, there has been an explosion in the types of games offering a scenario or campaign structure. Catan expansions going back as far as Seafarers of Catan have offered scenario play, but the hits like The 7th Continent, Mechs vs. Minions, Near and Far, and the card-based dungeon crawlers like Pathfinder Adventure Card Game and Gloombaven have rocketed in popularity. It's also impossible not to mention T.I.M.E Stories and the various escape room game series like Exit: The Game, Unlock!, and Deckscape. Though each box is a self-contained experience, the play system is largely similar from box to box, and outside of the packaging and business model, these games are scenario-based in structure. One might even consider Age of Steam maps, Power Grid expansions, Ticket to Ride standalone variants from Europe to New York, Pandemic: Iberia and Cthulhu, and the Mystery Rummy series as follow-on scenarios, sold separately. 最近,提供剧情或战役结构的游戏种类激增。早在《卡坦海员》(Seafarers of Catan)的扩充版中就提供了剧情游戏,而《第七大陆》(The 7th Continent)、《机甲大战小兵》(Mechs vs. Minions)、《远近》(Near and Far)等热门游戏,以及《探路者冒险卡牌游戏》(Pathfinder Adventure Card Game)和《地下城与勇士》(Gloombaven)等以卡牌为基础的地下城爬行游戏更是如火箭般蹿红。此外,《T.I.M.E 故事》和各种逃生游戏系列,如《Exit:The Game》、《Unlock!》和《Deckscape》。虽然每个盒子都是独立的体验,但每个盒子的游戏系统大体相似,除了包装和商业模式外,这些游戏的结构都是基于场景的。我们甚至可以将《蒸汽时代》地图、《电网》扩展版、《从欧洲到纽约的乘车券》独立变体、《大流行:伊比利亚和苍穹》以及《神秘拉米》系列视为单独销售的后续场景。
Sample Games
The 7th Continent (Roudy and Sautter, 2017)
Advanced Squad Leader (Greenwood, 1985)
Age of Steam (Wallace, 2002)
Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game (Gilmour and Vega, 2014)
Deckscape (Chiachierra and Sorrentino, 2017)
Exit: The Game (Brand and Brand, 2016)
Mechs vs. Minions (Cantrell, Ernst, Librande, Saraswat, and Tiras, 2016)
Memoir ' 44 (Borg, 2004)
Near and Far (Laukat, 2017)
Oath (Wehrle, 2021)
Pandemic game system (Leacock, 2008)
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game (Selinker, Brown, O'Connor, Peterson, and Weidling, 2013)
T.I.M.E Stories (Chassenet and Rozoy, 2015)
Ticket to Ride (Moon, 2004)
Unlock! series (Various, 2017)
STR-09 Score-and-Reset Games
Description
This is a game in which players play until reaching a stopping condition, then record scores, reset the game, and play one or more additional rounds. The game concludes after some number of rounds, and the cumulative score is calculated to determine a winner. 在这个游戏中,玩家一直玩到达到停止条件,然后记录分数,重置游戏,再玩一轮或多轮。游戏在若干回合后结束,并计算累计得分以决出胜负。
Discussion
Score-and-reset is a very common game structure that is well represented among classic games from Bridge to Backgammon, and in modern games like Red7, Ravenous River, and Incan Gold.
Card games are especially amenable to this structure, which matches well with playing out a hand of cards, shuffling and redealing. Games with a strong turn-order advantage can take advantage of a score-and-reset structure by having players take turns in the lead position and using cumulative scoring to measure who played best over a series of rounds. 纸牌游戏尤其适合采用这种结构,它与打出一手牌、洗牌和重新发牌的过程十分匹配。具有较强回合顺序优势的游戏可以利用得分和重置结构,让玩家轮流处于领先位置,并使用累计得分来衡量在一系列回合中谁玩得最好。
Stacking games like Rhino Hero use score-and-reset because once the shared structure is toppled, there's a need to collect up the cards and pieces anyway, and this represents a natural end point. Whether players do in fact record wins and losses or points is to some extent a matter of the dynamics of 像《犀牛英雄》这样的堆叠游戏之所以使用 "得分-重置 "机制,是因为一旦共享结构被推翻,玩家就需要收集纸牌和棋子,而这也是一个自然的终点。至于玩家是否会记录输赢或积分,这在某种程度上是由游戏的动态变化决定的。
the game group itself. By contrast, dexterity games like and reset after each goal, but scoring is rigorously tracked.
Score-and-reset structures can be somewhat informal. Players might play a series of games of Hive and declare a victor after one player reaches some total number of victories. There's not a sharp line between score-and-reset and round structure in general. Amun-Re features two ages, in which gameplay is identical, but the board itself does not fully reset. Pyramids built in the first age persist in the second age and influence the valuation of territories. In Blue Lagoon, the board is reset between the first and second half of the game, with the exception of the huts players lay out in the first half. However, the rules of placement change profoundly-where players were free to lay explorers on any sea space in the first half; in the second half, they must begin laying explorers adjacent to their huts. 计分和重置结构可以是非正式的。玩家可能会进行一系列蜂巢游戏,并在一名玩家达到一定的胜利总数后宣布胜利者。一般来说,计分和重置结构与回合结构之间的界限并不明显。阿蒙-芮》有两个时代,游戏玩法相同,但棋盘本身并不完全重置。在第一个时代建造的金字塔会在第二个时代继续存在,并影响领土的估值。在《蓝湖》中,除了玩家在前半部分建造的小屋外,棋盘在前半部分和后半部分之间是重置的。然而,放置规则却发生了深刻的变化--在前半部分,玩家可以在任何海域自由放置探险家;而在后半部分,玩家必须在其小屋附近开始放置探险家。
Sample Games
Amun-Re (Knizia, 2003)
Blue Lagoon (Knizia, 2018)
BONK (Harvey, 2017)
Hive (Yianni, 2001)
Incan Gold (Faidutti and Moon, 2005)
KLASK (Bertelsen, 2014)
Ravenous River (Shalev, 2016)
Red7 (Chudyk and Cieslik, 2014)
Rhino Hero (Frisco and Strumph, 2011)
STR-10 Legacy Games
Description
A legacy game is a multisession game in which permanent and irreversible changes to the game state carry over from session to session.
Discussion
The first legacy game, Rob Daviau's Risk Legacy, came from the unlikeliest of places: Hasbro. Daviau, by his telling, half-shepherded, half-snuck the audacious design past the gatekeepers at the company and emerged with a genre-defining hit. Famously, the game was sealed with a sticker that had to be broken to open the box, and which warned ominously, "What Is Done Cannot Be Undone." This irreversible permanent change is what legacy games are all about (Illustration 1.2). 第一款传统游戏,罗伯-达维亚的《风险遗产》,来自最不可能的地方:孩之宝据达维奥自己说,他半是牧羊人,半是 "蜗牛",让这个大胆的设计通过了孩之宝公司的层层把关,并最终推出了一款定义了游戏类型的热门游戏。著名的是,这款游戏的封口贴纸必须撕开才能打开盒子,上面还不祥地警告说:"已做之事无法挽回"。这种不可逆转的永久性改变正是传统游戏的魅力所在(插图 1.2)。
Legacy games are difficult to playtest, require generating quite a lot of content, and are tricky to produce and price properly. Curmudgeons will rightly point out that RPGs and campaign games are essentially legacy games, except that you don't have to destroy your game as you play. Yet that permanent destruction, the tearing of a card or writing on a board, generates a visceral response that those other games don't. Breaking this taboo and permanently altering a game can be a stressful and cathartic experience at the same time. 传统游戏很难进行游戏测试,需要生成大量内容,制作和定价都很棘手。古板的人会理直气壮地指出,RPG 和战役游戏本质上也是传统游戏,只不过你不必在游戏过程中破坏你的游戏。然而,这种永久性的破坏,即撕毁卡片或在棋盘上写字,会产生一种其他游戏所没有的内在反应。打破这种禁忌,永久性地改变一个游戏,可以是一种压力,同时也是一种宣泄。
Illustration 1.2 The exterior seal in Risk Legacy. This helps place the player in the proper headspace for the game.
Legacy games aren't simply about destroying components and defacing boards. Another element common to these games is unlocks: gated content that can only be opened and accessed after some condition is met. We'll refrain from specific examples so as not to spoil these experiences for the uninitiated! Unlocks differ fundamentally from gated content in non-legacy games (see "Gating and Unlocking," ACT-15) in that unlocks usually occur at game-end, their impacts will only be felt in the next session, and these unlocks are typically not simply buffs and de-buffs to existing statistics, but rather, entire new mechanisms, characters, factions, maps, etc. These unlocks can also radically change the narrative or move the camera and offer players new perspectives and surprises. 传统游戏不仅仅是破坏元件和污损电路板那么简单。这些游戏的另一个共同点是 "解锁":只有在满足某些条件后才能打开和访问的内容。我们将避免举出具体的例子,以免破坏初学者的体验!解锁与非经典游戏中的门控内容(见 "门控与解锁",ACT-15)有本质区别,因为解锁通常发生在游戏结束时,其影响只有在下一环节中才能感受到,而且这些解锁通常不是简单地对现有数据进行buff和de-buff,而是全新的机制、角色、派系、地图等。这些解锁还可以从根本上改变叙事或移动镜头,为玩家提供新的视角和惊喜。
Like campaign games, legacy games require a substantial commitment to complete, and they typically call for the same group to come together ten or more times. Pandemic Legacy can theoretically take 24 sessions to complete! Publishers, and thus designers, can feel trapped between offering a novel and essentially unrepeatable experience, on the one hand, while still providing sufficient re-playability to players, despite the consumable nature of the game. Most legacy games do allow players to keep playing the game even after the campaign is concluded, but anecdotally, it seems that few players do so. 与战役游戏一样,传统游戏也需要大量的投入才能完成,而且通常需要同一组人聚集在一起十次或更多次。从理论上讲,"大流行遗产 "需要 24 次游戏才能完成!一方面,发行商和设计者可能会感到为难,因为他们既要提供新颖且基本上不可重复的体验,又要为玩家提供足够的可重玩性(尽管游戏具有消耗性)。大多数传统游戏确实允许玩家在活动结束后继续玩游戏,但据传闻,似乎很少有玩家这样做。
It appears that the market is expanding to allow for a broader range of possible games such that at the right price point, even a single-play game like the Exit series can be a hit. Games like the Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
deck-building game have used unlocks, but not destructibility, and are fully resettable. Gloombaven takes a similar approach with reusable stickers to provide changes that are campaign-permanent but otherwise reversible. Fabled Fruit is even more easily reset, requiring nothing more than reordering a deck of cards. However, it is difficult to distinguish it structurally from, say, a deck-building game in which any given play session may include a completely different subset of cards. 卡组建造游戏使用了解锁功能,但没有破坏性,而且完全可以重置。Gloombaven 采用了类似的方法,用可重复使用的贴纸来提供活动永久性的变化,但在其他方面是可逆的。寓言果实》更容易重置,只需重新排列一副牌的顺序即可。然而,很难从结构上将其与卡组建造游戏区分开来,因为在卡组建造游戏中,任何特定的游戏环节都可能包含完全不同的卡牌子集。
Legacy games are a still-emerging category and definition. Elements we've identified may not exist in every game, and new elements may yet emerge, especially as legacy games and digital apps converge. Concerns about reusability and the environment do appear to have shifted designers away from requiring the destruction of components. In Zombie Teenz Evolution, a 2021 nominee for the prestigious Spiel des Jahres award, gameplay elements are mostly resettable, but a comic strip included in the rules is composed of sticker panels that are unlocked during gameplay. From a product design perspective, the game can be given to another group to play after one group completes it, but some aspects of the experience are only available to the purchaser of a new copy. 传统游戏是一个新兴的类别和定义。我们所确定的要素可能并不存在于每款游戏中,新的要素可能还会出现,尤其是当传统游戏和数字应用程序融合在一起时。对可重用性和环境的关注似乎已经让设计者不再要求销毁组件。在 2021 年著名的 "大奖游戏"(Spiel des Jahres)奖提名作品《僵尸泰恩兹进化》中,游戏元素大多是可以重新设置的,但规则中的连环画是由贴纸组成的,在游戏过程中可以解锁。从产品设计的角度来看,该游戏可以在一个小组完成后交给另一个小组玩,但游戏体验的某些方面只有新副本的购买者才能获得。
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle (Forrest-Pruzan Creative, Mandell and Wolf, 2016)
Legacy of Dragonholt (Valens, Clark, Flanders, and Mitsoda, 2017)
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 (Daviau and Leacock, 2015)
Risk Legacy (Daviau and Dupuis, 2011)
Zombie Teenz Evolution (Lobet, 2020)
Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis Group
http://taylorandfrancis.com
2
Turn Order and Structure
One of the elements that separates "games" from "play" is the introduction of structure. This takes many forms, including restrictions on how players perform activities and when they may perform them. Out of this arises the concept of a turn-an order or structure within which players take their actions. 将 "游戏 "与 "玩耍 "区分开来的要素之一是引入结构。这种结构有多种形式,包括对玩家如何进行活动以及何时可以进行活动的限制。由此产生了 "回合 "的概念--玩家采取行动的顺序或结构。
The concept of taking turns is one of the first game-based concepts taught to young children. Many simple games, like Candyland, exist to teach how to wait your turn, among other early building blocks of playing games.
The turn structure of a game can set the tone for the entire experience, whether it is playful, strategic, or intense. Selecting the appropriate turn structure for the game is an important part of the design process.
This section includes a wide variety of these structures, including some that, while appearing unstructured, like Real-Time Games, actually contain their own internal structure, logic, and design challenges.
Terminology
For this book, we have adopted the following commonly used terminologies when describing turn structure:
A Turn is typically one player taking a series of Actions or Steps, although sometimes other players may interrupt or otherwise participate.
A Round is composed of multiple Turns taken by several players. This can be a fixed number of turns or variables depending on player actions or random events.
For example, Agricola consists of 14 Rounds. In each Round, there is a Start Player, who takes the first Turn. During that Turn, they perform two Steps: Placing a worker and performing the Actions designated by the space where the worker is placed. Players continue to take Turns in clockwise order until all workers have been placed. This concludes the Round. 例如,《Agricola》由 14 个回合组成。在每个回合中,都有一个起始玩家,他负责第一个回合。在这一回合中,他们要执行两个步骤:放置一名工人,并执行放置工人的空格所指定的操作。玩家继续按顺时针顺序轮流,直到放置完所有工人。本回合结束。
There may be activities that take place at the beginning or end of a Round. For example, in Agricola, you may need to feed your workers or new Actions may be added to the available options.
Many games also introduce the concept of a Phase. Phases can be inserted at different places in the hierarchy depending on the needs of the designer. For example, a Round can consist of several Phases, and each Phase can have a series of Turns, or alternatively, a series of Rounds may make up a superstructure called a Phase. The section on Interleaved vs. Sequential Structures (TRN-15) discusses this in more detail. 许多游戏还引入了阶段的概念。根据设计者的需要,可以在层次结构的不同位置插入阶段。例如,一个回合可以由多个阶段组成,每个阶段可以有一系列回合,或者,一系列回合可以组成一个称为阶段的上层建筑。交错结构与顺序结构(TRN-15)一节对此有更详细的讨论。
The key distinguishing feature of Phases vs. Rounds or Turns is that there are usually multiple Phases, and each is named with a different and specific purpose. For example, there may be a "Feeding Phase" and a "Scoring Phase," and those can be radically different from each other. In contrast, Rounds and Turns are rarely distinguished in this way. They are identical in their basic structure. This is not to say that each Turn, for example, always consists of exactly the same Steps. Many games give players a choice of actions to perform. But a Turn performed by one player is typically very similar in structure, if not identical, to another player's Turn. 阶段与回合或回合的主要区别在于,通常有多个阶段,每个阶段都有不同的特定目的。例如,可能有 "喂食阶段 "和 "计分阶段",而这两个阶段之间可能完全不同。相比之下,"回合 "和 "回合 "很少有这样的区分。它们的基本结构是相同的。例如,这并不是说每个回合总是由完全相同的步骤组成。许多游戏都会让玩家选择要执行的行动。但是一个玩家执行的回合通常在结构上与另一个玩家的回合非常相似,甚至完全相同。
Some games also have levels above Rounds. These have a variety of names, from the generic Stage in Die Speicherstadt to the more thematic Age in Through the Ages.
This terminology is not written in stone, and there will be esoteric structures that may require different names. However, anything that is outside what players are expecting, or that inverts this customary order, will add cognitive load to the players, both in learning and playing. You can build a car that puts the windshield wiper controls underneath the radio instead of on a steering wheel stalk or make a new icon to represent the defrosters, but drivers will find it more challenging to drive. Eventually they will adapt, but the best approach is to keep to conventions unless there is a strong reason not to do so. 这些术语并非一成不变,有些深奥的结构可能需要不同的名称。不过,任何超出玩家预期的东西,或者颠倒这种习惯顺序的东西,都会增加玩家的认知负担,无论是在学习还是在游戏中。你可以造一辆把挡风玻璃雨刷控制放在收音机下方而不是方向盘柄上的汽车,也可以造一个新图标来代表除霜器,但驾驶者会发现驾驶起来更具挑战性。最终他们会适应的,但最好的办法是保持惯例,除非有强烈的理由不这么做。
TRN-01 Fixed Turn Order
Description
Turn order is set at the start of the game and never varies. Each player takes a turn in the same sequence until the end of the game.
Discussion
A Fixed Turn Order is the most basic turn order, one that we are introduced to from the first games we play at a young age. In Western games, play generally proceeds from a starting player clockwise around the table; however, Asian games often proceed counter-clockwise. In this book, we will assume that games proceed clockwise (Progressive or Become First Player Action, for example). We recommend that the direction chosen by the designer match the cultural norm to reduce the cognitive load on players and to consider reversing turn order in localized editions of a game as appropriate. 固定回合顺序是最基本的回合顺序,我们从小玩的第一款游戏就开始采用这种顺序。在西方游戏中,游戏一般从起始玩家开始顺时针绕桌进行;但亚洲游戏通常是逆时针进行。在本书中,我们将假定游戏按顺时针方向进行(例如渐进式或成为第一玩家行动)。我们建议设计者选择的方向应与文化规范相匹配,以减少玩家的认知负担,并考虑在游戏的本地化版本中酌情颠倒回合顺序。
Fixed Turn Order will often result in an imbalance favoring one of the player positions (typically the first player, but sometimes the last). To compensate, the designer may give a bonus to the other players. This can be extra or better resources, as in Century: Spice Road, bonus victory points, as in Go, or other advantages. 固定回合顺序往往会导致不平衡,使其中一个玩家的位置更有利(通常是第一个玩家,但有时也会是最后一个玩家)。作为补偿,设计者可能会给其他玩家一些奖励。这可以是额外的或更好的资源,如《世纪》中的 "香料之路";也可以是额外的胜利点数,如《世纪》中的 "胜利":香料之路》、《围棋》中的奖励胜利点数或其他优势。
Another concern is ensuring players will have an equal number of turns. A common means for addressing this is using a token or indication of which player went first. When the game-ending condition is triggered, the round continues, the marker serving as a reminder of which players should still take a turn so that all players will have the same number of turns. Century: Spice Road uses this system, for example. 另一个值得关注的问题是确保玩家有相同的回合数。解决这一问题的常用方法是使用标记或指示哪个玩家先开始。当游戏结束的条件被触发时,游戏继续进行,标记会提醒哪些玩家仍应进行一轮游戏,这样所有玩家就会有相同的回合数。世纪:香料之路》就采用了这种系统。
These systems may introduce additional complexity and design considerations, however. For example, some players may play their final turn not knowing it is their last turn, while others will know it is their last turn and will be able to optimize their play. Let's say there are five players: A through E , with A being the first player. If player C triggers the end of the game, D and E will get one final turn, then the game will end. This may give D and E an advantage over A and B, as D and E know this is their final turn and can execute accordingly. 不过,这些系统可能会带来额外的复杂性和设计考虑。例如,有些玩家在下最后一轮时可能不知道这是自己的最后一轮,而有些玩家则知道这是自己的最后一轮,并能优化自己的下法。假设有五位玩家:A 到 E,A 是第一个玩家。如果玩家 C 触发游戏结束,D 和 E 将获得最后一个回合,然后游戏结束。这可能会让 D 和 E 比 A 和 B 更有优势,因为 D 和 E 知道这是他们的最后一轮,可以相应地执行。
Through the Ages uses a Fixed Turn structure, and keeps track of the first player. However, to help counteract the issue that some, but not all, players know what their last turn is, the game sometimes extends an extra round, depending on when the end is triggered. If game-end is triggered on the first player's turn, the current round would be the final round. If game-end is triggered on any other player's turn, the game goes on for another full round. This helps mitigate the situation, but it does add additional complexity to the rules. 《穿越时空》采用固定回合结构,并记录第一位玩家的情况。不过,有些玩家(并非所有玩家)不知道自己的最后一轮是什么,为了解决这个问题,游戏有时会额外延长一轮,这取决于何时触发结束。如果游戏结束是在第一个玩家的回合中触发的,那么当前回合就是最后一轮。如果游戏结束在其他玩家的回合中触发,游戏就会继续一整轮。这有助于缓解这种情况,但确实增加了规则的复杂性。
Sample Games
Candyland (Abbot, 1949)
Century: Spice Road (Matsuuchi, 2017)
The Expanse Board Game (Engelstein, 2017)
Go (Unknown, 2200 BCE)
Monopoly (Darrow and Magie, 1933)
Parcheesi (Unknown, 400)
Snakes & Ladders (Unknown, 〜200 всЕ)
Splendor (André, 2014)
Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization (Chvátil, 2006)
TRN-02 Stat Turn Order
Description
The turn order within each Round is set by some statistic relating to the players' resources or position in the game.
Discussion
This Stat Turn Order mechanism gives the designer an additional tool to work with, particularly to implement a Catch the Leader mechanism (VIC18). Frequently, the resource that is used as the basis for turn order is Victory Points (VIC-01), where the player in the last place goes first in the turn order, or possibly last. However, it can be other resources or board states. In Civilization, for example, it is based on the number of population tokens a player has on the board. 这种统计回合顺序机制为设计者提供了一个额外的工具,尤其是在实施 "捉对厮杀 "机制(VIC18)时。通常情况下,作为回合顺序基础的资源是胜利点数(VIC-01),在这种情况下,排在最后的玩家在回合顺序中排在最前面,或者可能排在最后。但也可以是其他资源或棋盘状态。例如,在《文明》中,它基于玩家在棋盘上拥有的人口令牌数量。
Turn order may also be variable for different phases of the game, based on different statistics. Both Power Grid and Civilization use this method. Power Grid always uses the number of connected cities as the ranking metric, but in some phases, the player with the most connected cities goes first, and in others, they go last. During the auction for power plants, the player in the lead must select and bid on the first power plant, which is disadvantageous. When purchasing resources and building power lines, the player in the lead goes last and is left with more expensive resources available to them for purchase or possibly getting blocked out of places to build. In Civilization, some phases are sequenced by Census (population tokens), while others are based on the victory track, either forward or reverse. This gives the designer finegrained control over balance and the relative importance of different aspects. 在游戏的不同阶段,回合顺序也可以根据不同的统计数据而变化。电力网》和《文明》都使用这种方法。电力网》始终使用连接城市的数量作为排名指标,但在某些阶段,连接城市最多的玩家会排在前面,而在其他阶段,他们会排在最后。在拍卖发电厂时,领先的玩家必须选择并竞拍第一个发电厂,这是很不利的。在购买资源和建造输电线时,领先的玩家会排在最后,这样他们就只能购买更昂贵的资源,也有可能被挡在建造地点之外。在《文明》游戏中,有些阶段是根据人口普查(人口令牌)来排序的,而有些阶段则是根据胜利轨迹来排序的,可以正向排序,也可以反向排序。这让设计者可以对平衡和不同方面的相对重要性进行精细控制。
It also allows players to manipulate turn order and gives the designer a tool to implement a Catch the Leader mechanism.
A word of caution is in order if Victory Points are used as the turn-order determinant, as in Power Grid, but many Victory Points are awarded at the end of the game or are otherwise not tallied on the Victory Point (VP) track immediately (VIC-06). Those "off-the-books" VPs are more valuable than VPs recorded on the VP track, because they do not hurt a player's turn-order positioning. If players who are ahead on the score track during the game are penalized by turn order, it will give increased weight to strategies that maximize end-game points, which the designer needs to consider for balance. 如果胜利点数被用作决定回合顺序的因素(如在《电力网》中),但许多胜利点数是在游戏结束时获得的,或者没有立即计入胜利点数(VP)轨迹(VIC-06),那么就需要注意了。这些 "账外 "胜利点数比记录在胜利点数轨道上的胜利点数更有价值,因为它们不会影响玩家的回合顺序定位。如果游戏过程中在分数轨道上领先的玩家会受到回合顺序的惩罚,那么就会增加最大化终局分数的策略的权重,这也是设计者需要考虑的平衡问题。
When the advantages of turn order are extreme, manipulating turn order may become a dominant feature of gameplay, which may or may not match the designer's intent. For example, in Rise and Decline of the Third Reich, a simulation of the European theater of World War II, turn order is determined by the production output of the sides (called Basic Resource Points, or BRPs). Typically, it is clear which side has more BRPs, and the turn order stays fixed. However, at critical points, the lead may change, resulting in a double turn, as the player that moved last in one turn moves first in the next. Players have some control over BRPs, as a portion of those not spent carry over to the next turn, and conquests, strategic warfare, and other effects may impact it, so paying close attention to this stat is vital. 当回合顺序的优势达到极致时,操纵回合顺序就可能成为游戏的主要特征,这可能符合设计者的意图,也可能不符合。例如,在《第三帝国的兴衰》这款模拟二战欧洲战场的游戏中,回合顺序是由双方的生产产出(称为基本资源点,或 BRPs)决定的。通常情况下,哪一方拥有更多的基本资源点是显而易见的,回合顺序也就固定不变。不过,在关键时刻,领先优势可能会发生变化,从而导致双重回合,因为在上一回合中最后移动的玩家在下一回合中先移动。玩家对 BRP 有一定的控制权,因为一部分未消耗的 BRP 会延续到下一回合,而征服、战略战争和其他影响也会对 BRP 产生影响,因此密切关注这一数据至关重要。
This is clearly part of the design intent. In the early stages of the game, Germany will typically move first, but as the US enters the war and gains in economic strength there will inevitably be a transition resulting in Allied double move, which can strongly shift momentum in their favor. The Axis player tries to blunt this by controlling the timing of when this double move occurs, perhaps triggering it earlier than the Allied player wants and when they are not set up to take advantage of it. 这显然是设计意图的一部分。在游戏的早期阶段,德国通常会先行一步,但随着美国参战和经济实力的增强,不可避免地会出现过渡,导致盟军双倍移动,这可能会极大地改变局势,使之对盟军有利。轴心国棋手试图通过控制双步棋发生的时间来阻止这种情况的发生,也许会比盟国棋手希望的更早触发双步棋,而盟国棋手却没有准备好利用双步棋。
Sample Games
Civilization (Tresham, 1980)
Power Grid (Friese, 2004)
Rise and Decline of the Third Reich (Greenwood and Prados, 1974)
TRN-03 Bid Turn Order
Description
Players bid for turn order. A variety of auction mechanisms may be used (see "Auctions" in Chapter 8 for more details).
Discussion
Adding an auction for turn order, or Bid Turn Order, helps improve balance by allowing the players to decide the relative merits of different turn orders at different times and situations. However, there are several drawbacks to this method. First, it will slow the game down. Auctions in general can add a lot of time to the game and can feel tacked-on when the auction is not integrated into the core game mechanism. This is normally the case with auctioning off turn order, which is usually a prelude to the main gameplay. 增加回合顺序拍卖(或称出价回合顺序)有助于提高平衡性,让棋手在不同时间和情况下决定不同回合顺序的相对优劣。不过,这种方法也有几个缺点。首先,它会减慢游戏速度。一般来说,拍卖会给游戏增加很多时间,而且如果拍卖没有融入核心游戏机制中,就会让人感觉很累赘。拍卖回合顺序通常就是这种情况,它通常是主要游戏玩法的前奏。
Age of Steam has a traditional Turn Order Until Pass auction (AUC-03). While the auction can be long, turn order in this game is very important, and the rules of the bid have additional tactical considerations, since players who drop out early get all or some of their bids back. In a tight economic game like Age of Steam, the bidding is extremely tense and important, and the experience more than makes up for the game length. 蒸汽时代》采用传统的 "直到通过为止的回合顺序 "拍卖(AUC-03)。虽然拍卖时间可能很长,但回合顺序在这个游戏中非常重要,而且竞价规则还有额外的战术考虑,因为提前退出的玩家可以拿回全部或部分竞价。在像《蒸汽时代》这样紧张的经济游戏中,竞价是非常紧张和重要的,其经验足以弥补游戏的长度。
In A Game of Thrones, players bid for turn order via the Throne track. In addition to being the first player, the highest bidder on the Throne track also gains the ability to break any ties that occur in future auctions. Giving an extra benefit to the winner of the auction makes it more interesting to the players and raises the stakes of the bidding. 在《权力的游戏》中,玩家通过王座轨道竞拍回合顺序。除了成为第一个玩家外,在王座轨道上出价最高的玩家还能打破未来拍卖中出现的任何平局。给拍卖获胜者额外的好处会让玩家更感兴趣,并提高竞拍的风险。
Another game that uses this mechanism is El Grande, where the playing of Power Cards determines the turn order. Each player has Power Cards
numbered 1-20 and selects one to play. The selection is made based on the turn order of the prior turn. Each player may only play each Power Card once per game, and they may not play the same Power Card that another player has played earlier in the round. These rules speed the auction for turn order. In an example of elegant design, the Power Cards determine not just turn order but the number of pieces ("caballeros") that are made available to the player for the Area Majority competition (ARC-02) featured in the game. Power cards are designed to offer better turn order and fewer caballeros or vice versa. Timing their play is a critical part of Grande and makes the turn-order auction step more engaging. 并选择一个进行游戏。选择的依据是前一回合的顺序。每位玩家在每局游戏中只能使用一次 "强力卡",并且不能使用其他玩家在本轮游戏中使用过的 "强力卡"。这些规则加快了回合顺序拍卖的速度。在一个优雅设计的例子中,"强力卡 "不仅决定了回合顺序,还决定了游戏中区域多数竞赛(ARC-02)中玩家可使用的棋子("caballeros")数量。强力牌的设计目的是提供更好的回合顺序和更少的卡巴列罗,反之亦然。把握强力牌的使用时机是 格兰德游戏的关键部分,它使回合顺序拍卖步骤更加引人入胜。
Auctions do suffer from another weakness, though. Auctions rely on players understanding the value of what they are bidding on. When bidding for resources or something tangible, it is easier for new players to judge relative worth. However, turn order is a much more nebulous concept for new players, and determining its value can be very tricky. This can lead to players over- or under-paying in the auction, which can lead to balance issues and lessened enjoyment. Therefore, if using a bid for turn order, it is recommended that designers give players guidelines for typical early game bids to help them bid appropriately. 不过,拍卖还有一个弱点。拍卖依赖于玩家对竞拍物品价值的理解。在竞拍资源或有形物品时,新玩家比较容易判断相对价值。然而,对于新玩家来说,回合顺序是一个模糊得多的概念,确定其价值可能非常棘手。这可能会导致玩家在拍卖中出价过高或过低,从而造成平衡问题,降低游戏乐趣。因此,如果使用回合顺序出价,建议设计者为玩家提供游戏早期典型出价指南,帮助他们适当出价。
Bid Order turn systems typically require a physical element to track turn order-a track, tokens, or cards, something to indicate the sequence. Because turn order does not go "around the table," this system can result in delays as players get confused, or need to check a secondary track, to determine whose turn it is. 出价顺序回合系统通常需要一个物理元素来跟踪回合顺序--轨道、令牌或卡片,这些都是用来指示顺序的东西。由于回合顺序不会 "绕着桌子转",这种系统可能会导致延迟,因为玩家会混淆,或需要检查辅助轨道,以确定轮到谁了。
Sample Games
Age of Steam (Wallace, 2002)
El Grande (Kramer and Ulrich, 1995)
A Game of Thrones (Petersen and Wilson, 2003)
TRN-04 Progressive Turn Order
Description
One player has the First Player token. At the end of the round, the token passes to the player to the left who becomes the new First Player for that round. During the round, players take turns clockwise around the table.
Discussion
There are several advantages to the Progressive Turn Order system over the Fixed Turn Order (TRN-01) structure. First, it naturally rotates the first player marker through the players in a predictable way. This enables planning on the part of the players, and it introduces a timing element. If you are going second, you know that you will be going first in the next round and can plan accordingly. 与固定回合顺序(TRN-01)结构相比,渐进式回合顺序系统有几个优点。首先,它以一种可预测的方式自然地将第一位棋手的标记轮换到其他棋手。这样,棋手们就可以进行规划,同时也引入了计时元素。如果你排在第二位,你就会知道下一轮你将排在第一位,从而制定相应的计划。
Similarly, being first in a round is immediately followed by being last in the next round. This gives a nice rhythm to the game, as over a series of rounds you move closer and closer to going first and then slip to last place. It's a gradual build-up, followed by a sharp drop. 同样,在一轮游戏中获得第一名,紧接着就会在下一轮成为最后一名。这给游戏带来了很好的节奏感,因为在一系列回合中,你会越来越接近第一名,然后滑落到最后一名。这是一种逐步上升,然后急剧下降的过程。
The above assumes, of course, that going first is the best position, and going last the worst. In some games, the opposite is true, like Texas Hold'Em
Poker. In this game, the first position is typically considered the worst, while the last, "the button," is the best, as seeing what other players do before you make your decision gives you more information to work with. Therefore, in Texas Hold'Em Poker, once the player is in the best position, the button, they gradually move closer and closer to the worst position, the small blind. Then the player jumps from being in the worst position to the best. (One might view the small blind as receiving some turn-order compensation for having the worst position, in that they must only stake half as much money as the big blind, which is the player following them in turn order.) 扑克。在这种游戏中,第一个位置通常被认为是最差的位置,而最后一个位置,即 "按钮",则是最好的位置,因为在您做出决定之前,看到其他玩家的行动会给您提供更多的信息。因此,在德州扑克中,一旦玩家处于最好的位置,即按钮位置,他们就会逐渐靠近最差的位置,即小盲注位置。然后,玩家从最差的位置跳到最好的位置。(有人可能会认为小盲注者因为处于最差位置而获得了一些轮次补偿,因为他们必须下注的金额只有大盲注者的一半,而大盲注者是排在他们之后的玩家)。
Progressive games can leave a large gap between player turns. For example, in a five-player game, when a player moves first, the next round he or she will move fifth. That means that it will be nine turns until the player gets to go again (eight opponent turns). Depending on the game, this can lead to serious downtime. For this reason, Progressive is most effective in games with short turns or where players take actions during other player turns. The latter is done in Puerto Rico, where the other players get to perform a less powerful version of the action selected by the main player (ACT-08). 累进游戏会在玩家回合之间留下很大的间隔。例如,在一个五人游戏中,当一名玩家先走时,下一轮他或她将走第五步。这就意味着,在该玩家再次走棋之前要经过九个回合(八个对手回合)。根据游戏的不同,这可能会导致严重的停机。因此,在回合较短或玩家在其他玩家回合内采取行动的游戏中,"进取 "是最有效的。波多黎各》中就采用了后者,其他玩家可以执行主玩家所选行动的一个威力较小的版本(ACT-08)。
Typically, games that use Progressive Turn structure are played to the end of the round in which the end-game condition is triggered. Therefore, the issue with players having an unequal number of turns does not arise as it does in Fixed Turn Order games. Sometimes, a mechanism is included to ensure that each player has the same number of opportunities to go first (often by setting the number of rounds equal to the number of players or a multiple of that number). 通常情况下,使用递进回合结构的游戏会进行到触发终局条件的回合结束。因此,不会出现固定回合顺序游戏中玩家回合数不相等的问题。有时,游戏中会加入一种机制来确保每位玩家有相同次数的机会先下(通常是通过设置回合数等于玩家人数或该人数的倍数)。
A less-used variant on Progressive Turn structure is Regressive, where the First Player token passes counter-clockwise, while turns are taken clockwise. Much of the discussion in Progressive applies here, in terms of psychology and gaps between turns. However, there is one important difference: in a Regressive structure, the player who goes last in one round will go first in the next. Players having two turns in a row can be extremely powerful, particularly when a player knows it is happening and can plan accordingly. The game needs to be designed and structured to either take advantage of that or blunt it in some fashion. For example, in Dead of Winter, a semi-cooperative potential hidden traitor game (STR-05), the hidden traitors would do well to reveal themselves to be the traitors in the round in which they go last, as they will have two successive turns in which to wreak havoc. 渐进式回合结构的一个较少使用的变体是递减式(Regressive),在递减式回合结构中,"第一玩家"(First Player)标记逆时针传递,而回合则顺时针进行。在心理和回合间隙方面,"递进式 "的大部分讨论都适用于此。但是,有一个重要的区别:在递减结构中,在一轮中走在最后的玩家将在下一轮中走在最前面。连续两轮的棋手会非常强大,尤其是当棋手知道会发生这种情况并能做出相应计划时。游戏的设计和结构需要利用这一点,或者以某种方式削弱这一点。例如,在《冬日之死》这款半合作的潜在隐藏叛徒游戏(STR-05)中,隐藏叛徒最好在最后一轮暴露自己是叛徒,因为他们将有两个连续的回合来进行破坏。
Regressive is unintuitive to players, because so many games go clockwise. Having a turn which moves clockwise, but a token which moves counterclockwise, is an additional cognitive burden that should only be imposed for some specific design reason. 对玩家来说,"倒退 "并不直观,因为很多游戏都是按顺时针方向进行的。让一个回合顺时针方向移动,但让一个标记逆时针方向移动,是一种额外的认知负担,只有在特定的设计原因下才会出现这种情况。
Sample Games
Progressive
The Little Prince: Make Me a Planet (Bauza and Cathala, 2013)
Puerto Rico (Seyfarth, 2002)
Quadropolis (Gandon, 2016)
Terraforming Mars (Fryxelius, 2016)
Texas Hold'Em (Unknown)
Regressive
Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game (Gilmour and Vega, 2014)
Kepler (Bariot and Montiage, 2012)
Viticulture (Stegmaier and Stone, 2013)
Walk the Plank! (Steely and Tinney, 2013)
TRN-05 Claim Turn Order
Description
In each round, there is a First Player, and turns are taken clockwise from the first player. There is an action that may be taken to claim a place in the turn order (typically, but not always, first) for the next round, with play proceeding clockwise from the First Player. If no one takes the action, turn order remains unchanged. 每轮游戏都有一个 "第一玩家",从 "第一玩家 "开始按顺时针方向轮流。在下一轮游戏中,玩家可以采取一个行动来获得一个回合顺序的位置(通常是第一位,但不一定是第一位),游戏从第一位玩家开始顺时针进行。如果没有人采取该行动,则回合顺序保持不变。
Discussion
Similar to Stat Turn Order (TRN-02), Claim Turn Order Action gives more control to the players over the turn order, as they need to do something to seize control over the first player marker.
Caution and finesse need to be employed by the designer when using this system, as there are a number of pitfalls. This technique is often used in Worker Placement (Chapter 9) or Action Drafting (ACT-02) games, and players will need to use one of their workers or actions to go first next time. This means that they are sacrificing their action now, effectively losing a turn, to gain that advantage. Balancing the cost can be tricky, as the value of going 在使用这个系统时,设计者需要小心谨慎,因为会有很多陷阱。这种技巧通常用在 "工人安置"(第 9 章)或 "行动起草"(ACT-02)游戏中。这就意味着他们要牺牲现在的行动,实际上就是损失一回合来获得优势。平衡代价可能会很棘手,因为先下的价值会随着时间的推移而增加。
first can vary from situation to situation and player to player. The value of simply going first may not be that great, so players may avoid using an action to be the first player. In this case, the same player gets to remain the first player without losing an action. They simply remain the first player by default and reap the rewards at no cost. 在不同的情况和不同的玩家面前,"先手 "的意义可能会有所不同。单纯的先手价值可能并不大,因此玩家可能会避免使用行动来成为先手。在这种情况下,同一名玩家可以在不损失行动的情况下保持第一名。他们只需保持默认的先手位置,并不付出任何代价就能获得回报。
Designers can sweeten the value of claiming turn order by including other resources or abilities with it. For example, in Agricola, the player who chooses the First Player action may also play a Minor Improvement (Illustration 2.1).
More importantly, the player to the left of the player who chooses to go first gets a great boon. They will get to play second, which, while not as good as going first, was obtained with absolutely no effort on their part. Agricola suffers quite a bit from this issue, as it is of great benefit to be to the left of the player who chose to go first and frustrating to be the player to the right, who will now go last, through no fault or action of their own. 《更重要的是,选择先发的玩家左边的玩家会得到一个巨大的好处。他们将获得第二名,虽然比不上第一名,但他们完全不费吹灰之力就能获得。阿格裡柯拉》在這個問題上頗受影響,因為在選擇第一名的玩家左邊的玩家會得到很大的好處,而在右邊的玩家則會感到沮喪,因為他們現在會變成最後一名,而這並不是因為他們自己的過錯或行為。
First Class: All Aboard the Orient Express deals with this issue by giving bonuses to all positions when the First Player token is chosen as an action. In a four-player game, the player who chose to go first gains two coins, the third player may take a Train Card, and the fourth player may either take or upgrade a Train Card. The player who will now be going second receives no bonus-being able to go second in the round while not giving anything up is deemed sufficient compensation. The First Class system gives the designer a lot of flexibility in balancing the different player positions. 《头等舱东方快车上的头等舱》解决了这一问题,当选择 "头等舱 "令牌作为行动时,所有位置的玩家都会获得奖励。在一个四人游戏中,选择 "先行 "的玩家可以获得两个金币,第三个玩家可以获得一张火车卡,第四个玩家可以获得或升级一张火车卡。现在排在第二位的玩家不会获得任何奖励--能在一轮游戏中排在第二位而不放弃任何东西就已经是足够的补偿了。头等舱系统为设计者在平衡不同玩家位置时提供了很大的灵活性。
Illustration 2.1 In Agricola, a worker must be placed in this space to become First Player. When placing here you may also play a Minor Improvement.
Another pitfall to avoid is scripted play—obviously best moves by players. In earlier editions of the game Twilight Imperium, players chose an Action card on their turn to perform. One of them gave a Victory Point to the player choosing it, which was very powerful, and another let a player become First Player. Because the free Victory Point card was so strong, play almost always followed a scripted pattern. The first player to go would take the free Victory Point card, and the second player would take the card to become First Player, thus ensuring they would get the free Victory Point next turn. 另一个需要避免的陷阱是脚本游戏--显然是玩家的最佳动作。在《暮光之城》游戏的早期版本中,玩家会在自己的回合中选择一张行动牌来执行。其中一张行动卡给选择该行动卡的玩家一个胜利点,非常强大;另一张行动卡让玩家成为 "第一玩家"。由于免费的 "胜利点 "牌非常强大,因此游戏几乎总是按照既定的模式进行。第一个上场的玩家将获得免费的胜利点卡,第二个玩家将获得成为 "第一玩家 "的卡,从而确保他们下一回合将获得免费的胜利点。
Turn order ended up simply moving around the table, devolving into a Progressive turn structure. However, the presentation of turn order as a choice made it seem as if the game had more flexibility than it actually did. The forcing moves for the first two players made for a much less interesting play experience. A similar issue arises in Stone Age, where expanding fields and gaining workers are invariably the first two actions chosen in each round. 回合顺序最终只是在桌面上移动,演变成了渐进式的回合结构。然而,将回合顺序作为一种选择,让人觉得游戏的灵活性似乎比实际要大。对前两名玩家的强制移动使得游戏体验的趣味性大打折扣。类似的问题也出现在《石器时代》中,在该游戏中,扩大田地和获得工人总是每轮游戏中最先选择的两个行动。
Sometimes, the action that determines turn order is tightly integrated into play. High Society has players bidding on objects, and the winner of an auction begins the bidding for the next auction. Trick taking games, where the winner of a trick takes the lead, are a similar example, which will be explored in more detail in Chapter 13. In both of these examples, play proceeds clockwise from the new start player. 《有时,决定回合顺序的行动与游戏紧密结合。上流社会》让玩家竞拍物品,拍卖的赢家开始下一次拍卖的竞拍。取巧游戏也是一个类似的例子,在取巧游戏中,赢家会占得先机,我们将在第 13 章中对此进行更详细的探讨。在这两个例子中,游戏都是从新开始的玩家开始顺时针进行。
A variant of this mechanism is seen in Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery and other games. In these, players take an action to secure their place in the turn order, but more than one player can do this. The first player to do so becomes the first player in the next round, the second player becomes second, and so on. Players who do not take this action are moved to the back of the turn order. 《帝国时代 III:发现时代》和其他游戏中也有这种机制的变体。在这些游戏中,玩家会采取一个行动来确保自己在回合顺序中的位置,但不止一个玩家可以这样做。第一个这样做的玩家将成为下一轮的第一位玩家,第二个玩家将成为第二位,依此类推。没有采取这一行动的玩家会被移到回合顺序的后面。
This has similar issues to both the classic version of this mechanism and the Pass Order mechanism (TRN-06). Players must give up the opportunity for an action to improve their place in the turn order, and players that are currently early in the order have less incentive to spend an action there. Also, players that are early in the turn order have a better opportunity to keep it because they will have a first chance of using later round actions to maintain their turn position. However, it does mitigate some of the issues of the base version of this mechanism, as it puts more control into the hands of the players, albeit in an inequitable way. 这与该机制的经典版本和通行顺序机制(TRN-06)有类似的问题。玩家必须放弃行动的机会,以提高自己在回合顺序中的位置,而目前在顺序中较早的玩家花费行动的动力较小。此外,在回合顺序中排在前面的玩家也有更好的机会保持住自己的位置,因为他们有机会使用后面回合的行动来保持自己的回合位置。不过,这确实缓解了该机制基础版本的一些问题,因为它将更多的控制权交到了玩家手中,尽管是以一种不公平的方式。
Sample Games
Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery (Drover, 2007) Agricola (Rosenberg, 2007)
Bridge (Vanderbilt, 1908)
First Class: All Aboard the Orient Express (Ohley, 2016)
Hearts (Unknown, 1850)
High Society (Knizia, 1995)
Stone Age (Brunnhofer, 2008)
Twilight Imperium (Petersen, 1997)
TRN-06 Pass Order
Description
On their turn, players may either take an action or pass. The first player who passes becomes the new first player for the next round. The second player who passes becomes the second player for the next round, and so on. Reversing pass order and turn order is also possible when going later in turn order is more advantageous. 轮到自己时,玩家可以采取行动或弃权。第一个弃权的玩家成为下一轮新的第一名玩家。第二个弃权的玩家成为下一轮的第二个玩家,依此类推。如果轮次顺序越靠后越有利,也可以颠倒过牌顺序和轮次顺序。
Discussion
Pass Order attempts to address the issues created by more static turn-order mechanisms, or those which order all players based on the actions of a single player. With Pass Order, players are presented with a choice: take additional actions this turn or be earlier in the turn order for the entire next round. Players have to estimate whether continuing to take actions in the current round is worth more than having an earlier choice on actions in the following round. 《通行令》试图解决更多静态回合排序机制(或根据单个玩家的行动排序所有玩家的机制)带来的问题。在 "通过顺序 "机制中,玩家需要做出选择:是在本回合采取额外行动,还是在下一回合的整个回合顺序中提前行动。棋手必须估计在当前回合继续采取行动是否比在下一回合提前采取行动更有价值。
A good place for this mechanism is in a game that features some type of drafting (CAR-06). In Caylus, players place workers on buildings ("Worker Placement," Chapter 9) to receive certain benefits. Each building can be occupied by only one player each round, so players are drafting from a limited pool of possible actions. Going earlier in turn order ensures players can 在具有某种绘图功能(CAR-06)的游戏中,这种机制就能很好地发挥作用。在 Caylus 中,玩家将工人安置在建筑物上("工人安置",第 9 章),以获得某些好处。每栋建筑每轮只能由一名玩家占据,因此玩家只能从有限的可能行动中选择行动。按回合顺序提前进行可确保玩家能够
select the buildings they desire most. But taking additional actions later in the turn order can yield additional benefits (Illustration 2.2).
Games in which players are very likely to take an equal number of actions in a round are a poor fit for this mechanism. For example, if players only have three actions in a turn, most likely they will all be passing after the same number of turns. If players take six or more actions in a round, the cost of losing later actions in the round is much reduced. 在游戏中,如果玩家在一轮中采取的行动次数很可能相同,那么这种机制就不太适用。例如,如果棋手在一轮中只有三次行动,那么他们很可能都会在相同的轮数后弃权。如果棋手在一轮中采取六次或六次以上行动,那么在这一轮中失去后面行动的代价就会大大降低。
An important consideration with Action/Passing is the fate of the last player who has not passed. This is an issue that affects any game in which players end their round by choosing to pass. For example, in The Networks, players receive more money or victory points for passing early, rather than turn-order position. Nevertheless, because The Networks is a Rochester draft (see "CAR-06, Drafting" in Chapter 13), there are relatively few limits on the ability of the last player still active to sweep up whatever cards remain on the board. This can be quite powerful! Other games, like Francis Drake, limit the ability of the last player to gain too much advantage by requiring expending a limited pool of workers to activate the remaining buildings. Caylus addresses this issue in a different way, by making it increasingly expensive to place workers as more players pass. Finally, in Sentient, players who pass first go last, which actually provides them with the advantage of sweeping the board. 行动/弃权的一个重要考虑因素是最后一名未弃权棋手的命运。在任何游戏中,如果玩家选择弃权来结束自己的回合,那么这个问题都会受到影响。例如,在 "网络 "游戏中,玩家会因为提前弃权而获得更多金钱或胜利点数,而不是回合顺序位置。尽管如此,由于《网络》是罗切斯特草稿(参见第 13 章中的 "CAR-06,草稿"),因此对于最后仍在活动的玩家扫除棋盘上剩余的任何牌的能力限制相对较少。这可能相当强大!其他游戏,如弗朗西斯-德雷克(Francis Drake),则通过要求消耗有限的工人来激活剩余的建筑来限制最后一名玩家获得过多优势的能力。Caylus 以另一种方式解决了这一问题,即随着玩家数量的增加,放置工人的成本也会越来越高。最后,在 Sentient 游戏中,先通过的玩家最后通过,这实际上为他们提供了横扫棋盘的优势。
Designers using this structure should be careful to align the turn-order reward (first or last) with the game. The mechanism works best when turnorder preference is strong, when players act many times over the course of a single round, and when there is some hard limit on the total number of actions a player can take. Rewards other than turn-order advantage can be employed as an alternative or in addition. 使用这种结构的设计者应注意使回合顺序奖励(第一轮或最后一轮)与游戏保持一致。当回合顺序偏好较强、玩家在一轮游戏中多次行动以及对玩家可采取的行动总数有硬性限制时,该机制的效果最佳。除了回合顺序优势之外,还可以采用其他奖励作为替代或补充。
Illustration 2.2 The pass track from Caylus, as illustrated in the instruction manual. The first player to pass places their disk in the rightmost slot, showing they will go first next turn. As players pass, they place their disks in each successive position. 插图 2.2 Caylus 的通行轨道,如说明书所示。第一个通过的玩家将磁盘放在最右边的位置,表示下一轮他们将先走。当玩家通过时,他们会将磁盘放在每个连续的位置上。
Two final notes of caution. First, designers must provide some physical affordances for tracking who has passed and in what order. Ideally, these are combined so that when a player passes, they move some indicator to show that they have passed and when they will play in a future turn. Second, designers should also pay attention to the amount of downtime experienced by the first player to pass. 最后有两点需要注意。首先,设计者必须提供一些物理功能来追踪谁通过了以及通过的顺序。理想的情况是,将这些功能结合在一起,当玩家弃牌时,他们会移动一些指示器来显示他们已经弃牌,以及他们将在未来的回合中何时下棋。其次,设计者还应注意第一个弃权的玩家所经历的停机时间。
Sample Games
Caylus (Attia, 2005)
Francis Drake (Hawes, 2013)
The Networks (Hova, 2016)
Sentient (Kevern, 2017)
TRN-07 Real-Time
Description
There are no turns. Players play as quickly as possible, subject to certain constraints, until the game or phase is completed. Playing quickly confers some type of advantage.
Discussion
Real-Time Games bring a lot of excitement to the table, as players frantically work to completely execute their actions. However, they also bring a lot of challenges for the designer.
First, Real-Time Games need to be very simple. Anything that causes confusion requires the players to stop the action, resolve the issue, and then continue, or just carry on with a confused player who stops enjoying the experience or possibly violates the rules unwittingly. This can place very real constraints on what can and can't be done from a design standpoint. 首先,实时游戏必须非常简单。任何会引起混乱的事情都要求玩家停止行动,解决问题,然后继续游戏,或者只是继续游戏,让玩家在混乱中享受游戏体验,或者在不知不觉中违反游戏规则。从设计的角度来看,这可能会对什么可以做,什么不可以做造成非常现实的限制。
The designer also needs to address timing issues if players are conflicting in actions they wish to perform. There are several ways to deal with this:
Players play cards onto stacks. The sequence in the stack indicates the order.
The player who touches a token first is allowed to manipulate it.
Players do not interact during the real-time portion but only after it is completed, and interactions can be resolved at leisure.
The level of intensity and focus required from players in a Real-Time Game means that the game needs to be short. Twenty minutes is a reasonable maximum duration for a completely uninterrupted Real-Time Game.
Another consideration is dealing with mistakes and cheating. Some games, like Pit Crew and Space Alert, have specific rules for dealing with mistakes that give a penalty to the players or cancel the attempted action.
As players are absorbed in their own actions, cheating can also be an issue. In cooperative games like Space Alert, cheating is a different consideration. However, for competitive games, the designer may need to incorporate design techniques such as making sure that everything is in the open, that text on cards is large enough to be understood across the table rapidly, and that there is as little manipulation of components as possible (e.g., once a card or die is placed in a spot, it cannot be moved from that spot). 由于玩家专注于自己的行动,作弊也可能成为一个问题。在《太空警报》这样的合作游戏中,作弊是另一个需要考虑的问题。然而,对于竞技游戏,设计者可能需要采用一些设计技巧,例如确保所有东西都是公开的,卡片上的文字要足够大,以便在整个桌面上都能迅速看懂,以及尽可能减少对部件的操作(例如,一旦卡片或骰子放在某个位置,就不能从该位置移动)。
However, there have been several successful games that have not protected against mistakes and cheating, and it does not appear to have impacted their success. In Captain Sonar (more correctly classified as using a Punctuated Real-Time mechanism, TRN-08), each team writes and erases on laminated control panels behind a screen. It would be quite simple for a team to cheat behind the screen or make undetected mistakes. In practice, however, the social contract seems to hold and players are not concerned about this. This may open up more complex design opportunities for Real-Time Games, as long as the game is marketed toward an audience that accepts this stance regarding potential cheating. 不过,也有几个成功的游戏没有防止错误和作弊,而且这似乎并不影响它们的成功。在 "声纳舰长"(更正确的分类是使用 "标点实时 "机制,TRN-08)中,每个小组都在屏幕后面的层压控制板上写写擦擦。一个团队要想在屏幕后面作弊或犯未被发现的错误是很简单的。但在实践中,社会契约似乎是有效的,参赛者对此并不担心。这可能会为实时游戏带来更复杂的设计机会,只要游戏的市场受众能够接受这种关于潜在作弊的立场。
Because of the nonstop nature of Real-Time Games, they are often structured with two phases: Action and Resolution. Action is when real-time action occurs. After a condition is met, typically a timer expiring, but possibly when a task is completed, or when a hand or deck of cards is exhausted, there is a Resolution phase. In this phase, results of the action phase are determined, without any time pressure. This two-mode approach allows for complex mechanisms that might otherwise not be possible. 由于实时游戏具有不间断的性质,因此通常分为两个阶段:行动和解决。行动是指发生实时行动。在满足某个条件(通常是计时器到期,但也可能是任务完成,或手牌或扑克牌用完了)后,会进入 "解决 "阶段。在这一阶段,行动阶段的结果将被确定,没有任何时间压力。这种双模式方法允许建立复杂的机制,否则可能无法实现。
There are typically two types of endings to a real-time phase. In the first, whenever the end-phase condition is met, the phase ends immediately. Players are informed that it is over, and that is that. Spit (aka Speed or Blitz) and Pick-A-Polar Bear are both triggered when one player reaches a particular game state (all cards gone from their deck in Spit and a player claiming 实时阶段通常有两种结束方式。第一种,只要满足结束阶段的条件,阶段就会立即结束。玩家会被告知阶段结束,仅此而已。Spit(又名 "速度 "或 "闪电战")和 Pick-A-Polar Bear 都是在一名玩家达到特定游戏状态时触发的(在 Spit 中,玩家卡组中的所有牌都用完了,而在 Pick-A-Polar Bear 中,一名玩家声称自己的卡组中的所有牌都用完了)。
to have no more legal options to take a card in Polar Bear). At that time, the phase instantly completes.
Some games use the phase-end trigger to set up "bonus time" for the other players, informing them that they have a set amount of additional time before the phase ends. For example, in Show & Tile, the first player to complete their artwork flips a sand timer. When that timer runs out, the artwork phase is over, and players proceed to the guessing phase. Other games flip this dynamic around and give players who finish early an additional bonus task that must be completed by the time all players finish the core task. In Pit Crew, when a team finishes the real-time task of repairing its car and getting it out on the track, the team switches to rolling a die to move the car, rolling over and over. Meanwhile, the other teams continue to repair their car and start rolling their own die if other teams are still working. The last team to finish does not roll its die but stops all other teams from rolling. This puts added pressure and tension on the teams who are still working on their repairs while others move around the track and add some narrative arc to the activity. 有些游戏利用阶段结束触发器为其他玩家设置 "奖励时间",通知他们在阶段结束前还有一定的额外时间。例如,在 "展示和贴瓷砖 "游戏中,第一个完成作品的玩家会翻转沙盘计时器。计时器用完后,作品阶段结束,玩家进入竞猜阶段。其他游戏则将这一动态反过来,给提前完成任务的玩家一个额外的奖励任务,该任务必须在所有玩家完成核心任务时完成。在 "维修车间 "游戏中,当一个团队完成了修理赛车并将其开到赛道上的实时任务后,该团队就会改用掷骰子的方式来移动赛车,一次又一次地掷骰子。与此同时,其他车队继续修理自己的赛车,如果其他车队仍在工作,则开始掷自己的骰子。最后完成的队伍不掷骰子,但会阻止其他队伍掷骰子。这样,当其他队伍在赛道上移动时,仍在进行维修的队伍就会倍感压力和紧张,同时也为活动增添了一些叙事弧线。
Games with an Elapsed Real Time ending (VIC-13), where they end after a fixed amount of time, also typically will fit into this mechanism (although not always-they may have a standard turn structure). Examples of this include "Escape Room" style games such as the Unlock series, where the players are under pressure to complete the game within a certain time frame. 采用 "Elapsed Real Time ending"(VIC-13),即在固定时间后结束的游戏,通常也符合这一机制(但并不总是--它们可能有一个标准的回合结构)。这方面的例子包括 "密室逃脱"(Escape Room)风格的游戏,如 "解锁"(Unlock)系列,在这类游戏中,玩家面临着在一定时间内完成游戏的压力。
Note that games without a turn order but that do not have time pressure, such as The Mind, do not fit into this classification.
There are no turns. Players play as quickly as possible, subject to certain constraints, until the game or phase is completed. Play is also interrupted by specific player actions, which are resolved before resuming the real-time action.
Discussion
Punctuated Real-Time is a variation in real-time (TRN-07) and the difference is subtle. In a Real-Time Game, the action stops when some condition is met-a timer going off, or a deck exhausting-whereas in a Punctuated Real-Time Game, the action may be stopped at any time, at the discretion of a player, or upon taking a valid stopping action. Punctuated Real-Time 是实时游戏(TRN-07)的一种变体,两者的区别很微妙。在 "实时游戏 "中,当满足某些条件(如计时器熄灭或牌局耗尽)时,行动就会停止;而在 "标点实时游戏 "中,行动可随时停止,由玩家自行决定,或在采取有效的停止行动后停止。
In Space Cadets: Dice Duel and Captain Sonar, players stop the action by shouting something ("Fire Torpedoes" or "Launch Mine"), and all players stop what they are doing to resolve the action.
To a certain extent, this mechanism is also present in the early twentiethcentury game Pit, as players end the real-time trading portion by hitting a bell, after which the round is evaluated. Also dating back over a hundred years, baseball and American football are also exemplars of Punctuated RealTime, where teams can plan, organize, substitute, and catch their breath prior to initiating the next pitch or play. 在某种程度上,这种机制也存在于二十世纪早期的游戏 "比特"(Pit)中,玩家通过敲钟结束实时交易部分,然后对该回合进行评估。同样可以追溯到一百多年前的棒球和美式橄榄球也是 "定点实时 "的典范,在这些游戏中,球队可以在开始下一个投球或比赛之前进行计划、组织、替补和喘息。
Punctuated Real-Time adds an additional layer of tension to the already tense mechanism of real-time. Players do not necessarily see the stoppage of play coming. In Pit, you don't know how close the other players are to
winning the round. This mechanic also gives more flexibility to the designer on a number of levels. First, it allows for the inclusion of more complex mechanisms, as they can be resolved during the "stoppage time." Firing a torpedo in Captain Sonar falls into this category, as the resolution can include complexity that would normally be beyond what is reasonable in a Real-Time Game. 《赢得本轮比赛。这种机制还在多个层面上为设计者提供了更大的灵活性。首先,它允许加入更复杂的机制,因为它们可以在 "停止时间 "内解决。声纳舰长》中的发射鱼雷就属于这一类,因为解决的复杂性通常超出了实时游戏的合理范围。
Second, Punctuated Real-Time allows the game to be longer, as the stoppage time gives players an opportunity to catch their breath or even get a snack or go to the restroom. In a fully Real-Time Game such as Escape: The Curse of the Temple, an action that continues more than 10-20 minutes or so risks exhausting and overwhelming the player. Punctuated Real-Time gives the designer a tool to create nonscheduled breaks to give the players a breather, allowing for a longer, more complex, and textured overall experience. 其次,"定点实时 "允许游戏时间更长,因为停顿时间让玩家有机会喘口气,甚至吃点零食或去洗手间。在完全实时游戏中,如《逃出生天》(Escape:神庙的诅咒》这样的完全实时游戏中,持续时间超过 10-20 分钟左右的行动可能会让玩家精疲力竭、不堪重负。而 "定点实时 "为设计者提供了一种工具,让他们可以创建非计划性的休息时间,让玩家有喘息的机会,从而获得更长、更复杂、更有质感的整体体验。
Sample Games
Captain Sonar (Fraga and Lemonier, 2016)
Escape: The Curse of the Temple (Ostby, 2012)
Merchants of Amsterdam (Knizia, 2000)
Pit (Cayce, Gavitt, and Parker, 1903)
Space Cadets: Dice Duel (Engelstein and Engelstein, 2013)
TRN-09 Simultaneous Action Selection
Description
Players plan their turn simultaneously and secretly. Then, they reveal their plans at the same time.
Discussion
A Simultaneous Action Selection Game has players selecting actions at the same time, but actions are generally resolved in turn order. The Action Selection mechanism will usually include a subsystem for determining the order by which the action resolution phase will be played. For example, in Libertalia, players choose a role card from their hand and play it face down. Then, all cards are revealed simultaneously, and the lowest-numbered card revealed is resolved first. Each player in Libertalia has the same role cards in their hands, so duplicate plays occur frequently. To resolve these ties, each card also shows a unique priority number. Robo Rally, a classic in the genre, uses a similar priority number mechanism to sequence the players once cards are revealed. 在同步行动选择游戏中,玩家同时选择行动,但行动一般按回合顺序解决。行动选择机制通常包括一个子系统,用于决定行动解决阶段的游戏顺序。例如,在 Libertalia 中,玩家从手牌中选择一张角色牌,并将其牌面朝下。然后,所有牌同时亮出,亮出的牌中编号最低的牌先被解决。在 Libertalia 中,每个玩家手中都有相同的角色牌,因此重复出牌的情况经常发生。为了解决这些重复问题,每张牌都会显示一个唯一的优先级数字。机器人大集结》(Robo Rally)是这一类型游戏中的经典之作,它使用类似的优先序号机制,在卡片揭晓后对玩家进行排序。
Priority numbers are not necessarily required for Simultaneous Action Selection. Race for the Galaxy has players simultaneously select which roles they would like to execute, but then the roles are always performed in a specific order. See the Role Order mechanism for more details (TRN-10). 同时行动选择并不一定需要优先序号。争夺银河系 "让玩家同时选择要执行的角色,但角色总是按特定顺序执行。详见角色顺序机制(TRN-10)。
Typically, cards are used to implement this mechanism, although other components, such as tiles or dice, can also be used. In Incan Gold, each turn, players simultaneously decide whether they are going to remain in the cave or return to camp. In the original version (called Diamant) players indicated this choice by either secretly holding their wooden adventurer figure in their hand or having an empty fist. Later versions replaced this mechanism by placing a "Stay" or "Go" card face down. In the A Game of Thrones board game, actions are planned using order tokens that are placed face down and then revealed by flipping them all face up. 通常使用纸牌来实现这一机制,不过也可以使用瓷砖或骰子等其他组件。在 "印加黄金 "游戏中,每个回合玩家都要同时决定是留在洞穴里还是返回营地。在最初的版本中(称为 "迪亚曼特"),玩家通过暗中握住手中的木制冒险家形象或握住空拳来表示这一选择。后来的版本则用 "留下 "或 "离开 "牌面朝下的方式取代了这一机制。在 "权力的游戏 "棋盘游戏中,玩家通过面朝下放置的顺序牌来计划行动,然后将顺序牌全部翻转朝上即可显示。
This mechanism gives players the opportunity to try to anticipate what their opponents will do and to plan accordingly. The general term for mechanisms which have players trying to guess what their opponents will do is called "Yomi," a Japanese word. We discuss Yomi in more detail in UNC-01. 这种机制让棋手有机会尝试预测对手会做什么,并制定相应的计划。让棋手尝试猜测对手会做什么的机制一般称为 "Yomi",这是一个日语单词。我们将在 UNC-01 中更详细地讨论 Yomi。
Simultaneous Action Selection can also speed up games and reduce downtime, as players are acting simultaneously. However, if the planning is extensive, as in Diplomacy and A Game of Thrones, it can give room for Negotiation (ECO-18) and increased strategy, which adds length. 同时行动选择还可以加快游戏速度,减少停机时间,因为玩家是同时行动的。不过,如果规划的范围很广,就像《外交》和《权力的游戏》中那样,就会给谈判(ECO-18)和增加策略提供空间,从而增加游戏时间。
Sample Games
Diplomacy (Calhamer, 1959)
A Game of Thrones (Petersen and Wilson, 2003)
Incan Gold (Faidutti and Moon, 2005)
Libertalia (Mori, 2012)
Robo Rally (Garfield, 1994)
TRN-10 Role Order
Description
Players secretly and simultaneously select an action, role, or priority. Then they are revealed, and the actions/roles revealed determine the order in which players act.
Discussion
Role Order is a subset of Simultaneous Action Selection (TRN-09). There are several ways to implement this mechanism. Citadels, for example, has players draft roles (like Thief or Assassin). There is one card for each role in a deck. Some of the roles are removed without any of the players knowing their identity. The first player then looks at the remaining roles, chooses one, and passes the remaining cards to the left. 角色顺序是同步操作选择(TRN-09)的一个子集。有几种方法可以实现这一机制。例如,Citadels 会让玩家选择角色(如盗贼或刺客)。每个角色都有一张卡牌。有些角色会被移除,但没有玩家知道他们的身份。然后,第一位玩家查看剩下的角色,选择其中一个,并将剩下的牌传给左边的玩家。
After each player has selected a role, the first player calls out the roles from first to last, according to their number. Thief, for example, is number two. If a player has that role, he or she reveals it and takes that action.
Race for the Galaxy has a different approach. Each player simultaneously selects which of the roles (like Explore or Settle) they wish to play. Then all players reveal their choice. The roles are resolved in a defined order (e.g., Explore is always first). For each role that is chosen by at least one player, 《银河竞赛》采用了不同的方法。每位玩家同时选择自己想扮演的角色(如探索或定居)。然后,所有玩家揭晓自己的选择。角色会按照规定的顺序(例如,"探索 "总是第一个)进行选择。每个角色至少有一名玩家选择、
all players get to perform it, but the player(s) who chose it get to take a more powerful version of the action. More on this in the Follow mechanism (ACT-08).
If no one selects a role, it is skipped, so if players really want a specific role to occur, they can select it, or gamble that, based on the situation, other players are likely to select it, affording them the opportunity to choose something else. This introduces an element of Yomi (UNC-01), as players attempt to outguess each other. 如果没有人选择某个角色,该角色就会被跳过,因此如果玩家真的希望出现某个特定角色,他们可以选择该角色,或者根据情况赌一把,其他玩家很可能会选择该角色,这样他们就有机会选择其他角色。这就引入了 "Yomi"(UNC-01)元素,因为玩家会试图猜出对方的想法。
In both of these games, players are not guaranteed that certain roles will occur. This is typical of implementations of this mechanism as a result of the hidden role selection-if all the roles were in play, players could readily deduce which roles were taken before them. 在这两个游戏中,玩家都不能保证某些角色会出现。这是该机制实施过程中典型的隐藏角色选择的结果--如果所有角色都在游戏中,那么棋手可以很容易地推断出哪些角色在他们之前被选中。
Using Role Order allows Citadels to introduce an interesting twist. The player who chooses the Assassin role names another role that will have to lose a turn. Note that it is the role that is targeted, not the player. Players losing their turn is an anti-pattern (TRN-16) that usually results in negative feelings because it frustrates the player's desire to play the game at all. However, in Citadels, the role is targeted, not a specific player. While the Assassin players may have an idea of who may be more likely to choose a role, they are not sure. Additionally, the role the Assassin names may not even have been selected that turn, rendering the ability moot. 使用角色顺序可以让 Citadels 引入一个有趣的转折。选择 "刺客 "角色的玩家会指定另一个必须失去一回合的角色。请注意,目标是角色而不是玩家。玩家失去自己的回合是一种反模式(TRN-16),通常会导致负面情绪,因为这会挫伤玩家玩游戏的欲望。然而,在《城堡》中,目标是角色而不是特定玩家。虽然刺客玩家可能知道谁更有可能选择某个角色,但他们并不确定。此外,"刺客 "指定的角色在该回合可能根本没有被选中,因此该能力也就失去了意义。
Role Order allows the designers to control the order in which operations occur, while giving players a choice about which of those will happen. It also introduces a well-defined turn order that doesn't suffer from needing to have a mechanism to shift the first player. It happens naturally. 角色顺序允许设计者控制操作发生的顺序,同时让玩家选择其中的哪一个操作会发生。它还引入了一种定义明确的回合顺序,而不会因为需要一种机制来转移第一位玩家而受到影响。它会自然发生。
Sample Games
Citadels (Faidutti, 2000)
Race for the Galaxy (Lehmann, 2007)
TRN-11 Random Turn Order
Description
Representatives of play pieces or players are randomized and one is drawn at a time. That player or play piece takes its turn, and then a new random draw is made.
Discussion
Random Turn Order can introduce a lot of excitement and tension to a game, as players anxiously await which token will be revealed next. However, it also reduces the ability of the players to plan effectively, which makes it most effective in lighter games. Games are more tactical, as players need to react to the situation as it develops, because they can't predict when their turn will come. 随机回合顺序可以给游戏带来很多刺激和紧张感,因为玩家会焦急地等待下一个令牌的揭晓。不过,它也降低了玩家有效制定计划的能力,这使得它在轻松的游戏中最为有效。游戏的战术性更强,因为玩家无法预测何时轮到自己,需要根据局势的发展做出反应。
There are ways to increase the ability for strategic planning when using a Random Turn Order. Pillars of the Earth is a Worker Placement game (Chapter 9), where workers are pulled from a bag. As with most Worker Placement games, going early is an advantage, as more and better options are available. When a player's piece is pulled, if that player wishes to place it, they need to pay a cost. This cost starts high and gradually drops throughout the turn. If a player does not want to (or cannot) pay the cost, the worker is placed to the side and is used to select an action at the very end of the turn. This presents players with an interesting strategic option of trying to judge 在使用随机回合顺序时,有一些方法可以提高战略规划能力。地球之柱》是一款 "工人放置 "游戏(第 9 章),游戏中的工人是从一个袋子中抽取的。与大多数工人放置游戏一样,早下是一种优势,因为可以有更多更好的选择。当玩家的棋子被抽出时,如果该玩家想要放置它,就需要支付一定的费用。这个费用一开始很高,然后在整个回合中逐渐降低。如果玩家不想(或不能)支付费用,那么该棋子就会被放置在一旁,并在回合结束时用来选择一个行动。这为玩家提供了一个有趣的战略选择,即尝试判断
the value of going early. The higher price of going early counteracts the luck of being drawn early.
In Warrior Knights, actions are represented by cards. Each player selects two cards from their personal deck that they wish to use that turn. The selections from all the players are shuffled together and then they are drawn one at a time and the player whose card is chosen performs the corresponding action. 在《勇士骑士团》中,行动由卡牌表示。每位玩家从自己的牌组中选择两张自己想在该回合使用的牌。所有玩家的选择都会被洗在一起,然后每次抽出一张,被选中的玩家就会执行相应的行动。
The inability to create a perfect plan has made this a popular mechanism in war games. Rather than one player moving all pieces, and then the next player moving all of theirs, a random draw for who gets to activate next helps simulate battlefield uncertainty, while also reducing downtime for the players. Firepower implements this type of chit-pull system. 由于无法制定出完美的计划,这也成为战争游戏中的一种流行机制。与一个玩家移动所有棋子,然后下一个玩家移动所有棋子的做法不同,随机抽签决定谁能启动下一个棋子有助于模拟战场的不确定性,同时也减少了玩家的停机时间。火力》就采用了这种抽签系统。
Random Turn Order also gives the war game designer flexibility in modeling superior and inferior units. For example, in the game Victory Lost: Crisis in Ukraine 1942-1943, Activation Chits for units are placed into a cup. However, veteran units receive multiple chits, while new recruits may receive only one, modeling in a natural way the increased effectiveness of the veterans. This is a kind of Deck Building system (CAR-05). 《随机回合顺序还能让战争游戏设计者灵活地对优势和劣势单位进行建模。例如,在游戏 "失去的胜利 "中:1942-1943 年乌克兰危机》中,单位的激活点数被放入一个杯子中。不过,老兵部队可以获得多个激活点数,而新兵部队可能只获得一个,这就以一种自然的方式模拟了老兵部队效力的提高。这是一种 "甲板建筑 "系统(CAR-05)。
Another technique is to include a wild card or category tokens, which give the player a choice of which unit to activate when they are pulled, as long as they correspond to the matching category. This also increases tactical flexibility and reduces the luck factor. Battle Masters is an example of a game that uses this approach. 《另一种技巧是加入通配符或类别令牌,让玩家在拉动令牌时可以选择激活哪个单位,只要它们与匹配的类别相对应即可。这也增加了战术灵活性,减少了运气因素。战斗大师》(Battle Masters)就是使用这种方法的一个游戏实例。
Sample Games
Battle Masters (Baker, 1992)
Firepower (Taylor, 1984)
Pillars of the Earth (Rieneck and Stadler, 2006)
A Victory Lost: Crisis in Ukraine 1942-1943 (Nakamura, 2006)
Warrior Knights (Carver, Clequin, Faidutti, and Konieczka, 2006)
TRN-12 Action Timer
Description
Players place owned timers on action spaces and pieces and take an action. When the timer runs out, it may be moved to another location to take that action. There are no turns; players may move their own timers any time after they have expired.
Discussion
This Action Timer mechanism is typically implemented with sand timers. Timers allow for a real-time feel (TRN-07), while mitigating their frantic nature. It allows the game to flow naturally, while giving players some structure and breathing room to plan their next actions. As such, they can be used for longer periods of time than would be desirable in a traditional Real-Time Game. 这种行动定时器机制通常使用沙粒定时器来实现。定时器可以让玩家感受到实时性(TRN-07),同时减轻其疯狂性。它既能让游戏自然流畅,又能给玩家一些结构和喘息空间来计划下一步行动。因此,与传统的实时游戏相比,定时器可以使用更长的时间。
Sand timers can be placed onto fixed spaces on the board to indicate what actions the players are allowed to take or onto specific pieces that move around. In Time ' ' Space (a remake of the classic Space Dealer), sand timers may be placed into a player's base for research and other actions or directly onto a spaceship to allow it to move. Similarly, in War Time, the sand timers are placed directly on the units, which allows them to move or attack. 沙盘计时器可以放置在棋盘上的固定位置,以指示玩家可以采取哪些行动,也可以放置在移动的特定棋子上。在 "时间" "空间"(经典游戏 "空间经销商 "的翻版)中,玩家可以将沙盘计时器放置在基地中,以便进行研究和其他操作,也可以直接放置在飞船上,让飞船移动。同样,在《战争时间》中,沙子计时器可以直接放在单位上,让它们移动或攻击。
Typically, the action is taken when the timer is placed. This allows the player to place the timer, then actually do the action (take cubes, gain a research card, perform an attack, move a unit, etc.) while the sands are running. This reduces overall downtime for the players. If you wait for the timer to end before doing the action, players will typically quickly move the timer to a new action to get it going, then go back and execute the original action, which can add some confusion. 通常情况下,行动是在放置计时器时进行的。这样,玩家就可以放置计时器,然后在沙子运行时实际操作(获取方块、获得研究卡、执行攻击、移动单位等)。这样可以减少玩家的整体停机时间。如果在行动前等待计时器结束,玩家通常会迅速将计时器移到新的行动上,然后再返回执行原来的行动,这会增加一些混乱。
In spite of this mechanism being real-time, it can have a fair amount of downtime for the players and feels sluggish at points as players watch the grains of sand, waiting to take their next action. To help mitigate this, players usually have multiple sand timers to use, to allow for action combos, and to move things along. 尽管这种机制是实时的,但它可能会给玩家带来相当多的停机时间,而且在玩家观察沙粒、等待采取下一步行动时,有时会感觉很迟钝。为了缓解这种情况,玩家通常可以使用多个沙粒计时器,以便进行连击,推动游戏进程。
Some games also give players timers of varying durations. In Wartime: The Battle of Valyance Vale, players have 30 -, 60 -, and 90 -second timers, and each can be used for any unit. Deciding which to use adds an additional tactical layer and also helps give the player more to do while waiting for other timers to run out. 有些游戏还会给玩家提供不同持续时间的计时器。在《战时:Valyance 谷之战》中,玩家有 30 秒、60 秒和 90 秒的计时器,每个计时器都可以用于任何单位。决定使用哪种计时器增加了一个额外的战术层,也有助于玩家在等待其他计时器耗尽时有更多事情可做。
TAMSK is an abstract game that takes a unique approach to using sand timers. The pieces are sand timers, and when they make a move the timers are flipped. A key element is that if a timer runs out of sand, it is locked into place. This gives players tactical options of how to use the timers and how much time they have to think about decisions. A piece that is moved again shortly after being moved will only have a little time remaining in the timer. TAMSK 是一款抽象游戏,它采用独特的方法来使用沙子计时器。棋子是沙子计时器,当棋子移动时,计时器就会翻转。一个关键因素是,如果计时器的沙子用完了,它就会被锁定在原位。这就为玩家提供了如何使用计时器以及有多少时间考虑决策的战术选择。如果棋子在移动后不久又被移动,那么计时器就只剩下一点时间了。
There are a number of physical issues that need to be dealt with in these games. First, when players interact with each other, there can be contention about which timer finished first and so which player might be able to take an action space or launch an attack first. This can be difficult to adjudicate in the midst of the game, as timers will continue to run. 在这些游戏中,有许多物理问题需要处理。首先,当玩家之间相互影响时,可能会争论哪个计时器先结束,因此哪个玩家可以先占用行动空间或发起攻击。由于计时器会继续运行,因此在游戏过程中很难对此作出裁决。
Also, while a Real-Time Game can be stopped by mutual agreement of the players, this is harder with a sand timer game. The sand timers need to all be tipped over, which can take some time and also change the way the sand is distributed while they lie on their sides-to say nothing of their chances of rolling off the table! 此外,实时游戏可以在玩家双方同意的情况下停止,而沙盘计时游戏则很难做到这一点。定时器需要全部翻倒,这可能需要一些时间,而且当定时器侧卧时,沙子的分布方式也会发生变化,更不用说它们滚出桌子的可能性了!
Finally, there are manufacturing variations with sand timers that can lead to a timing difference of many seconds. A 30 -second timer may take as long as 40 seconds to run. Indeed, the same sand timer may run faster or slower depending on the irregularity of the grains in it and how they happen to fall. Many timers have different run times depending on which side is up. These 最后,沙漏定时器在制造过程中可能会出现差异,导致定时时间相差好几秒。一个 30 秒的计时器可能需要运行 40 秒。事实上,同一个沙漏定时器的运行速度可能快,也可能慢,这取决于其中沙粒的不规则性以及沙粒下落的方式。许多定时器的运行时间取决于哪一面朝上。这些
variations need to either simply be accepted or some type of manufacturing screening process needs to be implemented, which will add cost to production.
In spite of these issues, sand timer games have a unique feel that deserves further exploration by designers. Apps and other digital-analog hybrids hold some promise here as well.
Sample Games
Space Dealer (Stapelfeldt, 2006)
TAMSK (Burm, 1998)
Time 'n' Space (Stapelfeldt, 2013)
Wartime: The Battle of Valyance Vale (Guild, Lackey, Parks, and Tempkin, 2017)
Wok Star (Fowers, 2010)
TRN-13 Time Track
Description
There is a linear "Time Track" with many spaces. Each player has a marker on the track, which indicates where they are "in time." Markers farther on the track are further forward in time.
The player with the marker lowest on the track (furthest "back in time") takes the next action. Each action has a cost in time, and the player's marker is advanced a number of spaces according to that cost. Then, the next lowest marker on the track takes an action. It is possible that the same player takes multiple turns in a row. 标记在轨道上位置最低("时间倒退 "最远)的玩家采取下一个行动。每个行动都有时间成本,玩家的标记会根据时间成本前进若干个空格。然后,轨道上下一个最低的标记开始行动。同一玩家有可能连续多次采取行动。
Discussion
Time Tracks have a number of inherent advantages:
Clarity: It is obvious who goes next, even though turn order jumps around a lot.
Player Control: Players have some choice over who goes next, allowing for additional tactical play.
Balance: The designer can include powerful actions but can give them a long time duration to compensate.
However, there are, of course, downsides to this technique. It can lead to players being out of the action for some time if they have taken long-duration options. Admittedly, they have chosen to do this, but an option available to players should not result in them having a less enjoyable experience. 不过,这种方法当然也有缺点。如果玩家选择了时间较长的选项,可能会有一段时间无法参与游戏。诚然,他们选择了这样做,但玩家可以选择的选项不应该导致他们的游戏体验大打折扣。
To prevent this situation, designers typically do not include very longduration activities. However, this compression of durations into a narrower range works against the benefits and promise of this system, as players usually are quite close together on the Time Track. The Dragon o Flagon, for example, has actions that range from one to four Time. Most of the actions in Thebes are in a similar range, although players can opt to dig for artifacts for up to 12 Time, which will give their opponents the opportunity to perform many actions before their turn comes around again. 为了避免出现这种情况,设计者通常不会将持续时间很长的活动包括在内。然而,这种将持续时间压缩到较窄范围的做法有悖于该系统的优点和承诺,因为玩家在时间轨迹上的距离通常很近。例如,"Dragon o Flagon "的行动时间范围为 1 到 4 个 "Time"。底比斯的大多数行动都在类似的时间范围内,不过玩家可以选择挖掘长达 12 个时间的神器,这将使对手有机会在轮到自己之前完成许多行动。
Because of this tight-duration grouping, players frequently will share a space on the Time Track. These ties are usually resolved by having the player on top of the stack (the last piece to arrive there) move first. However, this "Last-in-First-out," or LIFO, system will give players guaranteed double moves in some situations. Depending on the game, this may not be an issue and may even be desirable. But for some, it may be too powerful and some mediation needs to happen. In The Dragon and Flagon, for example, Turn Order is randomly determined when multiple players share the same space. 由于这种密集的时间分组,棋手经常会在时间轨上共享一个空位。这些并列的情况通常会通过让位于棋子堆顶端(最后到达的棋子)的棋手先下来解决。不过,这种 "后进先出"(LIFO)系统在某些情况下会保证棋手有两次下棋机会。根据棋局的不同,这可能不是问题,甚至可能是可取的。但对某些人来说,这可能过于强大,需要进行一些调解。例如,在《龙与花瓶》中,当多个玩家共享同一空间时,回合顺序是随机决定的。
Another alternative is to only allow one piece per space on the Time Track, forcing players who would otherwise occupy a space to move one or more spaces further forward until they find an empty space. This can add an extra layer of decision-making, as the actual cost of certain actions may vary based on the positioning of the opponent. When a game offers only a limited amount of time or creates triggers based on specific spaces on the track, the particulars of how ties are handled and whether players skip spaces become especially important. 另一种方法是在时间轨道上每个空格只允许一个棋子,迫使原本占据一个空格的棋手向前移动一个或多个空格,直到找到一个空格。这会增加额外的决策难度,因为某些行动的实际代价可能会因对手的位置而异。当游戏只提供有限的时间或根据轨道上的特定空格设置触发器时,如何处理平局以及玩家是否跳过空格的细节就变得尤为重要。
Glen More and Kraftwagen use a Time Track combined with an Action Selection mechanism. Each space on the Time Track has an associated action. When players move to the space, they execute the action. The player furthest back on the track moves first, and two players may not occupy the same space. Players have the choice of moving far forward to guarantee a needed action but potentially giving their opponents multiple turns. Glen More 和 Kraftwagen 采用时间轨迹与行动选择机制相结合的方式。时间轨道上的每个空格都有一个相关的行动。当玩家移动到该空格时,就会执行该行动。轨道上最靠后的玩家先移动,两个玩家不得占据同一空间。玩家可以选择向前移动以保证所需的行动,但也有可能给对手多个回合。
Sample Games
AuZtralia (Wallace, 2018)
The Dragon & Flagon (Engelstein, Engelstein, and Engelstein, 2016)
Glen More (Cramer, 2010)
High Rise (Hova, 2019)
Thebes (Prinz, 2007)
Tokaido (Bauza, 2012)
TRN-14 Passed Action Token
Description
Players possess one or more Action Tokens. Those who have an Action Token may take a turn, and then they pass the token clockwise, allowing the next player to perform an action. Actions are performed in real-time; there is no pausing and structure within the turn. 玩家拥有一个或多个行动令牌。拥有行动令牌的玩家可以进行一次回合,然后顺时针传递令牌,让下一位玩家执行行动。行动是实时进行的,回合内没有暂停和结构。
Typically, to prevent stalling and to keep the game moving, in games with multiple Action Tokens, if both tokens are held by the same player, they suffer a penalty.
Discussion
This mechanism is a cross between a real-time-based and a turn-based game. Similar to the Action Timer mechanism (TRN-12), it allows players to play at their own pace, and asynchronously, but still offers some structure. However, with the Action Timer mechanism, players are basically independent of one other and can operate simultaneously. Here, players are linked more closely, in that one player's turn can only start when the previous player finishes their turn. This helps solve the dilemma of players breaking rules (either 这种机制介于实时游戏和回合制游戏之间。与行动计时器机制(TRN-12)类似,它允许玩家按照自己的节奏进行异步游戏,但仍提供了一定的结构。然而,在行动计时器机制中,玩家基本上是相互独立的,可以同时进行操作。在这里,玩家之间的联系更加紧密,因为只有在前一个玩家完成自己的回合后,另一个玩家的回合才能开始。这有助于解决玩家违反规则的难题(无论是
inadvertently or deliberately) that are present in other real-time mechanisms. The inactive players can watch what the active players are doing and interrupt if necessary. This allows for more complex mechanisms within the game itself than is possible in traditional real-time games. 在其他实时机制中也存在这种情况。非活动玩家可以观察活动玩家的行为,并在必要时进行打断。这使得游戏本身的机制比传统的实时游戏更加复杂。
Generally, this mechanism requires that multiple Action Tokens are passed around the circle at the same time. The exception is if the round itself is timed in some fashion and having possession of the Action Token causes a player to lose. Hot Potato and Catch Phrase! are examples of this, where the player holding the item when time runs out loses (see Hot Potato, RES-23). 一般来说,这种机制要求多个行动令牌同时在圈内传递。例外情况是,如果游戏本身有某种计时方式,持有行动令牌的玩家会输。Hot Potato 和 Catch Phrase! 就是这种情况的例子,当时间耗尽时,持有物品的玩家会输(见 Hot Potato,RES-23)。
When using multiple Action Tokens, a key design consideration is what happens if multiple tokens end up with the same player. In Camelot, if another token would be passed to a player who already has one, it instead skips that player and goes to the person to his or her left. This is equivalent to losing a turn, as other players will get to act a second time before the affected player does. While we recommend against players losing a turn and classify it as an anti-pattern (TRN-16), in this case, the opportunity to avoid losing a turn lies with the player and is not luck-based or the result of targeting by other players. Therefore, it is an understandable and satisfying solution to use in this case. It forces players to move at a reasonable pace, at least comparable in speed to the other players. 在使用多个行动令牌时,一个关键的设计考虑因素是如果多个令牌最终落在同一个玩家手中会发生什么情况。在《卡米洛特》中,如果另一个行动令牌要传递给已经拥有一个行动令牌的玩家,那么它就会跳过该玩家,传递给他或她左边的玩家。这相当于失去一个回合,因为其他玩家会在受影响的玩家之前进行第二次行动。虽然我们建议玩家不要失去一个回合,并将其归类为反模式(TRN-16),但在这种情况下,避免失去一个回合的机会在于玩家自己,而不是运气或其他玩家瞄准的结果。因此,在这种情况下采用这种解决方案是可以理解的,也是令人满意的。它迫使玩家以合理的速度移动,至少在速度上与其他玩家相当。
While this solution encourages faster play, it does not mean that the faster players will always win. If a reasonably thought-out single move will beat a hasty double move, then playing as fast as possible will not be the dominant strategy. Players will need to balance optimal plays with "good enough" plays. 虽然这种解决方案鼓励下棋速度更快,但并不意味着下棋速度快的棋手一定会赢。如果经过深思熟虑的单步棋能击败仓促的双步棋,那么尽可能快的下棋速度就不会成为主导策略。棋手需要在最佳下法和 "足够好 "的下法之间取得平衡。
An alternative system to penalizing players for collecting a second Action Token is seen in Diner. In Diner, all players start with an Action Token and may continue to act simultaneously with others so long as they have at least one action token. After each action, players pass one action token to the left. Several Action Token can pile up in front of the same player, and they simply sit there until the player completes a move and passes a token to the next player. There is no "lapping" as there is in Camelot. 除了对收集第二个行动令牌的玩家进行惩罚之外,还有一个替代系统可以在 Diner 中看到。在 Diner 中,所有玩家一开始都有一个行动令牌,只要他们至少有一个行动令牌,就可以继续与其他人同时行动。每次行动后,玩家都要向左传递一个行动令牌。多个行动令牌可以堆放在同一个玩家面前,直到该玩家完成一个行动并将一个令牌传递给下一个玩家。没有《卡米洛特》中的 "重叠"。
This can lead to slower and more conservative play, but in Diner, players are incentivized to play quickly in order to draft the best cards in a central tableau. Because players play simultaneously, playing slowly to accumulate several tokens will allow other players to grab more desirable cards. 这可能会导致玩家玩得更慢、更保守,但在《Diner》中,玩家有动力快速玩牌,以便在中心桌面上抽取最好的牌。因为玩家是同时进行游戏的,所以慢慢玩以积累几个代币,会让其他玩家抢到更想要的牌。
It is also possible to use Passed Action Tokens as an overlay or subset of another structure. Space Cadets uses a real-time turn structure, but in certain
situations, an Action Token (a small deck of cards in this case) is passed around to allow players to perform a special action beyond what they can normally do.
Eclipse, in a variant mode that can accommodate as many as nine players, uses two Action Tokens. The only distinction between the tokens is that one provides priority over the other for acquiring new technologies. The system is surprisingly effective at speeding along what would otherwise be an unplayable behemoth of a game. 《日蚀》的变体模式可容纳多达九名玩家,使用两个行动令牌。两种代币之间的唯一区别是,一种代币在获取新技术时优先于另一种代币。这个系统出奇地有效,加快了原本无法玩下去的巨型游戏的进程。
Sample Games
Camelot (Jolly, 2005)
Catch Phrase! (Uncredited, 1994)
Diner (O'Malley, 2014)
Eclipse (rule variant) (Tahkokallio, 2011)
Hot Potato (Unknown, 1800's)
Space Cadets (Engelstein, Engelstein, and Engelstein, 2012)
TRN-15 Interleaved vs. Sequential Phases
Description
This describes two different meta-turn structures. In an Interleaved Phase structure (a), all players perform the first phase, then all perform the second phase, etc. In a Sequential Phase structure (b), each player performs all phases before moving on to the next player, who then performs all phases, etc. 这描述了两种不同的元回合结构。在交错阶段结构(a)中,所有棋手都下第一阶段,然后都下第二阶段,等等。在顺序相位结构(b)中,每位棋手在下一位棋手执行所有相位之前执行所有相位,然后下一位棋手执行所有相位,等等。
Discussion
Interleaved structures in general are preferred in modern design, as they reduce downtime between player actions. War games in the 1970s and 1980s were notorious for their "I Go, You Go" structures, where one player would take a turn that could last for a very long time, with the other player wandering off to do some other activity. In the 1980s and 1990s, this started to shift, with designers moving to Interleaved turn structures to keep players 在现代设计中,交错式结构一般比较受欢迎,因为它们可以减少玩家行动之间的停顿时间。20 世纪 70 年代和 80 年代的战争游戏因其 "我走你也走 "的结构而臭名昭著,在这种结构中,一名玩家的回合可能会持续很长时间,而另一名玩家则会四处游荡,从事其他活动。到了 20 世纪 80 年代和 90 年代,这种情况开始发生转变,设计者开始采用交错回合结构,让玩家
more engaged throughout. However, there are plenty of games that stick to a Sequential turn structure for a variety of reasons.
The Russian Campaign, a simulation of the German invasion of Russia during World War II, uses a strictly Sequential turn structure. Each player performs all of these steps before the turn passes to the next player:
Receive Reinforcements and Replacements
Move All Units
Combat
Breakthrough Movement
Breakthrough Combat
The Sequential structure of The Russian Campaign is integral to the strategy and experience of the game. Allowing one player to move and attack twice before the opponent gets to respond gives the game epic swings and devastating breakthroughs and does a particularly good job of capturing the early and late phases of the war, which featured large-scale encirclements and desperate breakouts. 《俄罗斯战役》的顺序结构是游戏策略和体验不可或缺的一部分。允许一名玩家在对手做出反应之前进行两次移动和攻击,为游戏带来了史诗般的波动和毁灭性的突破,并能很好地捕捉战争初期和后期的特点,即大规模的包围和孤注一掷的突围。
In contrast, Power Grid uses an Interleaved turn structure. There are three main Phases in each Round:
Buy Power Plants
Buy Raw Materials
Build Power Lines
In turn, all players perform Buy Power Plants, then in turn all players perform Buy Raw Materials, etc. There is little time between a player taking their next action.
Any turn structure can be used inside the meta-structures of Sequential and Interleaved. For example, Power Grid uses a Stat Order structure (TRN-02).
These structures are not mutually exclusive: some parts of a game may be interleaved and some may be sequential, and different Turn Order structures may be used for each. For example, Simultaneous Turn structure is frequently appropriate during upkeep or planning phases but the movement is usually sequential. As always, these different mechanisms are tools, and each has its place and circumstance. 这些结构并不相互排斥:棋局的某些部分可能是交错进行的,某些部分可能是顺序进行的,而且每种部分可能使用不同的回合顺序结构。例如,在维持或规划阶段,同步回合结构经常是合适的,但移动通常是顺序进行的。一如既往,这些不同的机制都是工具,各有各的用处和情况。
Sample Games
Sequential
The Russian Campaign (Edwards, 1974)
Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization (Chvátil, 2006)
Interleaved
Orleans (Stockhausen, 2014)
Power Grid (Friese, 2004)
TRN-16 Lose a Turn
Description
This is a meta-mechanism that can be applied to a variety of turn structures. A player who "Loses a Turn" must skip their next opportunity for a turn.
Discussion
Losing a Turn was common in Roll and Move games of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (MOV-02). In the current game-design philosophy, it is considered an anti-pattern to be avoided. It was frequently used as a possible outcome of landing on a particular space or drawing a card—actions which were, themselves, random and not the result of a player's choice. Losing a Turn keeps the player from enjoying and participating in the game and can be very frustrating if one player is disproportionately affected. Mostly though, it frustrates the intent of the player as a person seeking to engage in an activity. Players want to play a game, and losing your turn means not playing a game. Like the ads on the radio that interrupt the music, if it happens too often, players will "change stations" and play something else (Illustration 2.3). 在十九世纪和二十世纪的 "掷骰子和移动 "游戏(MOV-02)中,输掉一个回合是很常见的。在当前的游戏设计理念中,它被认为是一种应该避免的反模式。它经常被用作落在某个空格或抽到一张牌的可能结果--这些行动本身就是随机的,而不是玩家选择的结果。失去一个回合会让玩家无法享受和参与游戏,如果一个玩家受到的影响过大,就会让人非常沮丧。不过,最主要的是,它挫伤了玩家作为一个寻求参与活动的人的意图。玩家想要玩游戏,而输掉回合就意味着不能玩游戏。就像收音机里打断音乐的广告一样,如果这种情况发生得太频繁,玩家就会 "转台 "玩别的东西(插图 2.3)。
There are other mechanisms where players are allowed to take a turn but may end up not doing anything, which can be equally an issue, that is functionally (and psychologically) and generally equivalent to Lose a Turn. An example may be having to win a Roll and Move game by "exact count," such as Trouble or Snakes & Ladders. In these games, players may only win by advancing to the final space by getting exactly what they need and can result in many turns of fruitlessly rolling a die or spinning a spinner. While 还有其他一些机制,允许玩家轮流玩,但最后可能什么都不做,这同样会造成问题,这在功能上(和心理上)一般等同于 "失去一回合"。例如,在 "麻烦 "或 "蛇梯游戏 "中,玩家必须通过 "精确计算 "赢得 "翻滚和移动 "游戏。在这些游戏中,玩家只能通过准确获得他们所需要的东西来进入最后一个空格,从而获胜,这可能会导致玩家在掷骰子或旋转旋转器的许多回合中毫无结果。而
Illustration 2.3 The Jail space in Monopoly may cause players to lose up to three turns. Initially, this can be harmful to a player's position, but in the late stages of the game, it can be a respite from possibly landing on others' properties.
the players still get a turn, and there is some excitement in seeing if the player will win, it still can become frustrating if it lasts many turns.
Similarly, games like Sorry!! require certain values to leave "Home" and, in essence, start the game. Again, this can result in many consecutive turns of inactivity, which leads to frustration and boredom. In Monopoly, players can be sent to Jail, where they will need to roll doubles to escape. Monopoly has some remediation to this "Lose a Turn" effect, as players may choose to pay to get out of Jail and will be let out after a maximum of three lost turns elapse. In later stages of the game, players may prefer (and hope) to remain in Jail to avoid the possibility of paying high rents for landing on properties with hotels. 同样,像 "对不起!!"这样的游戏也需要一定的数值才能离开 "主页",并在实质上开始游戏。同样,这也会导致玩家连续多轮不活动,从而产生挫败感和厌倦感。在《大富翁》中,玩家可能会被送进监狱,需要掷双倍才能逃脱。大富翁》对这种 "失去一个回合 "的影响有一些补救措施,玩家可以选择付费离开监狱,最多失去三个回合后就会被放出来。在游戏的后期阶段,玩家可能更愿意(也希望)留在监狱里,以避免因登陆有酒店的房产而支付高昂的租金。
There are other effects that are similar to losing a turn. In a Worker Placement game (Chapter 9), losing a worker for a round is equivalent to losing a turn. In an Action Retrieval system (ACT-03), the turn that the Actions are retrieved can feel like a lost turn to players. In a shedding card game where cards are shed one per turn (like ), having to draw cards is similar to "Losing a Turn" in terms of tempo, although it does not impinge on the player's participation in the game. Similarly, when some players gain extra turns, this is equivalent to the others losing a turn. However, due to psychological framing effects, these more modern takes do not feel as bad. Thus, giving extra turns to other players or removing resources can be a better solution for including "Lose a Turn" effects. 还有其他与失去一回合类似的影响。在 "工人放置 "游戏(第 9 章)中,失去一个工人一回合就相当于失去一回合。在行动检索系统(ACT-03)中,检索行动的回合会让玩家感觉失去了一个回合。在每回合掉一张牌的抽牌游戏中(如 ),虽然不会影响玩家参与游戏,但不得不抽牌在节奏上类似于 "失去一回合"。同样,当一些玩家获得额外回合时,这就相当于其他玩家失去了一个回合。然而,由于心理框架效应,这些更现代的做法并不会让人感觉那么糟糕。因此,给其他玩家额外的回合或移除资源可能是包含 "失去一回合 "效应的更好的解决方案。
If the reason that a turn is lost is in control of the player, then this antipattern is remediated. If players choose to take a risky course or over-spend
a resource that leaves them unable to take a turn, that can be an effective design, as turn loss results from player action and is not perceived as unfair by players. As an example, in the Passed Action Token game, Camelot (TRN14), players who play too slowly may miss a turn if the other Action Token catches up to them. Instead of making a game slow and frustrating, this adds excitement, as players can see the Action Token getting closer and can speed up their play to avoid losing a turn. 这可能是一种有效的设计,因为回合损失是玩家行动的结果,不会被玩家视为不公平。例如,在传递行动代币游戏《卡米洛特》(TRN14)中,如果其他行动代币追上玩家,玩得太慢的玩家可能会错过一个回合。这不仅不会使游戏变得缓慢和令人沮丧,反而会增加游戏的刺激性,因为玩家可以看到行动代币越来越近,从而加快游戏速度,避免错过回合。
Sample Games
Camelot (Jolly, 2005)
Monopoly (Darrow and Magie, 1933)
Snakes & Ladders (Unknown, 〜200 вСE)
Sorry! (Haskell, Jr. and Storey, 1929)
Trouble (Kohner, Kohner, and Kroll, 1965)
UNO (Robbins, 1971)
TRN-17 Interrupts
Description
This is a meta-mechanism for Turn Order. Players may take an action that interrupts the normal turn flow.
Discussion
This mechanism can be used with almost any of the turn structures discussed. The ability to interrupt an opponent during their turn can be an important part of the design. The interruption can be a standard ability that players have and can be based on cards in their hands or other special tokens. 这种机制几乎可以用于所有讨论过的回合结构。在对手的回合中打断对手的能力可以是设计的一个重要部分。打断可以是玩家拥有的标准能力,也可以是基于玩家手中的牌或其他特殊标记的能力。
Squad Leader is an example of the "standard ability" style. During the Movement Phase, one player moves their pieces or stacks one-by-one, one space at a time. The other player (the "defender" for that turn) may, at any time, interrupt movement to take a Defensive Fire opportunity at the moving units. This is an option that is always available to units; no special ability is required. 《小队长》是 "标准能力 "类型的一个例子。在 "移动 "阶段,一方玩家逐个空格移动棋子或堆叠。另一方玩家(该回合的 "防守方")可以随时中断移动,向移动中的单位进行防御性射击。这是单位可以随时使用的选项,不需要特殊能力。
Magic: The Gathering, by contrast, features cards that are labeled as Instants. These cards, but no others, can be played on the opponent's turn in response to an opponent's action. Other games frequently will call these cards Reactions. If you don't have a Reaction card, you will not be able to take a Reaction. 相比之下,《魔法:收集》中的卡牌都被标记为瞬发。这些卡牌可以在对手的回合中对对手的行动做出反应,但不能对其他卡牌做出反应。其他游戏通常称这些卡牌为 "反应"。如果你没有 "反应 "牌,你就无法进行 "反应"。
Incorporating Interrupts into the design has several positive features. First, it keeps players engaged. If players can interrupt their opponents and find the perfect opportunity to strike, they are incentivized to pay attention to the action at all times. This reduces downtime, or perceived downtime. Before Squad Leader, war games mostly had a strict "I Go, You Go" structure, which made it appealing for players to mentally check out when it was not their turn. 在设计中加入中断功能有几个积极的特点。首先,它能让玩家参与其中。如果玩家可以打断对手,并找到绝佳的攻击机会,那么他们就会有动力时刻关注行动。这就减少了停机时间,或者说减少了玩家认为的停机时间。在《小队长》之前,战争游戏大多采用严格的 "我上,你上 "结构,这让玩家很容易在轮到自己的时候放弃。
In Squad Leader, even if defenders never take a Defensive Fire shot, they were still engaged throughout their opponent's turn because they were always evaluating the option to fire. Similarly, in games where players can play reaction cards, players need to monitor the action continuously. 在《小队长》中,即使防守方从未进行过防御性射击,他们在对手的整个回合中仍然处于交战状态,因为他们一直在评估是否选择射击。同样,在玩家可以出反应卡的游戏中,玩家也需要持续监控行动。
Interrupts add uncertainty and chaos to the game and undermine the ability of players to create a perfect plan. Players cannot be certain that their squad will make it across the street or that the monster will successfully attack. This can be positive or negative depending on the goal of the design. 中断给游戏增添了不确定性和混乱,削弱了玩家制定完美计划的能力。玩家无法确定他们的小队是否能穿过街道,也无法确定怪物是否能成功攻击。这可能是积极的,也可能是消极的,这取决于设计的目标。
Interrupts give a leg up to players who are more familiar with the game than new players. Understanding the range of possible opponent responses gives experienced players an advantage when formulating their plans. Even if they can't be perfect, they can plan contingencies for possible opponent responses. 与新棋手相比,更熟悉棋局的棋手更容易打断对手的下棋。了解对手可能做出的反应范围,让经验丰富的棋手在制定计划时更具优势。即使无法做到完美,他们也可以针对对手可能的反应制定应急计划。
Because of their asynchronous nature, Interrupts require rules and conventions around their play to give players the opportunity to react and also to adjudicate if multiple players want to react at the same time. In Squad Leader, for example, there is a specific rule that a player moving a stack of units must pause briefly after entering each space, to give an opponent the opportunity to announce Defensive Fire. This requires the cooperation of the players to keep these pauses long enough for players to decide but short enough not to unduly lengthen the game. Conventions may be developed, such as a player being allowed to request a few extra seconds to make a decision. Similarly, when playing reaction cards, there needs to be an opportunity for players to play them. 由于 "打断 "具有异步性,因此需要围绕其玩法制定规则和惯例,以便让玩家有机会做出反应,并在多个玩家想同时做出反应时进行裁决。例如,在《小队长》中,有一条特定规则规定,移动单位堆的玩家必须在进入每个空间后短暂停顿,以便让对手有机会宣布 "防御射击"。这就需要玩家的合作,让这些停顿时间足够长,让玩家可以做出决定,但又足够短,不至于过分延长游戏时间。可以制定一些约定俗成的规则,例如允许棋手要求额外的几秒钟来做出决定。同样,在出反应牌时,棋手也需要有机会出牌。
Some designs allow Interrupts to themselves be interrupted. Obviously, the system needs to prevent infinite Interrupts, such as requiring the play or discard of a card and/or resource(s) to execute an Interrupt.
There also needs to be a system to handle the order of resolving multiple Interrupts. Magic: The Gathering uses a LIFO system and an Instant stack. If a player wants to play an Instant in response to another Instant, they play the card on top of the earlier card. When all Instants have been played into this stack, they are resolved from the top down. The first card to be played will be the last to be resolved. 《还需要一个系统来处理多个中断的解决顺序。魔法:收集》使用后进先出系统和瞬发堆栈。如果玩家想打出一张瞬发牌来回应另一张瞬发牌,他们就会打出先前那张牌上面的那张牌。当所有的瞬发都被打入这个堆栈后,它们就会自上而下地进行结算。第一张打出的牌将是最后一张被结算的牌。
Some games will allow the Interrupt to change the turn order. For example, in Mille Bornes, a player may respond to a Hazard card being played on them by playing the matching Safety. If they do, the interrupting playerthe one who played the Safety-immediately becomes the active player and takes a normal turn. The players between the old active player and the interrupting player are skipped, losing their turn (TRN-16). 有些游戏允许打断牌改变回合顺序。例如,在 Mille Bornes 中,玩家可以通过打出与之匹配的 "安全牌 "来应对被打出的 "危险牌"。如果这样做了,被打断的玩家(即打出 "安全 "牌的玩家)就会立即成为主动玩家,开始正常回合。旧的主动玩家和打断玩家之间的玩家会被跳过,失去他们的回合(TRN-16)。
Sample Games
3
Actions
When watching a movie or seeing a play, the story progresses independent of the viewer. Games, however, require action by the player to move things forward. These actions may be based purely on luck, rely solely on the player's skill, or lie somewhere in between. But a fundamental differentiator of games from many other activities is that the players must act. While later chapters will discuss what those specific actions might be, this one describes different ways that the players are permitted by the designer to take actions and the way that those flow. Thus, the mechanisms discussed here should be viewed in conjunction with the Turn Structures of Chapter 2. 在观看电影或戏剧时,故事的进展与观众无关。而游戏则需要玩家采取行动来推动剧情发展。这些行动可能完全基于运气,也可能完全依靠玩家的技能,或者介于两者之间。但游戏与许多其他活动的根本区别在于,玩家必须采取行动。后面的章节将讨论这些具体的行动,而本章将介绍设计者允许玩家采取行动的不同方式,以及这些行动的流程。因此,这里讨论的机制应该与第二章的回合结构结合起来看。
An Action is an atomic step or series of steps that a player chooses to perform. For example, moving a piece, picking up a cube, selling a share of stock, or initiating combat may all be Actions. An Action may also be compound, allowing a player to both pick up a cube and sell a share of stock, depending on the structure and metaphor of the game. 行动是玩家选择执行的一个或一系列步骤。例如,移动棋子、拾取方块、出售股票或发起战斗都可能是 "行动"。根据游戏的结构和隐喻,一个行动也可能是复合的,允许玩家同时拾取一个方块和出售一份股票。
The selection and integration of Actions into the game can give play a specific feel. These Action systems control the complexity of the game, in terms of the number of Actions a player may perform consecutively and how they interrelate, the interaction between players, and other features. Manipulation of the Action system, as in a Rondel (ACT-10, Rondel Games) or Action Queue (ACT-06), can become the focus of the game itself and a key mechanism. Or it can simply provide a framework that fades into the background. 在游戏中选择和整合 "行动 "可以给游戏带来特定的感觉。这些行动系统控制着游戏的复杂性,包括玩家可以连续执行的行动数量、它们之间的相互关系、玩家之间的互动以及其他特征。对动作系统的操作,如在 Rondel(ACT-10,Rondel Games)或动作队列(ACT-06)中的操作,可以成为游戏本身的重点和关键机制。或者,它可以仅仅提供一个框架,然后淡出背景。
If a game is not interactive enough, or if it overwhelms players with too many choices, the root of the problem is frequently in how Actions are made available to the players. Looking closer at that part of the design may pay dividends.
ACT-01 Action Points
Actions: Action Points
Description
A player receives a number of Action Points on their turn. They may spend them on a variety of Actions.
Discussion
This is a broad mechanism that is isomorphic to a variety of game structures. However, some generalities can be discussed.
A common implementation is that a player receives a fixed number of Action Points on their turn and can spend them on any combination of Actions, each of which spends one of those points. Pandemic, for example, gives a player four Action Points each turn, which can be spent on several Actions, such as moving to another city or removing a disease cube. 一种常见的实现方式是,玩家在自己的回合中获得固定数量的行动点数,并可将其用于任何行动组合,每个行动组合都会消耗其中的一个点数。例如,"大流行 "游戏每回合给玩家提供 4 点行动点数,玩家可以将其用于多个行动,如移动到另一个城市或移除疾病方块。
Tikal takes a similar approach, but Actions may cost more than one Action Point. Each player gets ten Action Points for the turn, and the cost of Actions ranges from one to four. This can dramatically increase the decision space for players, so the designer needs to be cognizant of the additional weight this will add to the game (Illustration 3.1). 《提卡尔》采用了类似的方法,但 "行动 "的代价可能超过一个 "行动点数"。每位玩家在一回合中可以获得十个行动点数,行动的代价从一个到四个不等。这会大大增加玩家的决策空间,因此设计者需要认识到这会给游戏增加额外的权重(插图 3.1)。
Illustration 3.1 The Action reference from Tikal. The cost of each action is indicated by the small red circles to the right. Players have ten Action Points to spend each turn.
A game may have multiple currencies of Action Points. Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization has two types of Action Points: Civil and Military. Each may only be spent on specific types of Actions.
Variations of this mechanism may also limit players to only performing an Action one time per turn. Some allow players to leave some Action Points unused to be carried over to the next turn, and others require that all be spent or lost.
Many games use this mechanism without explicitly awarding Action Points to the players. For example, the game may simply tell players that they may take two out of three possible Actions, or even one. In Feudum, each player simultaneously selects four out of eleven Action cards available in a personal pool to use each turn. This makes it obvious whether an Action can be performed multiple times, or just once, depending on how many copies of the same Action card are in the deck. 许多游戏在使用这种机制时,并没有明确授予玩家行动点数。例如,游戏可以简单地告诉玩家,他们可以从三个可能的行动中选择两个,甚至一个。在《封神榜》中,每位玩家每回合都要同时从个人牌库中的 11 张行动牌中选择 4 张来使用。这样一来,一个行动是可以执行多次,还是只能执行一次,就很明显了,这取决于同一行动牌在牌组中有多少张。
A variant Action Point system is found in Starship Samurai. Here, players select the Action they wish to perform from a limited menu. They must also use one of their order counters, which are numbered from one to four. The number determines the number of times the Action may be executed. For example, if players choose the Move Action and use their " 3 " token, they get to move 3 units. 《星舰武士》(Starship Samurai)中有一个变体 "行动点 "系统。在这里,玩家从有限的菜单中选择他们想要执行的行动。他们还必须使用一个顺序计数器,计数器的编号从 1 到 4。数字决定了该行动的执行次数。例如,如果玩家选择 "移动 "行动并使用 "3 "令牌,他们就可以移动 3 个单位。
Action Point systems give the players a lot of flexibility in how they approach their turn. The pace of the game can be controlled by the designer by changing the number of Action Points available each turn. Small values will lead to quicker turns. Larger values will lengthen turns but also open up more space for combos. 行动点数系统为玩家提供了很大的灵活性,让他们可以灵活地处理自己的回合。设计者可以通过改变每回合可用的行动点数来控制游戏节奏。数值越小,回合越快。数值越大,回合时间越长,但也为连击打开了更多空间。
Sample Games
Android Netrunner (Garfield and Litzsinger, 2012)
Feudum (Swanson, 2018)
Forbidden Island (Leacock, 2010)
Kemet (Bariot and Montiage, 2012)
Pandemic (Leacock, 2008)
Starship Samurai (Vega, 2018)
Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization (Chvátil, 2006)
Tikal (Kiesling and Kramer, 1999)
ACT-02 Action Drafting
Description
Players select from an assortment of Actions in a shared pool. The available Actions are limited in quantity, and once a player has chosen an Action it may not be chosen again.
Discussion
This mechanism creates player interaction within the Action selection itself. While many games have Actions, typically if an Action is chosen by one player, that does not deny it to another. Action Drafting creates a marketplace for Actions, with players competing to select them. 这种机制在行动选择本身中创造了玩家互动。虽然许多游戏都有 "行动",但通常情况下,如果一名玩家选择了某个 "行动",另一名玩家也不会拒绝。行动 Drafting 为行动创建了一个市场,玩家可以竞相选择行动。
Action Drafting is a very common mechanism that goes by a variety of names, such as Role Selection or Worker Placement. In a Worker Placement mechanism, players place pawns ("workers") onto Action spaces on a board, perform the Actions, and deny the use of those Action spaces to their opponents. Because of the variety and importance of Worker Placement, we have dedicated Chapter 9 to exploring its considerations and variations. The issues discussed there, such as the strength of the first player advantage, apply to most of the mechanisms discussed here as well. 行动抽签是一种非常常见的机制,它有多种名称,如角色选择或工兵放置。在 "工兵放置 "机制中,棋手将棋子("工兵")放置到棋盘上的行动空格中,执行行动并拒绝对手使用这些行动空格。由于 "工兵放置 "的多样性和重要性,我们在第 9 章中专门探讨了它的注意事项和变化。其中讨论的问题,例如先手优势的强度,也适用于这里讨论的大多数机制。
Citadels is an example of a Role Selection implementation of Action Drafting. In Citadels, the start player takes all the role cards (which show their associated actions), selects an Action card, and then passes the remaining cards to the
player to the left. Because the card chosen is secret, this system generates information asymmetry (UNC-05). Puerto Rico and Race for the Galaxy are similar examples of Role Selection, as in each round, every player selects (drafts) a role and gets to perform associated actions. Puerto Rico allows all players to perform a less powerful version of the action the drafting player selected, only the player may select a given role each round (see "Follow, ACT-08" in this chapter). In Race for the Galaxy, players also can Follow with a weaker version of the action another player selected, but multiple players can select the same role and get the stronger version of the action. 左边的玩家。由于选择的牌是秘密的,这种系统会产生信息不对称(UNC-05)。波多黎各》和《银河竞赛》是角色选择的类似例子,因为在每一轮游戏中,每个玩家都会选择(起草)一个角色,并执行相关动作。波多黎各》允许所有玩家执行起草玩家所选行动的较弱版本,只有玩家可以在每轮选择一个特定角色(见本章 "跟随,ACT-08")。在 "银河争夺战 "中,玩家也可以使用其他玩家所选行动的较弱版本进行 "跟随",但多个玩家可以选择相同的角色并获得较强版本的行动。
Frequently this mechanism is implemented with a Dice Pool. At the start of the Action Selection phase, dice are rolled, with results corresponding to a specific action. In La Granja, for example, all the rolled are placed into the "Take 4 Coins" action space. Once all dice are placed in their boxes, the players take turns selecting a die and performing the associated action. In a separate twist, there is an extra die left over after all players have selected two action dice, and every player gets to perform that final action. 这种机制通常通过骰子池来实现。在 "行动选择 "阶段开始时,骰子会被掷出,结果与特定行动相对应。例如,在《La Granja》中,所有掷出的 都会放入 "取 4 枚硬币 "的行动空间。当所有骰子都放入各自的盒子后,玩家轮流选择一个骰子并执行相关的行动。另外,在所有玩家都选择了两个行动骰子后,还会剩下一个骰子,每个玩家都可以执行最后一个行动。
An Action Drafting system based on a dice pool works against perfect plans, as players need to adapt to whatever actions are available. In addition, it forces players to consider not just their own plans but also what their opponents may need. Players may consider taking a sub-optimal selection in order to deprive their opponents of the option (so-called "hate drafting"). 基于骰子池的行动起草系统不利于制定完美的计划,因为玩家需要适应任何可用的行动。此外,它还迫使玩家不仅要考虑自己的计划,还要考虑对手可能需要什么。玩家可能会考虑采取次优选择,以剥夺对手的选择权(即所谓的 "仇恨起草")。
Another variant on this mechanic is found in Dungeon Lords. In this game, players secretly select three out of six possible Action cards, placing them face down in front of them in order. Each player then reveals their first card and places tokens on the corresponding spaces (with ties in order being broken by a Start Player token). The players who claim Action space earlier can perform more powerful versions of the Actions. 《地下城领主》是这一机制的另一种变体。在这个游戏中,玩家秘密地从六张可能的行动牌中选择三张,依次面朝下放在面前。然后,每位玩家亮出自己的第一张牌,并将代币放在相应的空格上(顺序相同时由 "开始玩家 "代币打破)。较早获得行动空间的玩家可以执行更强大版本的行动。
In War of the Ring, each player has their own pool of action dice and players take turns selecting one of their dice. These systems are not really drafting, in that players are not denying their opponent an Action. However, it does restrict the range of possible Actions, gives players flexibility, and an understanding of the possible Actions available to their opponent. 在魔戒战争中,每个玩家都有自己的行动骰子池,玩家轮流选择其中一个骰子。这些系统并不是真正意义上的牵制,因为玩家并没有剥夺对手的行动权。不过,这确实限制了可能行动的范围,让玩家有了灵活性,并了解对手可能采取的行动。
Sample Games
7 Wonders (Bauza, 2010)
Agricola (Rosenberg, 2007)
Citadels (Faidutti, 2000)
Coimbra (Brasini and Gigli, 2018)
Dungeon Lords (Chvátil, 2008)
La Granja (Keller and Odendahl, 2014)
Puerto Rico (Seyfarth, 2002)
Race for the Galaxy (Lehmann, 2007)
War of the Ring (Di Meglio, Maggi, and Nepitello, 2004)
Yspahan (Pauchon, 2006)
ACT-03 Action Retrieval
Description
Each player has a set of Actions available to them, represented by cards, tokens, or some other component. Once the Action is performed, the component is spent and the Action may not be performed again until the component is retrieved. Action Retrieval may be an Action taken as part of a turn or it may consume an entire turn. 每个玩家都有一组可用的行动,以卡片、代币或其他组件表示。一旦执行了行动,组件就会消耗掉,在取回组件之前不能再执行行动。取回行动可以是一个回合中的一个行动,也可以耗费整个回合。
Discussion
Action Retrieval rewards efficiency. Because retrieving the used cards takes an Action, players that retrieve more frequently will be at a disadvantage, as they will conduct fewer Actions that advance their cause.
The Actions available to players usually span a gamut of discrete options that affect different aspects of the game. For example, Assault of the Giants has the actions Move, Attack, Recruit, Make Alliance, and Leader. Once players use Move, they cannot play it again until they take a Retrieve turn, which restores all action cards used since the last Retrieve. This stops players from repeatedly selecting a specific Action over and over again, forcing them to adopt balanced 玩家可使用的操作通常包括一系列影响游戏不同方面的离散选项。例如,《巨人的突袭》中有 "移动"、"攻击"、"招募"、"结盟 "和 "领导 "等行动。一旦玩家使用了 "移动",就不能再次使用,直到他们进入 "检索 "回合,这将恢复上次 "检索 "后使用过的所有行动卡。这就阻止了玩家反复选择特定的行动,迫使他们采取平衡的行动。
strategies, and to plan several turns ahead. Therefore, a game that incorporates this mechanism will have a much more strategic feel. Action Retrieval also allows for additional tactical play, as your opponents will know, for example, that you do not have a Move action available and will not be able to respond to opponents moving to different areas (Illustration 3.2). 战略,并提前规划几个回合。因此,采用这种机制的游戏会更有策略感。行动检索还能让游戏更具战术性,例如,对手会知道你没有移动行动可用,也就无法对移动到不同区域的对手做出反应(插图 3.2)。
Many games introduce additional wrinkles to reward planning and sequencing. Assault of the Giants, for example, makes Actions more powerful as more Actions are played. For example, if the Move card is played as the first card after a Retrieve, only one unit can move. But if Recruit and Attack have been played before Move, then three units may move. 许多游戏都引入了额外的技巧来奖励计划和排序。例如,"巨人的攻击 "会随着行动次数的增加而使行动变得更加强大。例如,如果 "移动 "这张牌是在 "回收 "之后打出的第一张牌,那么只有一个单位可以移动。但如果在 "移动 "之前打出了 "招募 "和 "攻击",那么就有三个单位可以移动。
In Champions of Hara, cards have a "play" effect and a "retrieval" effect. An action is required to play them from the hand, which triggers the play effect. In a future turn, an action must be used to retrieve the card back into the player's hand, at which time, the card's retrieval effect is triggered. 在《原点冠军》中,卡牌有 "出牌 "和 "收回 "两种效果。从手牌中打出卡牌需要一个动作,这将触发打出效果。在以后的回合中,必须使用操作将卡牌取回玩家的手牌,此时,卡牌的取回效果就会触发。
Another variation on this mechanism is a mix of one-time and recoverable cards. Gloombaven has some action cards that can only be used one time during a scenario. Others may be recovered by having a character Rest.
Illustration 3.2 When the Tribune card is played in Concordia, the player retrieves their action cards and gains a bonus. The more cards played prior to retrieval, the larger the bonus.
Sample Games
Assault of the Giants (Parks, 2017)
Century: Spice Road (Matsuuchi, 2017)
Champions of Hara (Barber, VanNest, and Zimmerman, 2018)
Concordia (Gerdts, 2013)
Gloombaven (Childres, 2017)
Spirit Island (Reuss, 2017)
ACT-04 Action/Event
Description
On their turn, the player plays a card that shows Action Points and an Event. They must choose to either use the Action Points or perform the Event. If they choose to use the Action Points, typically the Event may be performed by another player.
Discussion
This mechanism builds on a basic Action Point system and allows designers to integrate a lot of flavors and special actions into a system to emphasize the theme. It was pioneered in historical simulations as a way of introducing historical events without unduly adding rules overhead. For example, Twilight Struggle, a simulation of the Cold War, has a card that can be used either for two Action Points or the Fidel event. If the Action Points are chosen, there is a standard list of Actions on which they can be spent (ACT-01) (Illustration 3.3). 这种机制建立在基本的行动点数系统之上,允许设计者在一个系统中融入大量风味和特殊行动,以突出主题。它是历史模拟中的先驱,作为一种引入历史事件而又不过度增加规则开销的方法。例如,模拟冷战的《曙光之争》中就有一张卡片,既可用于两个行动点数,也可用于菲德尔事件。如果选择 "行动点数",就会有一个标准的 "行动 "列表(ACT-01)(插图 3.3)。
Many games incorporate an Event Deck (ACT-17), which is another way to include special effects and deeper theming. However, the Action/Event system gives players another layer of choice, rather than simply imposing global effects.
Often, games using this system add another layer of player decisionmaking by having some or all events only eligible for specific players. For example, in We the People, a simulation of the American Revolution, certain events may only be performed by the Colonists and others by Great Britain. 通常,使用这种系统的游戏会增加玩家决策的另一层含义,即某些或所有事件只有特定玩家才有资格参与。例如,在模拟美国革命的《我们人民》(We the People)中,某些事件只能由殖民者执行,而其他事件则只能由英国执行。
FIDEL
Remove all US Influence in Cuba. USSR gains sufficient Influence in Cuba for Control.
Remove from play if used as an event.
Illustration 3.3 The "Fidel" card in Twilight Struggle can either be used for two Action Points (the number in the upper left) or for the Fidel event. The Red Star icon shows that the event favors the Soviet player and will trigger even if the US player uses the card for its Action Points. 插图 3.3 《曙光之争》中的 "菲德尔 "卡既可用于获得两个行动点数(左上角的数字),也可用于菲德尔事件。红星图标表示该事件对苏联玩家有利,即使美国玩家使用该卡获得行动点数也会触发该事件。
If a player is not eligible to use the event on a card, they must use the Action Points. Similarly, some events are dependent on specific locations, control of particular areas, the presence of certain characters, etc. In Empires of the Void , for example, events can be tied to specific planets, and if those planets are not in play or the planet's condition does not match the event's prerequisites, the player may only use the card for its point value, rather than the event. In World War II: Barbarossa to Berlin, there are prerequisite events that must be triggered before other following events may be used. This helps prevent anachronisms in games that model historical events. It can also ensure proper cause-and-effect in the narrative flow of a game. 如果玩家没有资格使用卡片上的事件,就必须使用行动点数。同样,有些事件取决于特定地点、特定区域的控制、特定角色的存在等。例如,在《虚空帝国》 中,事件可以与特定的星球绑定,如果这些星球不在游戏中,或者该星球的条件不符合事件的先决条件,玩家只能使用卡牌上的点数值,而不能使用事件。在《第二次世界大战:从巴巴罗萨到柏林》中,有一些先决事件必须在触发后才能使用其他后续事件。这有助于防止在模拟历史事件的游戏中出现不合时宜的情况。它还能确保游戏叙事流程中正确的因果关系。
Twilight Struggle takes this enforcement of sequencing even further by automatically triggering your opponent's Event when you play a card featuring such an event for its Action Points. For example, the Warsaw Pact event is a USSR event. If the US player plays the card, he or she must use the three Action Points, but the USSR will still get to perform the Event. On the 《曙光之战》将这种排序的执行方式推向了更高的境界,当你打出一张具有事件特征的卡牌时,会自动触发对手的事件,从而获得行动点数。例如,华沙条约事件是苏联事件。如果美国玩家打出这张牌,他或她必须使用三个行动点数,但苏联仍可执行该事件。在
other hand, if the USSR player plays the card, they must choose between the Event and the Action Points. Generally, used cards are recycled into the deck several times over the course of the game, but some cards are permanently discarded after their event is triggered. Once again, this helps with chronology—Anwar Sadat takes control of Egypt only once—but it also adds complexity to the choice of Action or Event and the sequence of play. It may be better to forgo playing your own Event, and using the Action Points instead, in hopes that the card will reappear in your opponent's hands and they will be forced to trigger it. 另一方面,如果苏联玩家打出这张牌,他们必须在事件和行动点数之间做出选择。一般来说,用过的卡牌会在游戏过程中多次回收到卡组中,但有些卡牌在事件触发后会被永久丢弃。这再次有助于编年史--安瓦尔-萨达特只控制了埃及一次,但也增加了选择行动或事件以及游戏顺序的复杂性。最好的办法可能是放弃触发自己的事件,而是使用行动点数,希望这张牌会再次出现在对手手中,从而迫使他们触发它。
Twilight Struggle and We the People are two-player games. This system is extended to multiplayer in The Expanse Board Game, which supports up to four players, each of whom represents a faction. Between two and four factions are eligible for each event, and if a player uses the Action Points, the other players are given the option to perform it, in a priority order. In 1960: The Making of the President, players may trigger their events when their opponent plays a card for its action points by spending a Momentum Marker. However, players may also pre-empt an event from being triggered by their opponent by paying two Momentum Markers when they play the card. 暮光之争》和《我们人民》是双人游戏。在《无垠棋盘游戏》(The Expanse Board Game)中,这一系统扩展到了多人游戏,最多支持四名玩家,每个玩家代表一个派别。每个事件有 2 到 4 个派别有资格参与,如果一名玩家使用了行动点数,其他玩家可以按照优先顺序选择执行。在《1960:在《1960:总统的诞生》中,玩家可以通过消耗一个 "动量标记"(Momentum Marker),在对手出牌获得行动点数时触发事件。不过,玩家也可以在出牌时支付两个动量标记,预先阻止对手触发事件。
Sample Games
1960: The Making of the President (Leonhard and Matthews, 2007)
Empires of the Void II (Laukat, 2018)
The Expanse Board Game (Engelstein, 2017)
Hannibal: Rome vs Carthage (Simonitch, 1996)
Twilight Struggle (Gupta and Matthews, 2005)
We the People (Herman, 1993)
World War II: Barbarossa to Berlin (Raicer, 2002)
ACT-05 Command Cards
Description
Players have a hand of cards that allows them to activate and perform actions with a subset of their units.
Discussion
Players have a hand of cards that represent different geographic regions or unit types and must play one each turn. When a geographic region card is played, units in the region(s) indicated may take Actions. If a Unit Type card is played, only units of that type may take Actions. 玩家手中有代表不同地理区域或单位类型的卡片,每回合必须打出一张。当打出一张地理区域牌时,该区域内的单位就可以采取 "行动"。如果打出的是单位类型牌,则只有该类型的单位才能采取行动。
In Memoir ' 44 the cards represent the center, left flank, or right flank; or a set of units, for example, all Tank units. Players can plan their future actions based on the cards in their hands. Hand-size limits help define the information horizon and amount of look-ahead players can engage in. Players may try to build a bank of cards in a particular sector to orchestrate a multipronged attack, or they may riskily move a unit out of cover to take a better shot, despite not having another card in hand to move the unit to safety the next turn. Like in real battles, players may not be able to execute the tactics 在 Memoir ' 44 中,纸牌代表中央、左翼或右翼;或一组单位,例如所有坦克部队。玩家可以根据手中的牌计划未来的行动。手牌大小的限制有助于确定玩家可参与的信息范围和前瞻性。玩家可以尝试在特定区域建立一个牌库,以策划多管齐下的进攻,也可以冒险将一个单位移出掩体,以获得更好的射击机会,尽管下一回合手中没有另一张牌可以将该单位转移到安全地带。与真实战斗一样,玩家可能无法执行战术
Illustration 3.4 Command Cards from Memoir '44. While all are Recon cards, each may only activate units in the highlighted region.
they believe are best. The system is quite elegant as an abstraction of breakdowns in communication and command-and-control that occur in warfare (Illustration 3.4).
In a traditional war game, players can take actions with all of their units each turn. Command Card systems limit this to a subset of units, which reduces the length of turns and simplifies decision-making, giving the game a lighter feel.
Some games, such as Risk: Star Wars Edition, give players a range of one to three possible activation choices, building in greater flexibility and planning.
In the extreme limit, with one unit at a time being activated, this mechanism reduces to a Chit Draw system (TRN-11).
Sample Games
Battle Cry (Borg, 2000)
BattleLore (Borg, 2006)
C'́C Ancients, Napoleonics, etc. (Borg, 2006-2018)
Combat Commander: Europe (Jensen, 2006)
Memoir '44 (Borg, 2004)
Risk: Star Wars Edition (D'Aloisio, Rucker, and Van Ness, 2015)
ACT-06 Action Queue
Description
Players create Action Queues and perform them in sequence.
Discussion
While this mechanism has many different implementations, at its core, the idea is that players must plan their actions and commit to a specific sequence of execution. For example, players may have to plot the movement of a robot by placing three Action cards in sequence that may, for example, cause the robot to move forward two spaces, then turn left, and then move one more space. The types of actions, the way they are revealed and resolved, and other specifics have several variations (Illustration 3.5). 虽然这种机制有许多不同的实现方式,但其核心思想是玩家必须计划好自己的行动,并承诺按照特定的顺序执行。例如,玩家可能需要按顺序摆放三张行动牌来规划机器人的移动,例如,行动牌可能会使机器人向前移动两个空格,然后左转,再移动一个空格。行动的类型、揭示和解决的方式以及其他具体细节有多种变化(插图 3.5)。
Action Queues emphasize planning but can also introduce chaos as players commit to a course of action several steps or turns in advance, keep them hidden from the other players, and have limited opportunity to change the plan. This introduces Yomi (UNC-01), as players try to guess what other players will do and what the board state may look like in the future. 行动队列强调计划性,但也会带来混乱,因为棋手会提前几步或几回合承诺行动方案,不让其他棋手知道,而且改变计划的机会有限。这就引入了 Yomi(UNC-01),因为棋手会尝试猜测其他棋手会做什么,以及棋盘状态在未来会是什么样子。
Actions are typically represented by cards, as they can contain a lot of information about the preconditions and resolutions. Tiles can also be used but need to be simpler. Queues can either be Rolling, where the Action at the head of the queue is revealed and performed as a new Action is added to the end, or Batch, where a set number of cards are added to the queue at one time and then all are resolved in order. 行动通常用卡片表示,因为它们可以包含大量有关前提条件和决议的信息。也可以使用牌,但需要更简单。队列可以是滚动式的,即当队列末尾添加新行动时,队列头的行动就会显示并执行;也可以是批量式的,即一次向队列添加一定数量的卡片,然后按顺序解决所有问题。
Illustration 3.5 A sample queue Space Alert. Coordinating the time step with other players is important, so players are allowed to leave blank steps-steps 2 and 5 in this example.
One of the earliest uses of a Rolling Queue is the 1965 game Nuclear War. In this game, each player has a queue of two cards in front of them. On their turn, they add a card to the end of the queue, and then turn up and execute the card at the queue head. In Nuclear War, the players start at peace and may perform certain peace actions, but when someone launches a missile, only war actions may be taken. The delayed Action Queue gives the game tremendous tension, as players need to decide if they can continue to perform peace actions or want to be the first to declare war. 滚动队列最早的应用之一是 1965 年的游戏《核战争》。在这个游戏中,每个玩家面前都有一个由两张牌组成的队列。在他们的回合中,他们会在队列的末尾添加一张牌,然后在队列的头部翻开并执行这张牌。在《核战争》中,玩家从和平状态开始,可以执行某些和平行动,但当有人发射导弹时,只能执行战争行动。延迟行动队列给游戏带来了巨大的紧张感,因为玩家需要决定是继续执行和平行动还是率先宣战。
RoboRally uses a Batch Queue. The players fully plan an entire series of actions and then resolve them using an Interleaved turn structure, with each player revealing and performing the action in the first slot, then each player doing the second action, etc. Swashbuckler, instead of using cards, has players record their actions on a record sheet, in blocks of six time steps. Players then resolve each time step. 《机器人拉力赛》使用批量队列。玩家要充分计划整个系列的行动,然后使用交错式回合结构来解决这些行动,每个玩家在第一个空格中揭示并执行行动,然后每个玩家执行第二个行动,等等。Swashbuckler 不使用纸牌,而是让玩家在记录表上以六个时间步骤为块记录他们的行动。然后玩家解决每个时间步骤。
RoboRally only allows players to queue Movement actions, with other actions (such as shooting) being done on the fly as the opportunity permits. In contrast, Swashbuckler allows players the full suite of movement, combat, and other actions.
Twin Tin Bots uses a Batch Queue approach, but the entire queue does not get replaced at once. Players may only replace one Action in the queue each turn. The others remain and are performed. This obviously adds more complexity to the programming step as players need to play further ahead about how they may change their queues. Mechs vs. Minions is a similar example of this system. 双锡机器人》使用批量队列方法,但整个队列不会被一次性替换。玩家每轮只能替换队列中的一个动作。其他动作将保留并执行。这显然增加了编程步骤的复杂性,因为玩家需要提前考虑如何更改队列。机甲大战小兵》就是这种系统的一个类似例子。
When queues get longer, and particularly when movement and rotation actions are included in the available actions, players need to visualize where they will be as they progress through the queue. Visualizing spatial
relationships is cognitively taxing and tends to lead to a chaotic board state. This combination may not be well received by some players, because of the contrast between the cognitive effort expended and the seemingly unpredictable outcomes of the game. Some games, however, such as RoboRally and Space Alert, are built on this precise dynamic and experience. 这两种关系会给玩家带来认知上的负担,而且往往会导致棋盘处于混乱状态。这种组合可能不太受一些玩家的欢迎,因为在认知上所付出的努力与游戏中看似不可预测的结果形成了鲜明的对比。然而,有些游戏,如《机器人总动员》和《太空警报》,就是建立在这种精确的动态和体验之上的。
Other games, such as Colt Express, address this challenge by limiting the size of the play area. In Colt Express, players can move to the head or rear of a short train of cars, or between the inside and the top of those cars. Each player can move to one of three spaces per turn, and the whole board is about ten spaces in a 2-by-5 array (depending on player count), increasing the likelihood of player collisions and interactions, while decreasing the cognitive load on players. 其他游戏,如 "马驹快车"(Colt Express),则通过限制游戏区域的大小来应对这一挑战。在《驹式快车》中,玩家可以移动到一列短车厢的车头或车尾,也可以在这些车厢的内侧和顶部之间移动。每个玩家每回合可以移动到三个空格中的一个,整个棋盘大约有十个空格,呈 2×5 阵列(取决于玩家人数),这增加了玩家碰撞和互动的可能性,同时降低了玩家的认知负荷。
Root has a unique take on the Action Queue. One of the player-controlled factions must add a new Action to its queue each turn (in any position) and perform all the Actions in sequence. If an Action cannot be executed, the player loses victory points and all Action cards in the queue are discarded. Another variation is in Valparaiso. Players simultaneously plan their actions in a queue and then execute them in order. However, as the turn unfolds, they may pay gold to perform an action in their queue sooner than planned. 《根》对 "行动队列 "有独特的处理方式。玩家控制的派系之一必须在每个回合在队列中添加一个新行动(在任何位置),并按顺序执行所有行动。如果某个行动无法执行,玩家就会失去胜利点数,队列中的所有行动牌都会被丢弃。另一个变种是瓦尔帕莱索。玩家同时计划队列中的行动,然后按顺序执行。不过,随着回合的展开,他们可以支付金币,在计划之前提前执行队列中的行动。
Sample Games
Rolling Queue
The Dragon & Flagon (Engelstein, Engelstein, and Engelstein, 2016)
Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot (Bellinger, 2002)
Nuclear War (Malewicki, 1965)
Batch Queue
Colt Express (Raimbault, 2014)
Gunslinger (Hamblen, 1982)
Mechs vs. Minions (Cantrell, Ernst, Librande, Saraswat, and Tiras, 2016)
RoboRally (Garfield, 1994)
Root (Wehrle, 2018)
Space Alert (Chvátil, 2008)
Swashbuckler (O'Neill and Taylor, 1980)
Twin Tin Bots (Keyaerts, 2013)
Valparaiso (Malz and Malz, 2018)
ACT-07 Shared Action Queue
Description
All players add Actions to a central Action Queue. Actions in the Queue are performed by all players.
Discussion
This is a variation on the standard Action Queue mechanism. Here, on their turn, a player adds one or more Actions to the end of a queue shared by all players and then executes the full queue from start to finish. This system increases interactivity, as players plan actions not just for themselves but also for their opponents. It gives a different flavor of strategic options, as players attempt to plan actions that will benefit them more than their opponents. Sequencing may also play a role, as players may be out of position to execute an earlier action, a deficiency that cascades throughout the queue, as the effectiveness of later actions depends on having executed the earlier actions. 这是标准行动队列机制的一种变体。在这里,玩家在自己的回合中将一个或多个行动添加到所有玩家共享的队列末尾,然后从头至尾执行整个队列。这个系统增加了互动性,因为玩家不仅要为自己计划行动,还要为对手计划行动。它提供了一种不同的战略选择,因为棋手们会尝试规划对自己比对对手更有利的行动。排序也可能起到一定作用,因为玩家可能无法执行较早的行动,而这一缺陷会影响整个队列,因为后面行动的有效性取决于是否执行了较早的行动。
The two-player game Major General: Duel of Time takes this a step further by including two actions on each card played, one for each player. It is also unique in that actions may be placed anywhere in the queue, not just at the end. After playing an action, the player executes actions from the end of the queue closest to them. On their opponent's turn, they will resolve the actions in the opposite order and using the other actions on the cards. 双人游戏《少将:时空对决》在此基础上更进一步,在每张打出的牌上都包含两个行动,每个玩家一个。它的独特之处还在于,行动可以放在队列的任何位置,而不仅仅是队列的末尾。出牌后,玩家从最靠近自己的队列末尾开始执行行动。轮到对手时,他们将以相反的顺序使用卡片上的其他行动来解决行动。
Each turn in Mottainai, a player plays a card in front of them that allows the taking of a particular action. However, before performing it, the player first performs the actions in front of each opponent, going clockwise and ending with themselves. This is similar to Follow (ACT-08), except that the opponent's chosen actions are executed on your turn, not on the opponent's turn. 在 "莫泰内 "游戏中,每一个回合,玩家都要在自己面前打出一张牌,以便采取特定行动。不过,在执行之前,玩家要先执行每个对手面前的行动,按顺时针方向依次进行,最后以自己结束。这与 "跟随"(ACT-08)类似,只不过对手选择的行动是在自己的回合执行,而不是在对手的回合执行。
A variation on a Shared Action Queue is used in Kraftwagen, which has a queue of action tokens, trailed by a queue of player markers. The player at the end of the queue may move to any position and execute the Action of the token in that position. However, the farther ahead the person moves, the longer it will be until they are once again at the end, and in position to take a new action. Kraftwagen blends a Shared Action Queue with a Time Track (TRN-13). 《卡夫瓦根》(Kraftwagen)中使用了 "共享行动队列 "的一种变体,它有一个行动令牌队列,后面有一个玩家标记队列。位于队列末尾的棋手可以移动到任何位置,并执行该位置上令牌的行动。不过,移动的距离越远,就需要更长的时间才能再次移动到队列末尾,并执行新的行动。卡夫瓦根将共享行动队列与时间轨迹(TRN-13)相结合。
Sample Games
Impulse (Chudyk, 2013)
Kraftwagen (Cramer, 2015)
Major General: Duel of Time (Liu, Moorman, Yeong, and Zhao, 2017)
Mottainai (Chudyk, 2015)
ACT-08 Follow
Description
One player selects an Action. Other players may then perform that Action or a modified version of it. This is closely related to Action Drafting (ACT-02) and Role Selection (TRN-10) and is often implemented alongside those systems.
Discussion
Follow mechanisms are a form of Action Selection that has a high degree of player involvement. Puerto Rico is a good example. On their turn, a player selects one of the available roles and executes the action associated with it. Then, in turn, each player gets to execute the role. The player who selected the role also gets a bonus for their action. For example, the player who selects Builder gets a discount on the cost of construction and performs the action first. The other players then each perform the Builder action, paying the normal cost. 跟随机制是一种玩家参与度很高的行动选择形式。波多黎各就是一个很好的例子。轮到自己时,玩家从可用角色中选择一个,并执行与之相关的行动。然后,每个玩家轮流执行角色。选择角色的玩家还能获得行动奖励。例如,选择 "建造者 "的玩家可以获得建造成本的折扣,并首先执行该行动。然后其他玩家各自执行 "建造者 "行动,并支付正常费用。
This mechanism forces players to consider not just what they want to do but what will be good for their opponents. Does someone really need to build? Perhaps picking Builder is not the best choice. Can someone only build if they get the discount? Then selecting Builder, even if it helps other players too, may be the best option. Players need to look holistically at everyone's position, not just their own. 这种机制迫使玩家不仅要考虑自己想做什么,还要考虑什么对对手有利。有人真的需要建造吗?也许选择 "建造者 "并不是最好的选择。只有获得折扣才能建造吗?那么选择 "建造者 "可能是最好的选择,即使它也能帮助其他玩家。玩家需要全面考虑每个人的立场,而不仅仅是自己的立场。
A variation on this mechanism can be found in Glory to Rome and SPQF. In these games, Actions are taken by playing a card from the hand, which are in certain suits. Other players may echo the action if they play one or more cards matching the suit. In this way, the players that are echoing may end up performing more powerful versions of the actions by discarding several cards. It also means that if players cannot match the action card's suit, they may not echo it. Since players' hands are hidden in these games, this makes determining the best option somewhat of a guessing game. But careful attention will show what may be useful to other players and what cards they may have collected. 荣耀罗马》和《SPQF》就是这种机制的变体。在这些游戏中,玩家可以通过打出手中特定花色的牌来采取行动。如果其他玩家打出一张或多张与该花色相匹配的牌,则可以呼应该行动。这样,呼应的玩家最终可能会通过丢弃几张牌来执行更强大的行动。这也意味着,如果玩家无法匹配行动牌的花色,他们就不能呼应行动。由于玩家的手牌在这些游戏中是隐藏的,这就使得确定最佳选择有点像猜谜游戏。但仔细观察就会发现哪些牌对其他玩家有用,哪些牌可能是他们收集的。
Follow systems of this sort introduce a cost to the follow action. In Eminent Domain, players may Follow by discarding cards of the same suit, which further powers the action. Because the game is a deck-builder, the cards spent from hand are only an opportunity cost, as they will eventually be shuffled back into the player's deck. In Tiny Epic Galaxies, players must spend a Culture resource to follow, which is a more concrete cost. 这类 "跟随 "系统会为 "跟随 "行动带来成本。在《强占》中,玩家可以通过丢弃同花色的牌来进行 "跟随",从而进一步增强行动的力量。由于该游戏是一个卡组构建游戏,因此从手牌中花费的卡牌只是一种机会成本,因为它们最终会被洗回玩家的卡组。在《微微史诗星系》中,玩家必须花费文化资源来跟随,这是一种更具体的成本。
In Mottainai, players, on their turn, may perform the actions that the other players played on their prior turn. Unlike other Follow mechanism implementations, this one calls for a batch execution of the sequence of actions, rather than an Interleaved system. 在 "莫泰奈 "中,玩家在自己的回合中可以执行其他玩家在前一回合中执行的行动。与其他 "跟随机制 "不同的是,该机制要求批量执行行动序列,而不是交错系统。
Generally, Follow systems are excellent at keeping players engaged on every turn, since players act, or have the potential to act, on every turn. However, they may also slow down play, since players have to decide on every single turn whether they wish to Follow and how. Designers are encouraged to include some physical tokens to keep track of who the active player is, too, since the interleaving of player actions inside each active player's turn can lead to turn-order confusion. 一般来说,"追随 "系统能很好地让玩家在每个回合都参与其中,因为玩家在每个回合都会行动或有可能行动。不过,它们也可能会拖慢游戏速度,因为玩家必须在每一个回合决定是否要 "跟随 "以及如何 "跟随"。我们鼓励设计者在游戏中加入一些物理标记来记录谁是主动玩家,因为在每个主动玩家的回合中,玩家的行动交错进行,可能会导致回合顺序混乱。
Sample Games
Ceylon (Zinsli and Zinsli, 2018)
Eminent Domain (Jaffee, 2011)
Glory to Rome (Chudyk, 2005)
Mottainai (Chudyk, 2015)
Puerto Rico (Seyfarth, 2002)
SPQF (Rodiek, 2018)
Tiny Epic Galaxies (Almes, 2015)
ACT-09 Order Counters
Description
Players place Order Tokens into regions, indicating what they want to do in that particular region of the board. After all the tokens are placed, they are executed in sequence.
Discussion
This mechanism combines an Interleaved Turn Structure (TRN-15) with an Action Queue. Players are in essence creating multiple Interleaved Action Queues during a planning step and then resolving them. The tokens are typically placed face down, so opponents know where you are planning to act but not which actions you will take. If more than one order may be placed in a location, tokens are stacked to indicate their sequence. 该机制结合了交错回合结构(TRN-15)和行动队列。玩家实质上是在计划步骤中创建多个交错行动队列,然后对其进行解析。令牌通常面朝下放置,这样对手就知道你计划在哪里行动,但不知道你将采取哪些行动。如果一个地点可能有多个行动顺序,则要将令牌堆叠起来,以显示它们的顺序。
Because players alternate placing orders into different areas, they must balance a variety of factors. Which actions do they wish to perform early? Will committing to a region alert an opponent to your intentions to operate there? What actions are the opponents planning? 由于玩家交替向不同区域下达指令,他们必须平衡各种因素。他们希望提前执行哪些行动?向某一地区下达指令是否会让对手警觉到您在那里行动的意图?对手计划采取哪些行动?
The resolution of the Order Token stacks can be performed in several ways. First, they may either be resolved from the top down, so that tokens that were placed last are resolved first (LIFO, Last-In-First-Out),
or the token stack may be flipped over, so that the earliest tokens are resolved first (FIFO, First-In-First-Out). Some games (such as A Game of Thrones: The Board Game) don't consider the placement order of the tokens and simply turn them all over and resolve them in turn order, over the course of three phases. Only tokens of particular types may be resolved in each phase, so in the Raid phase, only Raid tokens may be executed, and players who have not played any Raids are skipped in the turn order (Illustration 3.6). 或者将代币堆翻转过来,让最早的代币先解决(FIFO,先进先出)。有些游戏(如《权力的游戏:棋盘游戏》)不考虑代币的摆放顺序,而是简单地将它们全部翻转过来,在三个阶段中按顺序依次解决。每个阶段只能解决特定类型的令牌,因此在突袭阶段,只能执行突袭令牌,没有进行过任何突袭的玩家在回合顺序中被跳过(插图 3.6)。
Resolution order has a great impact on the strategy and feel for placement. LIFO gives the game a "chicken" feel, as players want to be the last into a region with key actions so that they are executed first, but it also increases cognitive load, as players need to remember the reverse order of tokens in the stack and modify their plans as they go. With a FIFO structure, players can gradually just build up their plans in their minds as they proceed, which is less cognitively taxing. 解析顺序对策略和摆放感觉有很大影响。后进先出给人一种 "吃鸡 "的感觉,因为玩家希望最后一个进入有关键行动的区域,以便先执行这些行动,但这也会增加认知负担,因为玩家需要记住堆栈中代币的相反顺序,并在前进过程中修改他们的计划。如果采用先进先出的结构,玩家就可以在前进过程中逐渐在脑海中建立自己的计划,这样认知负担就会小一些。
Illustration 3.6 In Victorian Masterminds, players place order tokens face down in different areas, stacking them on top of other tokens already there. When there are three tokens in an area (image 2), the stack is flipped over, and they are resolved in a first-in-first-out order. 插图 3.6 在维多利亚大师游戏中,玩家将顺序牌面朝下放置在不同的区域,堆叠在已经存在的其他顺序牌之上。当一个区域内有三个令牌时(图 2),堆叠的令牌就会被翻转过来,然后按照先入先出的顺序进行解牌。
Either way, this is a moderately complex mechanism, which is best reserved for heavier strategy games.
Sample Games
Forbidden Stars (Bailey, Kniffen, and Konieczka, 2015)
Francis Drake (Hawes, 2013)
A Game of Thrones (Petersen and Wilson, 2003)
Starcraft: The Board Game (Konieczka and Petersen, 2007)
Victorian Masterminds (Bauza and Lang, 2019)
ACT-10 Rondel
Description
The available Actions are represented as pie wedges in a circle. Each player has one or more tokens on Rondel's wedges. On their turn, they may move their token around the Rondel and perform the Action indicated by the wedge where they stop. It is typically more costly to move further around the Rondel. 可用的行动以圆圈中的楔形饼表示。每位玩家在 Rondel 的楔形上都有一个或多个代币。在他们的回合中,他们可以在 Rondel 上移动他们的代币,并执行他们停止的楔形所表示的行动。在 Rondel 上移动得越远,通常花费越多。
Discussion
This mechanism is related to a basic Action Point system (ACT-01), as the Rondel represents a menu of available actions. However, the cost of the actions varies for each turn, for example, to move more than one space typically incurs some cost (money or some other currency). If a player wishes to move one space at a time, they incur a little cost but may not be most efficiently performing the actions (Illustration 3.7). 这种机制与基本的行动点系统(ACT-01)有关,因为 Rondel 代表一个可用行动菜单。然而,每个回合的行动成本各不相同,例如,移动一个以上的空间通常会产生一些成本(金钱或其他货币)。如果棋手希望一次只移动一个空格,他们会产生少量费用,但可能无法最有效地执行操作(插图 3.7)。
Rondel systems emphasize trade-offs, planning, and efficiency as players need to balance taking the action that they want to do now, and paying a cost, with waiting and paying no or a reduced cost.
There are several variations on this mechanic. In Finca, players have several tokens on the Rondel and may choose one of them to move. The distance that it may move is based on the number of tokens in the starting wedge, and the power of the action is determined by the number of tokens in the ending wedge. This makes for a highly interactive, yet, relatively simple system and also begins to blur with a Mancala mechanism (MOV-12). 这种机制有多种变体。在 "Finca "中,玩家在 Rondel 上有多个代币,可以选择其中一个移动。它可以移动的距离取决于起始楔形块中的代币数量,而行动的威力则取决于结束楔形块中的代币数量。这就形成了一个高度互动但又相对简单的系统,同时也开始与曼卡拉机制(MOV-12)相融合。
Illustration 3.7 The Rondel in Imperial. Players may select an action that is up to three spaces away from where their marker currently is at no cost. If they wish to move further, they must pay to do so.
Sample Games
Antike (Gerdts, 2005)
Concordia (Gerdts, 2013)
Finca (Sentker and zur Linde, 2009)
Imperial (Gerdts, 2006)
Navegador (Gerdts, 2010)
ACT-11 Action Selection Restrictions
Description
Players are restricted in which actions they may choose.
Discussion
There are a wide variety of mechanisms that have been used to force players to choose less than optimal actions or even ones that are detrimental. Some of the more popular mechanisms have been included in their own section: Action Drafting, Action Retrieval, Rondels, and Command Cards are all examples. However, there are many approaches to this that have been used in only one game. Several of these are collected in this section. 有各种各样的机制被用来迫使玩家选择非最佳行动,甚至是有害的行动。其中一些较为流行的机制已被纳入各自的章节:例如,"行动草案"、"行动检索"、"菱形卡 "和 "指令卡"。不过,也有许多方法只在一个游戏中使用过。本节就收集了其中几种。
In Kemet, the possible actions are laid out in a pyramid. Players must select at least one option from each pyramid level. In Goa, action tiles are laid out on a grid. The start player places a marker on the grid, taking that tile. Each player in turn then places their marker adjacent to the previous one played, onto another tile, either orthogonally or diagonally. Players need to consider how they may be helping their opponent by placing next to a tile they need. 在《凯米特》中,可能采取的行动呈金字塔形排列。玩家必须从金字塔的每一层至少选择一个选项。在果阿,行动牌铺在网格上。起始玩家在网格上放置一个标记,取下该行动牌。然后,每个玩家依次将自己的标记放在与前一个标记相邻的另一张牌上,可以是正方形,也可以是斜方形。玩家需要考虑如何通过将标记放在对手需要的牌旁边来帮助对手。
In Noria, players place action tokens on concentric wheels. Only tokens in certain portions of the wheels may be used, and the wheels rotate at different speeds. Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar also uses rotating gears, and the longer workers remain on the gears the more powerful the actions they can perform. In Calimala, players place disks between two actions on a grid and can perform both connected actions. 《在诺利亚游戏中,玩家将行动代币放在同心轮上。只有轮子的某些部分可以使用代币,轮子的旋转速度也各不相同。Tzolk'in:玛雅历法》也使用旋转齿轮,工人在齿轮上停留的时间越长,所能执行的行动就越强大。在 Calimala 中,玩家在网格上的两个动作之间放置圆盘,并可以执行两个相连的动作。
Manitoba has a tower of disks of different colors, and the active player selects part of the stack which controls what map regions and tracks may be used for actions.
In Keyforge: Call of the Archons, in each turn, a player picks what "house" they will use, and only cards (actions) that belong to that house may be used. Looking for novel ways to limit the actions that players can take is a constant source of innovation in game design. 在《Keyforge:大天使的召唤》中,玩家在每个回合中都要选择自己要使用的 "牌屋",并且只能使用属于该牌屋的卡牌(行动)。寻找新颖的方法来限制玩家可以采取的行动是游戏设计不断创新的源泉。
Warpgate gives players a hand of Action cards, each of which has two possible Actions that can be performed. When playing a card, the player may select which half to use. It has the additional twist that cards become more powerful the later they are played in the round. 《战争之门》为玩家提供了一手行动牌,每张牌都有两种可能的行动。出牌时,玩家可以选择使用哪一半。它还有一个额外的转折点,即在一轮游戏中,越往后打出的卡牌威力越大。
Bonfire and Honey Buzz combine action selection with tile placement. Both games have players selecting tiles with multiple actions on them and placing them on a player board. In Bonfire, the actions are triggered on placement, and action placed adjacent to the same action tile gain a bonus. In Honey Buzz, if the hexagonal tiles completely surround a single empty space, the action on all six surrounding spaces is triggered. 篝火》和《蜜蜂嗡嗡》将行动选择与瓷砖摆放相结合。这两款游戏都让玩家选择带有多个行动的牌,并将它们放在玩家棋盘上。在篝火游戏中,行动在放置时触发,放置在相邻的行动牌上的行动会获得奖励。在 "蜜蜂嗡嗡 "中,如果六边形瓷砖完全包围了一个空位,则周围六个空位上的行动都会触发。
Sample Games
Bonfire (Feld, 2020)
Calimala (Lopiano, 2017)
Forum Trajanum (Feld, 2018)
Goa (Dorn, 2004)
Honey Buzz (Salomon, 2020)
Kemet (Bariot and Montiage, 2012)
Keyforge: Call of the Archons (Garfield, 2018)
Manitoba (Conzadori and Pranzo, 2018)
Noria (Wagner, 2017)
Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar (Luciani and Tascini, 2012)
Warpgate (Nichipurov, 2018)
ACT-12 Variable Player Powers
Description
Each player has special Actions that only he or she can perform or that modify standard actions.
Discussion
This is a meta-mechanic that can modify Action and other systems, such as Resolution. We are placing it here, as it can give players additional actions that they can perform or it modifies standard actions or procedures.
Typically, each player has a unique player power that sets them apart from the other players. This is an excellent way to include asymmetry, as well as emphasize the theme, as in Dune, where the factions are highly differentiated through different actions and abilities and are quite evocative of the source material. For example, the Fremen faction, who resides on the planet, can build units anywhere and is better able to deal with the hazards on the planet. The Guild faction, which controls all space travel, gains money each time a non-Fremen player moves forces from orbit to the planet surface. 通常情况下,每个玩家都有一种独特的能力,使他们与其他玩家不同。沙丘》中的各派系通过不同的行动和能力实现了高度的差异化,让人联想到《沙丘》的原著。例如,居住在星球上的弗曼人派系可以在任何地方建造单位,并能更好地应对星球上的危险。公会派控制着所有的太空旅行,每次非弗雷曼派玩家将部队从轨道移动到星球表面时,公会派就会获得金钱。
Variable Player Powers also increase replayability, as players will want to return to the game to try out different factions and see how they play, and, in some cases, this will feel like they are playing a completely different game.
These unique powers also increase complexity and cognitive load on the players, however. In addition to the standard rules, the special exceptions for each
player need to be taught. The most successful of games where Player Powers are at the forefront are based on very simple frameworks. Cosmic Encounter is all about the player powers, which can radically change the way players play the game. The simple structure of Cosmic Encounter is well-suited to support this complexity. Combat is resolved by each player playing a number card and adding the number of tokens they have in the battle. The highest number wins. That simple framework allows the designers to take the special powers in a dizzying array of different directions. The designer has reserved most of the design space in this mechanism for the interactions of the unique player powers. 玩家需要学习。最成功的以玩家力量为核心的游戏都是基于非常简单的框架。宇宙奇遇记》的核心就是玩家力量,它可以从根本上改变玩家的游戏方式。宇宙遭遇战》的简单结构非常适合支持这种复杂性。战斗的解决方式是每位玩家打出一张数字牌,然后将他们在战斗中拥有的代币数量相加。数字最高者获胜。这个简单的框架让设计者可以将特殊能力带入一系列令人眼花缭乱的不同方向。设计者在这一机制中为玩家独特能力的互动预留了大部分设计空间。
Another feature of player powers is that they may make a particular strategy optimal for that player. For example, a faction may be very good at fighting, which will encourage a military strategy. This can be positive, as it gives players identity and immediate strategic direction for new players. But it also limits players' strategic choices, and they can feel as if there is one "correct" way to play for a faction. 玩家权力的另一个特点是,它们可能会使特定策略成为该玩家的最佳策略。例如,某个派别可能非常擅长战斗,这将鼓励玩家采取军事战略。这可能是积极的,因为它为新玩家提供了身份认同和直接的战略方向。但这也限制了玩家的战略选择,他们会觉得一个派别只有一种 "正确 "的玩法。
There are several options for conveying the details of a Variable Player Power to the players. One is to state the rules explicitly through a player mat or shield, as in Cosmic Encounter or Spirit Island, where they are all clearly presented to the player at the start of the game through a player mat or a limited number of cards. Alternately, they can be spread out among a large number of components, typically a deck of cards, such as in Sentinels of the Multiverse. The advantage of the latter is that it makes it simpler to teach the game, as the base rules are the same for all, and the differences only need to be taught when they arise. It also gives the players a sense of discovery, as they see cards and abilities they did not know existed. On the negative side, this can make it difficult for new players to take full advantage of a specific character and so may lead to an unsatisfactory initial play with a specific faction or character. 向玩家传达 "可变玩家力量 "的细节有几种选择。一种是通过玩家垫或护罩明确说明规则,如《宇宙奇遇记》或《精神岛》,在游戏开始时,所有规则都会通过玩家垫或数量有限的卡牌清晰地呈现给玩家。或者,它们也可以分散在大量组件中,通常是一副扑克牌,如《多元宇宙哨兵》(Sentinels of the Multiverse)。后者的优点是可以简化游戏教学,因为基本规则对所有人都是一样的,只有在出现差异时才需要进行教学。它还能让玩家有一种发现的感觉,因为他们会看到自己不知道的卡牌和能力。消极的一面是,这可能会让新玩家难以充分发挥特定角色的优势,因此可能会导致特定派别或角色的初始游戏效果不尽如人意。
Sample Games
Cosmic Encounter (Eberle, Kittredge, Norton, and Olatka, 1977)
Dune (Eberle, Kittredge, and Olatka, 1979)
Pandemic (Leacock, 2008)
Root (Wehrle, 2018)
Sentinels of the Multiverse (Badell, Bender, and Rebottaro, 2011)
Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant (Deichmann, 2017)
Spirit Island (Reuss, 2017)
ACT-13 Once-Per-Game Abilities
Description
Players have a special ability that they can use one time per game.
Discussion
While there are exceptions, Once-Per-Game Abilities are usually different for each player or character. Because they can only be performed once, the designer has great latitude to make them very powerful.
These two characteristics combine to make this mechanism potentially be player- or character-defining. The threat of using the ability, the decision of when to actually use it, and identifying the correct moment can dominate the play of the game as players maneuver for advantage and can elevate the available strategies and tactics. It also adds another dimension of consideration for players-timing-that is not present with always-on special abilities. In Warmachine/Hordes, each side has one Warcaster who has an extremely powerful single-use ability called a Feat. When and how to use the Feat is a critical part of the game. As such, when characters have wildly varying special abilities as in Warmachine/Hordes, it is important that players understand exactly what their opponents are capable of doing. This rewards 这两个特点结合在一起,使这一机制有可能成为玩家或角色的决定性因素。使用能力的威胁、何时真正使用能力的决定,以及确定正确的时机,都会在游戏中占据主导地位,因为玩家要设法获得优势,并提升可用的战略和战术。它还为玩家增加了另一个考虑维度--计时,而这是始终开启的特殊能力所不具备的。在《战地风云》/《群雄逐鹿》中,每一方都有一名拥有极其强大的单次使用能力 "特技 "的战士。何时以及如何使用特技是游戏的关键部分。因此,当角色的特殊能力像《战地风云》/《群雄逐鹿》中那样千差万别时,玩家必须准确了解对手的能力。奖励
veteran players and puts a burden on new players to understand the full extent of the special Action.
Some games give players a set of special Action tokens at the start of the game, which are usable one time during the game. These may be the same for each player, such as Finca. Often, if tokens are not used, they give bonus Victory Points to the player at the end of the game. 有些游戏在游戏开始时会给玩家一组特殊的行动代币,这些代币在游戏中只能使用一次。每个玩家都可以使用相同的行动令牌,例如 "芬卡"。通常情况下,如果令牌没有被使用,游戏结束时它们会给玩家带来额外的胜利点数。
Sample Games
Battles of Westeros (Kouba, 2010)
Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game (Konieczka, 2008)
Drakon (Jolly, 2001)
Finca (Sentker and zur Linde, 2009)
Warmachine/Hordes (McVey, Snoddy, and Wilson, 2003)
ACT-14 Advantage Token
Description
One player has a token that permits them to perform a special Action or modify an Action. Once used, the token passes to another player.
Discussion
This is a meta-mechanism of Action Selection, as it determines what Actions may be available to a player. Originally introduced in the 1981 game Storm over Arnhem as the "Tactical Advantage" token, it represents the ebb and flow of a conflict. In Storm, the controlling player could use it to re-resolve combat or to force a turn to continue when it would otherwise end. After being used in this way, it is passed to the other player, who receives the same options. 这是 "行动选择 "的元机制,因为它决定了玩家可以采取哪些行动。它最初作为 "战术优势 "令牌出现在 1981 年的游戏《阿纳姆风暴》中,代表着冲突的起伏。在 "风暴 "游戏中,控制方可以用它来重启战斗,或在回合结束时迫使回合继续进行。以这种方式使用后,它将被传递给另一方玩家,后者将获得相同的选择权。
This introduces another consideration for the player, as the value of using the Tactical Advantage must be weighed against its loss and the possible use of it by the opponent. Similar to Once-Per-Game Actions (ACT-13), a timing dimension is added to the decision-making. Normally, Variable Player Powers (ACT-12) are always on, so if you can use them, you should. But that is not the case with this mechanism. 这就给棋手带来了另一个考虑因素,因为必须权衡使用战术优势的价值和它的损失,以及对手可能使用它的情况。与 "每局一次行动"(ACT-13)类似,决策中也加入了时间维度。通常情况下,可变玩家力量(ACT-12)总是开启的,所以如果可以使用,就应该使用。但这一机制并非如此。
Twilight Struggle uses this mechanism more thematically than Storm over Arnhem in the guise of The China Card, an actual card that is passed between players when it is used. It is a powerful card that is even more powerful when
used to perform actions in Asia, but after use, it is given to the opponent. Again, consideration must be given to the timing and whether to use the card or simply hold on to it and deny its use to the opponent.
Advantage Tokens can also be used to give ongoing benefits to the owning player that do not require surrender. In Storm, for example, the player controlling the token gets to go first in a turn and decides the order of resolution of conflict situations. 优势令牌还可以用来给拥有令牌的玩家带来无需投降的持续利益。例如,在《风暴》中,控制优势令牌的玩家可以在回合中先行一步,并决定冲突局势的解决顺序。
Many games use this system less overtly for tie-breaking. In a Sealed Bid Auction for example (AUC-04), ties may be broken by a Priority Token. Then, the token is given to the player who lost the tiebreaker. This is different from the standard implementation of this mechanism, as the transfer is not controlled by the player. It simply designates who wins a tie, and its transfer is never a choice. In another variant of this mechanism, the Game of Thrones board game features an Iron Throne token that is awarded to the winner of the turn-order auction. The holder of the Throne determines how all noncombat ties among all players are to be decided. The recurring turnorder auction is the means by which possession of the token moves around, rather than by its use. 许多游戏不太明显地使用这一系统来打破平局。例如,在密封竞价拍卖(AUC-04)中,可以用优先令牌来打破平局。然后,将令牌交给输掉决胜局的棋手。这与该机制的标准实施不同,因为转让不受棋手控制。它只是指定谁赢得了平局,其转移从来不是一种选择。在这一机制的另一个变体中, 《权力的游戏》棋盘游戏中的铁王座令牌会授予回合顺序拍卖的获胜者。王座持有者决定如何决定所有玩家之间的非战斗平局。反复进行的回合顺序拍卖是拥有令牌的移动方式,而不是使用令牌。
The Advantage Token mechanism gives the designer an opportunity to give the players more control over certain random aspects of the game, such as combat resolution in Storm over Arnhem or card draw in Twilight Struggle. As such, it can make a game feel more strategic, without a lot of rules overhead. 优势代币机制让设计者有机会让玩家对游戏的某些随机方面进行更多控制,例如《阿纳姆风暴》中的战斗决议或《暮光之战》中的抽卡。因此,它可以让游戏更具策略性,而不需要大量的规则。
Sample Games
Breakout: Normandy (Greenwood and Stahler, 1992)
The Fog of War (Engelstein, 2016)
A Game of Thrones (Petersen and Wilson, 2003)
Storm over Arnhem (Allen, 1981)
Twilight Struggle (Gupta and Matthews, 2005)
ACT-15 Gating and Unlocking
Description
At certain points in the game, new actions are made available to the players. Actions may become available by a variety of means, including reaching a certain turn or game stage. Depleting a shared pool or bringing some track past a threshold level through the cumulative effects of the actions of all the players is another common approach to triggering unlocks. The mechanism is not limited to gating actions. Game events and narrative breaks may also be gated and unlocked through this type of triggering mechanism 在游戏的某些阶段,玩家可以采取新的行动。玩家可以通过各种方式获得行动,包括达到某个回合或游戏阶段。另一种触发解锁的常见方法是通过所有玩家的行动累积效果,耗尽共享池或使某些轨道超过阈值水平。这种机制并不局限于限制行动。游戏事件和叙事中断也可以通过这类触发机制来触发和解锁
Discussion
This is a meta-mechanism of Action Selection, as it affects the availability of Actions, rather than how they are selected. It may be used with any of the Action Selection mechanisms.
The newly available Actions can introduce new resources, offer better or more efficient options than the older Actions, and introduce completely new mechanics. Agricola does all three of these. After each round, a new Action card is added to the game board. Some of these introduce new resources, such as Cattle or Boar, some provide a larger quantity of a resource than 《新推出的行动可以引入新的资源,提供比旧行动更好或更有效的选择,还可以引入全新的机制。阿格瑞科拉》就做到了以上三点。每轮游戏结束后,游戏板上都会添加一张新的行动卡。其中有些行动会引入新的资源,如牛或野猪,有些行动会提供比旧行动更多的资源。
previously available Action cards, and others introduce a completely new Action, such as Family Growth.
Adding available actions as the game progresses can help the designer control complexity. Early in the game, actions can be simple and limited, giving the players a chance to understand the system without being overwhelmed. As the game progresses, more complex actions and combos can be introduced. Good candidates for this approach are actions that are difficult or impossible to perform early in the game or are tactically inappropriate. This helps give players a positive first experience by preventing them from making poor early choices or pursuing the wrong goals. 随着游戏的进行而增加可用的操作可以帮助设计者控制复杂性。在游戏初期,操作可以简单而有限,让玩家有机会了解系统而不至于不知所措。随着游戏的进行,可以引入更复杂的操作和组合。在游戏初期难以执行或无法执行的操作,或者在战术上不合适的操作,都适合采用这种方法。这样可以防止玩家在游戏初期做出错误的选择或追求错误的目标,从而给玩家带来积极的初次体验。
In addition to controlling complexity, adding actions also gives a sense of forward momentum and narrative arc. New options are introduced to the players, giving the game a progressively more advanced feel as it goes. Adding spaces that grant more resources or that allow earlier actions to be performed more efficiently accelerates player progress and makes player turns more powerful. 除了控制复杂性之外,增加行动还能让人感觉到前进的动力和叙事的弧度。玩家在游戏过程中会有新的选择,使游戏逐渐具有更高级的感觉。增加空间可以提供更多的资源,或者可以更有效地执行先前的行动,从而加快玩家的进度,让玩家的回合变得更有力量。
The 18xx series of railroad games, such as 1830 , has a strong gating system that is a critical part of the player strategy. Trains must be bought in order of power. As train levels are exhausted, a variety of game effects are triggered. Upgraded and more powerful track tiles become available, and older trains disappear. Understanding and predicting the timing of these transitions is a critical skill in 18 xx games and is one of the reasons they are unforgiving for new players as these transitions accelerate as the game progresses, so timing can be tricky. 18xx 系列铁路游戏,如《1830》,有一个强大的关卡系统,是玩家策略的重要组成部分。火车必须按功率大小依次购买。当火车等级耗尽时,会触发各种游戏效果。升级版和更强力的轨道砖可以使用,而老式火车则会消失。了解和预测这些转变的时机是 18 xx 游戏中的一项关键技能,也是新玩家难以承受的原因之一,因为随着游戏的进行,这些转变的速度会加快,因此时机的把握非常棘手。
Through the Ages has the players' progress through a variety of Age decks, with upgraded technologies, abilities, and leaders. As each deck is exhausted, players must discard cards from older Ages and increase their per-turn food upkeep costs. Like in 1830, the timing and anticipation of these transitions become a skill for players to master. SpaceCorp also has three Ages (called Eras), but the transition is more extreme as each is played on a completely separate board, with only some advantages carrying over from one Era to the next. 穿越时空》让玩家在不同的时代卡组中不断前进,这些卡组的技术、能力和领袖都得到了升级。当每个卡组耗尽时,玩家必须丢弃旧时代的卡牌,并增加每回合的食物维持费用。就像《1830》一样,如何把握时机和预测这些转变成为玩家需要掌握的技巧。太空公司》也有三个时代(称为 Eras),但过渡更为极端,因为每个时代都在完全独立的棋盘上进行,只有一些优势会从一个时代延续到下一个时代。
Gating and unlocking is a useful mechanism for scaling power curves. This is particularly true in the context of cooperative game engines. For example, in Forbidden Island, the pace at which island tiles are flooded each turn is controlled by "Waters Rise" cards drawn from a deck of artifact cards. With each Waters Rise card drawn, a marker is advanced on a track. After a few track advances, the number of island tiles that get flooded each turn 门禁和解锁是一种有效的功率曲线缩放机制。在合作游戏引擎中尤其如此。例如,在 "禁忌岛 "中,每回合岛屿瓦片被淹没的速度由从一副神器卡牌中抽取的 "水域崛起 "卡牌控制。每抽出一张 "水域上升 "牌,就会在轨道上前进一个标记。经过几次轨道前进后,每回合被淹没的岛屿牌的数量
increases by one, accelerating the sinking of the island and the danger facing the players.
Pairing a player power unlock with a penalty or disadvantage is another common pattern for this mechanism. In Zombie Teenz Evolution, players can unlock character powers such as the ability to build a blockade or to reroll a die. However, on that character's turn, players must also roll an additional die that can summon more zombies onto the board. More generally, legacy games take the fullest advantage of gating and unlocking to introduce new powers, mechanisms, threats, opportunities, and narrative developments, whether during the course of a single game or in between sessions of the same campaign. 将玩家的能力解锁与惩罚或不利因素相结合是这种机制的另一种常见模式。在《僵尸特恩兹进化》中,玩家可以解锁角色的能力,如建造封锁线或重掷骰子的能力。然而,在该角色的回合中,玩家还必须掷出一个额外的骰子,以在棋盘上召唤更多僵尸。更广泛地说,传统游戏充分利用了门禁和解锁的优势,引入新的力量、机制、威胁、机会和叙事发展,无论是在单个游戏过程中,还是在同一战役的两个阶段之间。
Sample Games
1830 (Tresham, 1986)
Agricola (Rosenberg, 2007)
The Expanse Board Game (Engelstein, 2017)
Lords of Waterdeep (Lee and Thompson, 2012)
Mechs vs. Minions (Cantrell, Ernst, Librande, Saraswat, and Tiras, 2016)
SpaceCorp: 2025-2300 AD (Butterfield, 2018)
Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization (Chvátil, 2006)
ACT-16 Tech Trees/Tech Tracks/Track Bonuses
Description
During the course of the game, new Actions become available to specific players, or existing Actions are improved.
Discussion
This is similar in many ways to the meta-mechanism of Gating and Unlocking (ACT-15). New actions and abilities are introduced as the game progresses.
The differences in this mechanism are subtle but important. First, these new and upgraded Actions are typically only available to a single player. It is possible that multiple players can earn the same additional Action, but it needs to happen individually. 这种机制的区别很微妙,但也很重要。首先,这些新的和升级的 "行动 "通常只对单个玩家开放。多个玩家有可能获得相同的额外行动,但这需要单独进行。
Some games allow other players to take advantage of another's personal Actions, either by paying the owning player some fee, obtaining the ability by force or trade, or by having the owner's monopoly on them expire after a number of turns, making them available to all. 有些游戏允许其他玩家利用他人的个人能力,方法是向拥有者支付一定的费用,通过武力或交易获得能力,或者让拥有者对能力的垄断在若干回合后失效,从而让所有人都能使用这些能力。
These upgrades frequently do not make entirely new Actions available to a player. Instead, they make specific Actions more efficient or powerful.
Whereas Gated upgrades usually trigger on a timed or global schedule (as in Agricola's one new Action space per turn system) in a Tech system players
need to accumulate and spend some resources in order to gain them. This can be a general currency, such as money, as in Civilization, or a specialized "research" currency as in Eclipse or Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization. There are games where techs are given out freely, although these still have an opportunity cost as players must forgo other choices. 要获得这些资源,需要积累和花费一些资源。这可以是一种通用货币,如《文明》中的货币,也可以是一种专门的 "研究 "货币,如《日蚀》或《穿越时空》中的货币:文明的故事》。有些游戏会免费赠送技术,但这仍然会产生机会成本,因为玩家必须放弃其他选择。
Technologies do not have to be themed as research to use the mechanism. In many games, hiring people or building certain structures unlock new or advanced abilities. Puerto Rico is one of many examples of this. Growing, evolving, building, and training are other common metaphors for research. 技术不一定要以研究为主题才能使用。在许多游戏中,雇佣人员或建造某些建筑都能解锁新的或先进的能力。波多黎各就是其中的一个例子。成长、进化、建造和训练也是其他常见的研究隐喻。
Upgrades may have prerequisites that need to be satisfied or may be easier to obtain if you have an earlier tech. This results in a Tech Tree. For example, in Stellar Conquest, if you have researched Industrial Technology, it is less costly to then obtain Robotic Industry. 升级可能有需要满足的先决条件,或者如果你拥有较早的技术,升级可能更容易获得。这就形成了科技树。例如,在 "恒星征服 "中,如果您研究了 "工业技术",那么获得 "机器人工业 "的成本就会更低。
Tech Trees may also be expressed as Tracks. As players advance their markers along one or more tracks, they may pass certain spaces, which gives improved actions or abilities. Orleans and Russian Railroads both utilize this mechanism. There may also be physical markers placed along these tracks so that the first player to reach those spaces gains those markers and a special bonus. Other players will still receive bonuses printed on the track. 科技树也可以用轨道来表示。当玩家沿着一条或多条轨道前进时,他们可能会经过某些空间,从而获得更好的行动或能力。奥尔良铁路和俄罗斯铁路都采用了这种机制。这些轨道上还可能会放置物理标记,这样第一个到达这些空间的玩家就会获得这些标记和特殊奖励。其他玩家仍将获得印在轨道上的奖励。
Tech Trees may be disguised thematically. In Titan, players recruit creatures into legions. The creatures that may be recruited into a legion depend on their current composition. Three Ogres may recruit a Troll, and three Trolls may recruit a Colossus. These creatures are more and more powerful, and some have special abilities such as flying (Illustration 3.8). 科技树可以按主题进行伪装。在《泰坦》中,玩家招募生物加入军团。可以招募到军团中的生物取决于军团的当前组成。三个食人魔可以招募一个巨魔,三个巨魔可以招募一个巨像。这些生物越来越强大,有些还具有飞行等特殊能力(插图 3.8)。
This type of system gives the designer fine-grained control over Actions available to players and gives a path to offer different strategic options, as players can choose which Actions and Abilities to invest in. Having a limited number of these Techs also forces player interaction and competition. 这种系统能让设计者对玩家可用的行动进行精细控制,并提供不同的战略选择,因为玩家可以选择投资哪些行动和能力。这些技术的数量有限,这也迫使玩家进行互动和竞争。
Sample Games
Agricola (Rosenberg, 2007)
Civilization (Tresham, 1980)
Clash of Cultures (Marcussen, 2012)
Eclipse (Tahkokallio, 2011)
Kemet (Bariot and Montiage, 2012)
Orleans (Stockhausen, 2014)
Puerto Rico (Seyfarth, 2002)
Russian Railroads (Ohley and Orgler, 2013)
Stellar Conquest (Thompson, 1975)
Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization (Chvátil, 2006)
Titan (McAllister and Trampier, 1980)
Twilight Imperium (Petersen, 1997)
MUSTER PROGRESSION DIAGRAM
Illustration 3.8 The Muster Diagram from Titan, showing which creatures may recruit other creatures. The creatures at the bottom (Ogre, Centaur, Gargoyle) are the basic ones. They may recruit creatures one level above them in the terrain type shown. The separation of the Gargoyle-Serpent tree from the other creatures creates interesting tactical and strategic options for players. 插图 3.8 《泰坦》中的集结图,显示哪些生物可以招募其他生物。底部的生物(食人魔、半人马、夜行神龙)是基本生物。它们可以在所示地形类型中招募比它们高一级的生物。巨妖-蛇树与其他生物的分离为玩家创造了有趣的战术和战略选择。
ACT-17 Events
Description
Actions occur outside the control of players that cause an immediate effect, change the state of the game, or impact subsequent actions.
Discussion
Events can add variety and themes to a game. Many gamers' first exposure to events comes through Monopoly, in the form of Chance and Community Chest cards. These may immediately affect one or more players. This type of event is also found in Empire Builder, a railroad building game where cards may cause derailments, or floods wipe out tracks crossing rivers. 活动可以增加游戏的多样性和主题。许多玩家第一次接触事件是通过《大富翁》中的 "机会 "卡和 "公益金 "卡。这些事件可能会立即影响一个或多个玩家。帝国建设者》(Empire Builder)这款铁路建设游戏中也有这类事件,在游戏中,卡片可能会导致出轨,或者洪水冲毁过河的铁轨。
However, their usefulness is multiplied by affecting the overall game state for an extended period of time. Other events in Empire Builder may cause blizzards, which affect train movement near mountains, or storms that affect certain regions. This forces players to reevaluate their plans to try to avoid or take advantage of the changed circumstances. Sometimes this can be interesting for the players, but if it is too random and negative, it can feel punishing. 《不过,由于它们会在较长时间内影响整个游戏状态,因此作用会成倍增加。Empire Builder》中的其他事件可能会导致暴风雪,影响列车在山区附近的行驶,或影响某些地区的风暴。这就迫使玩家重新评估自己的计划,以尽量避免或利用变化了的环境。有时这会让玩家感到有趣,但如果过于随机和消极,则会让玩家感到惩罚性。
Events can also affect the global game state. In Evo, the overall temperature strongly impacts which dinosaurs will survive. Each turn, a die is rolled to determine how the temperature changes. The new environment affects all players. Similarly, in night missions in earlier editions of Warhammer 40,000 , dice are rolled each turn to determine how far units can see. 事件也会影响全球游戏状态。在《Evo》中,整体温度对哪些恐龙能够存活有很大影响。每轮游戏都会掷骰子决定温度的变化。新的环境会影响所有玩家。同样,在《战锤 4 万》早期版本的夜间任务中,每回合都会掷骰子来决定单位能看到多远。
Core Worlds: Galactic Orders delays the implementation of Events. Each round an Event is drawn, and all players can see what it is. However, it does not go into effect until the end of the round. This gives all players an opportunity to adjust to take advantage. Events in Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island have an immediate effect and may further impact play unless the players resolve them in some way over several turns. 核心世界:银河秩序》延迟了事件的实施。每轮游戏都会抽出一个事件,所有玩家都能看到它是什么。然而,它要到该回合结束时才会生效。这就给了所有玩家一个调整的机会,以便从中获益。鲁滨逊漂流记:被诅咒的小岛历险记》中的事件会立即产生影响,并可能进一步影响游戏,除非玩家在几个回合内以某种方式解决这些事件。
Terra Mystica gives players broader visibility to an Event of a sort—random scoring tiles. At the start of the game, tiles are placed that show what will give bonus points for each round. Players can see what is coming up and plan their strategy accordingly. Terra Mystica》让玩家更广泛地接触到一种活动--随机得分牌。游戏开始时,摆放的瓷砖会显示每轮的奖励得分。玩家可以看到即将发生的事件,并据此规划自己的策略。
A delayed Event mechanism is used in Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization. In this game, players play Event cards into a stack that may, for example, give a bonus to the player with the strongest military. While the player who added that card to the stack knows it will be drawn in the future, the way that the events are played from stacks makes it very uncertain how many turns will elapse before it is drawn. While a player may have had the strongest military when they played the event into the stack, they may not by the time it is actually drawn. 穿越时空》中使用了延迟事件机制:文明的故事》中使用了延迟事件机制。在这个游戏中,玩家将事件牌放入牌堆,例如,可能会给拥有最强军队的玩家带来奖励。虽然将牌放入牌堆的玩家知道这张牌在未来会被抽出,但从牌堆中抽出事件牌的方式使其很难确定在多少个回合后才会被抽出。虽然玩家在将事件放入牌堆时可能拥有最强的军队,但在实际抽取时可能就不是了。
Sample Games
Core Worlds: Galactic Orders (Parks, 2012)
Empire Builder (Bromley and Fawcett, 1982)
Evo (Keyaerts, 2001)
Monopoly (Darrow and Magie, 1933)
Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island (Trewiczec, 2012)
Terra Mystica (Drögemüller and Ostertag, 2012)
Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization (Chvátil, 2006)
Warhammer 40,000 (Chambers, Johnson, Priestly, and Thorpe, 1993)
ACT-18 Narrative Choice
Description
Multiple action options are presented to the players via a narrative format.
Discussion
With the rise of Dungeons & Dragons in the 1970s, game designers looked for new ways to incorporate storytelling into game design. One of the earliest to do this was the late-1970s Choose Your Own Adventure book series, which began with The Cave of Time. In this series, at the end of short chapters, the reader would be presented with a series of choices, which would lead to other pages, and ultimately a good or bad conclusion. 随着《龙与地下城》在 20 世纪 70 年代的兴起,游戏设计师们开始寻找新的方法,将故事性融入游戏设计中。20 世纪 70 年代晚期的 "选择你自己的冒险"(Choose Your Own Adventure)系列丛书就是最早的尝试之一,该系列以《时间洞穴》(The Cave of Time)为开端。在这个系列中,在短章节的末尾,读者会看到一系列的选择,这些选择会引出其他页面,并最终得出好或坏的结论。
This system has been adopted as part of more traditional tabletop games, with an early example being Tales of the Arabian Nights. In this game, after moving to a space, players are directed to read a numbered paragraph in a large book to reveal what adventure the character is experiencing. These vignettes offer choices of actions for the players, for example, "Bribe the Guard" or "Fight Your Way In." These lead to other numbered paragraphs, which give the result, and their impact on the game state. 这一系统已被更多的传统桌面游戏所采用,早期的例子是《天方夜谭》。在这个游戏中,玩家在移动到一个空间后,会被引导阅读一本大书中的一个编号段落,以揭示角色正在经历的冒险。这些小故事为玩家提供了行动选择,例如 "贿赂卫兵 "或 "打进去"。这些小节会引出其他编号段落,这些段落会给出结果,以及它们对游戏状态的影响。
Frequently, these systems use Stat Checks (RES-02) to determine the outcome. For example, if you choose to "Fight Your Way In," you may need to make a check against Strength or some other ability. You will proceed to different paragraphs depending on the outcome. Sometimes, not all the actions will be available to you unless you previously found some item or built up some stat to a sufficient level. 这些系统通常使用状态检定(RES-02)来决定结果。例如,如果您选择 "Fight Your Way In",您可能需要对力量或其他能力进行检查。您将根据结果进入不同的段落。有时,并不是所有的行动您都可以使用,除非您之前找到了某种物品或积累了某种足够的属性。
The strength of this mechanism is in the ability to bring a more structured narrative and flavor to the game, without the players needing to create a narrative from abstract game elements. However, the weakness of Narrative Choice systems is that the adventures they present can be disconnected from the main course of the game and thus can lack context. Arabian Nights ties the adventure to the player through the use of different environments (sea, desert, etc.) and player status (married, despondent, cursed) that impact the adventures. But the adventures themselves do not combine into a single coherent narrative. 这种机制的优势在于能够为游戏带来更有条理的叙事和韵味,玩家无需从抽象的游戏元素中创造叙事。然而,"叙事选择 "系统的弱点在于,它所呈现的冒险可能与游戏的主要进程脱节,因此可能缺乏背景。天方夜谭》通过使用不同的环境(大海、沙漠等)和影响冒险的玩家身份(已婚、绝望、被诅咒),将冒险与玩家联系在一起。但冒险本身并没有结合成一个连贯的叙事。
Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game attempts to deal with this contextual issue by the Crossroads mechanism. The player to the right of the active player draws a Crossroads card that applies to that turn. The card begins with an action trigger, such as entering a certain location, which is not revealed to the phasing player. If the player takes the trigger action, the Crossroads cardholder interrupts the action and presents the mini-adventure to the player. This means that the game designer can write an adventure knowing, for example, that it will specifically take place at a certain location. This mechanism has two different implementations that are worth noting. In the tabletop version, the Crossroads cards were written so that players were told what the outcome of each choice would be prior to making the choice. In a digital implementation, the outcome of each choice is hidden from the players. This is another example of input vs. output randomness, but in the context of making a meaningful narrative choice, hiding the mechanical, in-game outcomes creates a more character-driven experience. 死亡之冬十字路口游戏》试图通过十字路口机制来解决这一背景问题。活动玩家右侧的玩家抽取一张适用于该回合的十字路口牌。这张牌的开头有一个行动触发点,比如进入某个地点,但不会透露给分阶段的玩家。如果玩家采取了触发行动,"十字路口 "卡持有者就会中断该行动,并向玩家展示迷你冒险。这意味着游戏设计者在编写冒险游戏时,可以知道冒险游戏将在某个地点发生。值得注意的是,这种机制有两种不同的实现方式。在桌面版中,十字路口卡的编写方式是让玩家在做出选择之前就知道每个选择的结果。而在数字版中,每个选择的结果都对玩家隐藏起来。这是另一个输入随机性与输出随机性的例子,但在做出有意义的叙事选择时,隐藏机械的、游戏中的结果会创造出更多由角色驱动的体验。
Games such as Ambush! and Action Castle maintain narrative cohesion at the expense of replayability. In these games, players are presented with specific triggers or situations. For example, in Ambush!, moving into a specific space during a certain stage of the mission will always trigger the same paragraph to be read. Action Castle emulates computer adventure games and has players interact with the game via short phrases (such as "take sword"), but the same phrases will always work the same way in the same situation. 伏击!》和《行动城堡》等游戏以牺牲可玩性为代价,保持了叙事的连贯性。在这些游戏中,玩家会遇到特定的触发因素或情况。例如,在《十面埋伏!》中,在任务的某个阶段进入特定空间总是会触发相同段落的阅读。行动城堡》模仿电脑冒险游戏,让玩家通过简短的短语(如 "拿剑")与游戏互动,但同样的短语在同样的情况下总是以同样的方式起作用。
Other games strive to maintain cohesion by locking narrative choices so they only appear at specified times. In Near and Far, some of the narrative passages are tied to the game's campaign mode to preserve a more cohesive story. Risk Legacy uses a gating mechanism (see "ACT-15" in this chapter) to ensure that specific story beats are only revealed once players have progressed the campaign sufficiently to make the story fit. 其他游戏则通过锁定叙事选择,使其只在指定时间出现,从而努力保持故事的连贯性。在《近在咫尺》中,一些叙事段落与游戏的战役模式挂钩,以保持故事的连贯性。风险遗产》使用了一种门控机制(见本章 "ACT-15"),确保只有当玩家在战役中取得了足够的进展,使故事情节相吻合时,特定的故事情节才会揭晓。
Legacy of Dragonholt, a role-playing-style game, is built nearly entirely on the Narrative Choice mechanism. A tracker sheet for both the characters and the scenario allows for lots of stat-checking to determine progress. Scenarios often
come with a map of areas to visit. Each area, when visited, will have different options open to the players based on a few factors. If you come to a store at night, the store will be closed. If you go to market on market day, there will be lots to explore. In addition to tracking time of day and day of the week, players also track when they complete specific story points, as instructed by the game book. These story points create a kind of memory for the system, so options presented to players may depend on their having marked a specific story point. If, for example, the innkeeper goes missing, the game will instruct players to mark, say, story point B7. Later options might direct players to read different texts if point B7 is marked, to ensure that there is story continuity and that the innkeeper who went missing isn't behind the bar the next morning. Legacy of Dragonholt shares more in common with pencil-and-paper interactive fiction books than with traditional tabletop board games, but it is an excellent example of how flexible the Narrative Choice mechanism can be. 附带一张可访问区域的地图。每到一个地区,玩家都可以根据一些因素做出不同的选择。如果您在晚上来到一家商店,商店就会关门。如果在集市日去集市,就会有很多东西可以探索。除了追踪一天中的时间和星期之外,玩家还可以根据游戏手册的指示,追踪他们完成特定故事点的时间。这些故事点为系统创造了一种记忆,因此玩家的选项可能取决于他们是否标记了特定的故事点。例如,如果旅馆老板失踪了,游戏就会指示玩家标记故事点 B7。如果标记了 B7 点,后面的选项可能会指示玩家阅读不同的文本,以确保故事的连续性,并确保第二天早上失踪的旅店老板不在酒吧后面。与传统的桌面棋盘游戏相比,《龙之遗产》与纸笔互动小说书的共同之处更多,但它却是一个很好的例子,说明了叙事选择机制可以多么灵活。
Sample Games
Above and Below (Laukat, 2015)
Action Castle (Soren, 2009)
Ambush! (Butterfield and Smith, 1983)
The Cave of Time (Packard, 1979)
Choose Your Own Adventure: House of Danger (Uncredited, 2018)
Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game (Gilmour and Vega, 2014)
Dungeons o Dragons (Arneson and Gygax, 1977)
Legacy of Dragonholt (Valens, Clark, Flanders, Mitsoda, and Spyridis, 2017)
Near and Far (Laukat, 2017)
Risk Legacy (Daviau and Dupuis, 2011)
Tales of the Arabian Nights (Freeman, Goldberg, Kaufman, Maroney, and Rolston, 1985)
ACT-19 Bingo
Description
Game elements are selected at random, and each player needs to use the elements for their own actions.
Discussion
This mechanism will be familiar to most players due to its use in the eponymous and popular Bingo. As such, it can be applied to a wide range of complexity levels, from low to high.
Bingo has the useful property of being able to take luck out of randomness. All the players are using the same sequence of random numbers, so if players are taking actions based on the random selection, it makes them perceive that there is less luck in the game. This typically is not strictly true, as players still must take risks based on a certain element being chosen in the future, but it still has this psychological effect. 宾果游戏有一个很有用的特性,那就是可以将运气从随机性中剔除。所有玩家都使用相同的随机数字序列,因此如果玩家根据随机选择采取行动,就会让他们觉得游戏中的运气成分较少。这通常不是严格意义上的真实情况,因为玩家仍然必须根据未来某个元素的选择来承担风险,但它仍然具有这种心理效应。
A classic example that uses this mechanism is Take It Easy. In this game, each player has the same set of numbered hexagons, each of which has three
colored lines on it. One player is designated as the "caller" and each turn draws one tile at random. They then announce the tile number to the other players, and each retrieves their copy and places it on their board. Players score based on making continuous lines of a single color. Take It Easy has no direct player interaction, but, because each player is using the same random sequence, there is a competition to see who will do better with that sequence. 上的彩色线条。一名玩家被指定为 "叫牌人",每轮随机抽取一张牌。然后,他们向其他玩家宣布牌号,每个玩家都会取回自己的牌,并将其放在自己的棋盘上。玩家根据单色连续线条得分。Take It Easy 没有直接的玩家互动,但由于每位玩家使用的是相同的随机序列,因此会出现竞争,看谁的序列做得更好。
This mechanism is at the heart of many "roll & write" games, where a dice roll or card flip is shared by all players, who then mark something on their player sheets. Examples of this include Cartographers, Railroad Ink, Welcome To..., and Super-Skill Pinball. Again, in these usages, the common random sequence somewhat reduces luck by giving all players the same random sequence, turning the random into the strategic. 这种机制是许多 "掷和写 "游戏的核心,即所有玩家共同掷骰子或翻牌,然后在玩家表上做标记。这方面的例子包括《制图师》、《铁路墨水》、《欢迎来到......》和《超级技能弹球》。同样,在这些游戏中,共同的随机序列给所有玩家提供了相同的随机序列,从而在一定程度上减少了运气,将随机变成了策略。
As mentioned, both card (or tile) draws and dice rolls are used for this mechanism. Cards or tiles, unless shuffled frequently, will give a more strategic edge to the game, as players can make decisions based on a diminishing pool of possibilities. Dice, on the other hand, present the same possibilities at all points during the game. If the designer wishes to give more control with a dice-based Bingo game, they may consider luck mitigation systems such as special limited-use abilities to add or subtract from rolls, or to take specific "wild" results. Allowing players to earn these over the course of the game will give more of a sense of progress and narrative arc to the game. 如前所述,抽卡(或抽牌)和掷骰子都可用于这一机制。除非经常洗牌,否则抽牌或掷骰子会给游戏带来更多的战略优势,因为玩家可以根据不断减少的可能性做出决定。而骰子则会在游戏过程中的所有时间点提供相同的可能性。如果设计者希望在基于骰子的宾果游戏中给予玩家更多的控制权,他们可以考虑采用运气缓解系统,例如在掷骰子时增加或减少特殊的有限使用能力,或采取特定的 "野生 "结果。让玩家在游戏过程中获得这些能力,会给游戏带来更多的进步感和叙事弧线。
On a high-level basis, Bingo systems are used in some tournament formats such as Duplicate Bridge. In Duplicate Bridge, each partnership in the tournament plays the same randomly generated deals. Using a Bingo mechanism in this case preserves the random nature of Bridge deals, while allowing partnerships to be compared to each other directly with how they performed with the same randomness. 在高层次上,宾果系统被用于一些比赛形式,如复式桥牌。在复式桥牌比赛中,每组搭档都会随机生成相同的牌局。在这种情况下,使用宾果机制既能保留桥牌发牌的随机性,又能直接比较不同搭档在相同随机性下的表现。
Sample Games
Bingo (Unknown)
Cartographers (Adan, 2019)
Duplicate Bridge (Vanderbilt, 1908)
FITS (Knizia, 2009)
Railroad Ink (Hach and Silva, 2018)
Rise of Augustus (Mori, 2013)
Super Skill Pinball (Engelstein, 2020)
Take It Easy (Burley, 1983)
ACT-20 Layering
Description
Components are placed above other components and can overlap in various ways. Only the topmost visible icons/areas are active.
Discussion
This mechanism is usually implemented with cards, because they afford easy stacking. To organize the layering, the cards are laid out with grids. Patchistory and Circle the Wagons, for example, use a grid.
As cards are added to a player's tableau, they may overlay cards that were played previously. Some games have specific rules about overlap-such as at least two squares must be overlaid—-while others are more freeform.
The rules for overlapping are typically driven by how the visible icons are used. In Patchistory, for example, the icons give you resources or actions. The most efficient way to build would be to not overlap at all, as that will leave the most visible icons. Therefore, there is a rule that you must overlap, with certain rules about overlapping (e.g., water squares may not be built on) and maximum grid size that create interesting decisions for the players. 重叠规则通常由可见图标的使用方式决定。例如,在《补丁历史》中,图标会给你提供资源或行动。最有效的构建方式是完全不重叠,因为这样会留下最明显的图标。因此,有一条规则规定必须重叠,同时还有一些关于重叠的规则(例如,不得在水域方格上建造)和最大网格尺寸,这些规则为玩家创造了有趣的决策。
In Circle the Wagons, the player scores by having contiguous groups of the same color, so just sprawling outwards is rarely the best play. By cleverly overlapping the cards, players can form large groups. Therefore, there are very few rules governing how cards can be placed. 在 "围成一圈 "游戏中,玩家通过拥有连续的同色组来得分,因此一味地向外扩张很少是最好的玩法。通过巧妙地重叠纸牌,玩家可以组成大组。因此,很少有规则规定如何放置纸牌。
While cards to be placed are usually the same size, sometimes they are not. Smartphone Inc. has players overlap two grids of icons (cleverly themed to look like apps on a phone screen) to determine which actions they will perform. Some icons, such as raise or lower prices, cancel each other, so careful orientation is important. During the game, players may earn Improvements, which are small extra tiles with a grid of icons that can be placed over the main grids. This gives the players more flexibility and an upgrade path, while preserving the central nature of the main grids (Illustration 3.9). 虽然要放置的卡片通常大小相同,但有时却不一样。智能手机公司》让玩家将两个 图标网格(主题巧妙,看起来像手机屏幕上的应用程序)重叠在一起,以决定他们将执行哪些操作。有些图标,如提高或降低价格,会相互抵消,因此小心定位非常重要。在游戏过程中,玩家可以获得 "改进"(Improvements),这是一种带有 图标网格的额外小瓷砖,可以放置在主网格上。这给了玩家更多的灵活性和升级途径,同时又保留了主网格的中心性质(插图 3.9)。
Illustration 3.9 A sample action configuration formed by overlaying two cards in Smartphone, Inc. The visible icons are executed.
The layering mechanism, tile placement, and jigsaw puzzles appeal in similar ways. All have a spatial element that involves twisting and matching up pieces, and all give the players the feeling that there is an answer and a "best" placement. However, layering is typically more complex than tile placement, as there are more options for placement, and the overlapping can be more challenging to visualize than, for example, the edge matching in most tile games, such as Carcassonne. 分层机制、瓷砖摆放和拼图游戏都有类似的吸引力。它们都有一个空间元素,涉及到碎片的扭曲和匹配,都让玩家感觉有一个答案和一个 "最佳 "的摆放位置。然而,分层通常比瓷砖摆放更为复杂,因为有更多的摆放选择,而且重叠可能比大多数瓷砖游戏(如《卡卡颂》)中的边缘匹配更具视觉挑战性。
The physical implementation of this mechanism requires careful consideration. Cards are typically best because they are easiest to stack in uneven and irregular patterns and are unlikely to become unbalanced and topple over. However, even cards have a thickness, and the stacked tableau can get messy. Cards can slide and shift once the stack goes above three or four cards deep. Thicker cards or tiles will have even more of an issue as they are stacked. 这一机制的实际实施需要仔细考虑。纸牌通常是最好的选择,因为它们最容易堆叠成不均匀、不规则的图案,而且不太可能失去平衡而翻倒。然而,即使是纸牌也有厚度,而且堆叠的桌面可能会变得混乱。一旦牌堆超过三、四张,牌就会滑动和移动。较厚的纸牌或瓷砖在堆叠时问题会更大。
The sample games discussed so far are about building up the layers as the game progresses. However, a game can start with layers already built, and gameplay then proceeds with removing cards. There are many traditional solitaire games, such as Klondike (Patience) and Pyramid, that start with the cards layered on top of each other. The player is only allowed to remove cards that have no other cards covering them. 目前讨论的示例游戏都是随着游戏的进行而建立层级。不过,游戏也可以在开始时就已经建立了牌层,然后通过移除纸牌来进行游戏。有许多传统的单人纸牌游戏,如克朗代克(耐心)和金字塔,开始时牌是层层叠加的。玩家只能移除没有其他牌覆盖的牌。
This mechanism is also used in 7 Wonders Duel, where the cards are laid out in a pyramid, and Dragon Castle, which has Mahjong-style tiles placed in a stack, with only the top-most ones available for play. In this implementation, layering limits the Actions available to players. Where the tableau is shared, it also presents a level of interaction, as removing an item will uncover other items for your opponents. 七巧板决斗》和《龙之城堡》也采用了这种机制,前者将纸牌摆放成金字塔状,后者则将麻将牌摆放成堆叠状,只有最上面的牌可供玩家使用。在这种实现方式中,分层限制了玩家可以采取的行动。在共享桌面的情况下,也会产生一定程度的互动,因为移除一个物品会为对手发现其他物品。
Another expression of this system uses transparent cards so that icons on earlier cards are still visible and have an effect. Gloom and Mystic Vale are examples of this technique.
Unlike the earlier games discussed, transparent cards are typically layered exactly on top of each other, not rotated or staggered. Icons are placed strategically at specific locations so newly placed cards can cover or leave revealed certain symbols. 与前面讨论的游戏不同,透明纸牌通常是层层叠加,而不是旋转或交错排列。图标被战略性地放置在特定位置,这样新放的牌就可以遮住或露出某些符号。
In Mystic Vale, these transparent cards are placed into plastic sleeves, to combine into a single playable card. They are "constructible" in that players can choose how to combine the transparent elements to form very powerful single cards. The horror game Hecatomb has pentagonal creature cards with transparent edges. Players stack the cards to create hybrid Abominations that combine powers. 在《神秘谷》中,这些透明卡牌被放入塑料套中,组合成一张可玩的单卡。它们具有 "可构建性",玩家可以选择如何将透明元素组合成非常强大的单张卡牌。恐怖游戏《Hecatomb》中的五边形生物卡边缘是透明的。玩家将这些卡牌堆叠起来,就能创造出结合各种力量的混合憎恶。
In Gloom, players try to make their own characters as unhappy as possible, while cheering up those of their opponents. The transparent cards can be used to cover up undesirable icons while leaving desirable ones behind. Cards are not removed, so the stack of cards can be looked at after the game, as they preserve a history of that character's life. This meshes nicely with the game's intended experience of having players generate stories about these characters and their odd lives. 在 "阴郁 "游戏中,玩家要尽量让自己的角色不开心,同时为对手的角色加油打气。透明牌可以用来遮盖不理想的图标,同时留下理想的图标。卡片不会被移除,因此游戏结束后可以查看这堆卡片,因为它们保留了该角色的生活史。这与游戏的初衷--让玩家创造关于这些角色及其奇特生活的故事--相得益彰。
Transparent cards are more expensive to produce and the printing on them is not as bright. Care has to be taken to ensure visibility through whatever stack depth is required for your game.
Splaying is a subset of Layering. In Splaying, cards are typically arranged so that one side of a lower card pokes out of the side of a card above it, revealing icons along that edge. This can give the player a choice of which edge they wish to have exposed (related to CAR-08 Multi-Use Cards), or the main power of the lower card (located in the center) is covered up, leaving a residual power along the edge. 分层是分层的一个子集。在 "分层 "中,纸牌的排列方式通常是让下层纸牌的一面从上层纸牌的一面探出,从而露出该边缘的图标。这可以让玩家选择他们希望露出哪条边(与 CAR-08 多用途牌有关),或者遮住下层牌(位于中间)的主要力量,留下边缘的剩余力量。
Innovation cards have icons on three edges, and deciding which to splay out is a key strategy. Similarly, the letter cards in Paperback Adventures have symbols on both right and left sides, and when spelling and playing a word, the player needs to decide whether to splay to the left or right, gaining the effect of the revealed icons. In ...and then, we held hands, players must resplay their entire tableau to match their position on the board: if they are on the left side of the board, they may only see and use the left side of their tableau and vice-versa. In Lotus, cards are splayed in sets to look like flowers, which achieves a beautiful visual effect, albeit without any gameplay effects. 创新卡的三个边上都有图标,决定将哪个图标摊开是一个关键策略。同样,"纸上冒险 "中的字母卡左右两边都有符号,在拼写和打出单词时,玩家需要决定是向左还是向右摊开,以获得所显示图标的效果。在"......然后,我们手牵手 "中,玩家必须根据自己在棋盘上的位置重新摆放整个桌面:如果他们在棋盘的左侧,则只能看到和使用桌面的左侧,反之亦然。在《莲花》中,牌被成套地摆放成花朵的样子,虽然没有任何游戏效果,但却达到了美轮美奂的视觉效果。
A distantly related implementation of this mechanism can be found in the game Fold-It. Each player has a cloth with a grid of food items on each side. A target card is flipped, which shows three or four food icons. Players must then race to fold their clothes along the grid lines to be able to only have those exact icons showing. The players, in essence, are using folding to create layers that hide the icons they do not want to show. 在游戏《折叠它》(Fold-It)中,可以找到与这种机制密切相关的实现方式。每个玩家都有一块布,布的每一面都有一个 食物网格。翻开一张目标卡,上面会显示三个或四个食物图标。然后,玩家必须争分夺秒地沿着网格线折叠衣服,以便只显示出这些准确的图标。实质上,玩家就是利用折叠来创造层次,隐藏他们不想显示的图标。
Sample Games
... and then, we held hands (Chircop and Massa, 2015)
7 Wonders Duel (Bauza and Cathala, 2015)
Circle the Wagons (Aramini, Devine, Kluka, 2017)
Dragon Castle (Hach, Ricci, Silva, 2017)
Fold-it (Goh, 2016)
Gloom (Baker, 2005)
Hecatomb (Elliott and Tweet, 2005)
Innovation (Chudyk, 2010)
Klondike Solitaire (Unknown, 1783)
Lotus (Goddard and Goddard, 2016)
Mystic Vale (Clair, 2016)
Paperback Adventures (Fowers, Larsen, 2022)
Patchistory (Jung and Kim, 2013)
Pyramid Solitaire (Unknown)
Smart Phone, Inc. (Lashin, 2018)
ACT-21 Slide/Push
Definition
Players slide a token, and other tokens ahead of it are pushed.
Discussion
Slide/Push can be broadly broken up into two main categories: quantized and freeform. Quantized slides have the pieces move to specific locations, while freeform allows the pieces to move anywhere on the play surface.
The classic abstract Abalone is a good example of a quantized slide mechanism. Marbles are placed onto a hexagonal grid, and a turn consists of pushing a marble in a chosen direction. The marble will push other marbles ahead of it. Marbles always settle into specific grooves, marking a delimited play area with a set number of spaces. 经典的抽象游戏《鲍鱼》就是量化滑动机制的典范。弹珠被放置在一个六边形网格上,一个回合包括将一个弹珠推向一个选定的方向。这颗弹珠会推动其他弹珠前进。大理石总是停在特定的凹槽里,用设定的空间数标记出一个限定的游戏区域。
Another example of quantized sliding is Masters of Renaissance: Lorenzo il Magnifico - The Card Game (quite the game name!), which has a tray grid where differently colored marbles are placed. Each turn, the active player selects a row or column and gains resources based on the colors. They then take a spare marble and push it in the chosen row or column, changing the configuration for the next player. The player needs to consider not just what they want but also the position it will leave for the next player. 另一个量化滑动的例子是《文艺复兴大师》:Lorenzo il Magnifico - The Card Game》(这游戏名字起得好!),它有一个 托盘网格,网格中放置着不同颜色的弹珠。每轮游戏中,玩家选择一行或一列,并根据颜色获得资源。然后,他们会取出一个备用弹珠,将其推到所选的行或列中,为下一位玩家改变配置。玩家不仅要考虑自己想要什么,还要考虑为下一位玩家留下的位置。
There are several gameplay considerations for slide mechanisms. The first we will look at is the number of pushing axes that are used.
Being on a hexagonal grid, Abalone has three axes of slide movement. Masters of Renaissance, sliding on a rectangular grid, has two axes of slide
movement. There are also games that have a single axis of slide movement, with pieces pushing in a line, almost as a queue. An example of this is Panamax, which is about transiting the Panama Canal. In this game, players control container ships attempting to move through the canal. In the narrow canal zones, ships may not pass each other. Therefore, when a ship at the back of the line is moved, it also moves the ships ahead of it. Positioning your ships so that other players will move them for you by pushing their ships behind yours is a key strategy. 《运动。还有一些游戏只有一个滑动轴,棋子排成一排,几乎就像排队一样。巴拿马运河》(Panamax)就是一个例子,这款游戏以通过巴拿马运河为主题。在这款游戏中,玩家控制集装箱船试图通过运河。在狭窄的运河区,船只之间不能互相通过。因此,当后面的船只移动时,前面的船只也会跟着移动。摆好船只的位置,让其他玩家把他们的船只推到你的船只后面,从而帮你移动船只,这是一个关键的策略。
In general, increasing the number of axes increases player options. This can make decision-making more complex and adds to the weight of the game.
These three examples also illustrate very different features that Slide/Push can bring to player interaction. In Abalone, the players may push in a variety of directions and can become intricately entangled. The goal is to push the opponent's marbles off the edge, so keeping marbles in the center of the board is important, and in general, tactical placement considerations are paramount. 这三个例子也说明了 "滑动/推动 "为玩家互动带来的截然不同的特点。在 "鲍鱼 "游戏中,玩家可以向不同的方向推动弹珠,并可能产生错综复杂的纠缠。游戏的目标是将对手的弹珠推离边缘,因此保持弹珠在棋盘中央是很重要的,一般来说,战术性的位置考虑是最重要的。
In Masters of Renaissance, the player interaction is indirect, and each time the grid is pushed, a marble will fall off and be recycled. The removal of a marble is very transient-it will be reintroduced into the grid the next turn. This creates a lower-key interaction than Abalone, as it is not the player's pieces that are being slid. The mechanism creates a constrained way for players to impact resource collection. A similar approach can be found in Ulm, where players slide action tiles into a grid and take all three actions in the row or column they pushed into, including the tile they added. The tile that is pushed out of the grid does not activate. 在《文艺复兴大师》中,玩家之间的互动是间接的,每次推动网格,都会有一颗弹珠脱落并被回收。弹珠的脱落是非常短暂的--它会在下一回合重新进入网格。这种互动方式比《鲍鱼》更低调,因为滑动的不是玩家的棋子。这种机制为玩家创造了一种影响资源收集的受限方式。乌尔姆》中也有类似的方法,玩家将行动牌滑入 网格,并在推入的一行或一列中采取所有三个行动,包括他们添加的行动牌。被推出网格的牌不会激活。
Finally, the player interaction in Panamax is progressive in that it pushes another player's ship forward, which is always beneficial to that player and helps the ship progress towards scoring by providing it a free move. This interaction gives Panamax a bit of a taste of playing "Chicken," as players try to make their opponents' actions benefit them too. In Abalone, by contrast, sliding is never intended to benefit the other player, and making such a move is a blunder. Note, however, that this is a function of the zero-sum nature of a two-player game, rather than an inherent characteristic of the mechanism. 最后,《巴拿马》中的玩家互动是循序渐进的,它会推动其他玩家的船只前进,这对该玩家总是有利的,并通过为船只提供自由移动的机会来帮助其得分。这种互动让《巴拿马》有了一点 "吃鸡 "游戏的味道,因为玩家会努力让对手的行动也对自己有利。相比之下,在《鲍鱼》中,滑动绝不是为了让对方获益,做出这样的举动是一种失误。不过请注意,这是双人游戏的零和性质所决定的,而不是游戏机制的固有特征。
A key design decision that impacts the nature of the slide mechanism significantly is what happens to pieces that are pushed off the grid. Often, these pieces are eliminated or scored. However, it is possible to reintroduce them back into the grid immediately into the now-vacated position (a wraparound effect) or on a future turn. In Ulm, for example, players can collect these tokens and reintroduce them to the grid later or spend them for other benefits as part of a different subsystem in the game's economy. 对滑动机制的性质有重大影响的一个关键设计决定是如何处理被推离网格的棋子。通常情况下,这些棋子会被消除或刻痕。不过,也有可能立即将它们重新放回格子中,放到现在空出的位置上(包围效果),或者在以后的回合中重新放回格子中。例如,在《乌尔姆》中,玩家可以收集这些代币,然后将它们重新放入网格中,或者作为游戏经济中不同子系统的一部分,用它们换取其他好处。
Freeform Slide does not have a specific grid where pieces move. Instead, there is an open surface where pieces can be pushed, collide, and react in a freeform way. Many bear a similarity to the arcade "penny pusher" machines, where a coin or token is dropped onto a surface and a mechanical arm pushes them forward, and the player keeps any coins that get pushed off the edge. 自由形式滑动游戏没有棋子移动的特定网格。取而代之的是一个开放的表面,在这个表面上,棋子可以以自由的方式被推动、碰撞并做出反应。许多游戏与街机厅的 "一分钱推币机 "相似,都是将硬币或代币投掷到表面,然后机械臂将其向前推,玩家保留被推离边缘的硬币。
An early example of this is Niagara. In this game, the player's canoes are placed on acrylic disks onto a "river" track with raised sides. As more disks are added, the canoes move closer to the waterfall at the edge of the track and eventually will fall off. More recent examples are Kabuto Sumo and Redcap Ruckus, where disks of various sizes are pushed onto a raised platform. Players are attempting to knock their opponent's disks off the platform. 早期的一个例子是《尼亚加拉》。在这款游戏中,玩家的独木舟被放置在丙烯酸盘上,沿着一条两侧凸起的 "河流 "轨道前进。随着磁盘数量的增加,独木舟会逐渐靠近轨道边缘的瀑布,最终会掉落下来。最近的例子有 "卡布托相扑 "和 "红帽喧闹",在这两个游戏中,大小不一的磁盘被推到一个凸起的平台上。玩家试图将对手的磁盘从平台上击落。
Another is Via Appia, where players push disks of different sizes into a quarry. They then gain resources based on the disks that fall off the edge.
A key design feature of these games is to introduce uncertainty into the pushing. You cannot be sure what is going to fall off the edge, and this can lead to a lot of excitement and surprising situations. The figure showing Via Appia illustrates this nicely. Note that the sides of the quarry flare outwards as they near the edge of the platform. This adds a healthy dose of uncertainty to what will fall off, far more than a straight chute would provide (Illustration 3.10). 这些游戏的一个主要设计特点是在推动过程中引入不确定性。你无法确定会有什么东西从边缘掉下来,这可能会带来很多刺激和令人惊讶的情况。图中的 Via Appia 就很好地说明了这一点。请注意,采石场的两侧在接近平台边缘时会向外凸出。这就增加了掉落物的不确定性,远远超过直滑道所能提供的不确定性(插图 3.10)。
Illustration 3.10 The Quarry in Via Appia. Players insert a disk into the narrow end and get all disks that fall out the wide end. The angled sides make the outcome less predictable. Photo by Daniel Danzer.
The designer needs to take care to create physics that emphasize these features. Having pieces of various sizes, shapes, and weights; having uneven or curved edges; and constraining how players introduce new pieces onto the platform (e.g., with pushing sticks, at certain entry points) will all help to enhance the uncertainty. Physical prototyping will be more important than usual with this style of Slide/Push. 设计者需要注意创建能突出这些特点的物理装置。设置不同大小、形状和重量的棋子;设置不平整或弯曲的边缘;限制玩家将新棋子引入平台的方式(例如,在特定入口处使用推杆),这些都有助于增强不确定性。对于这种类型的 "滑动/推动 "游戏,物理原型设计将比以往更加重要。
Sample Games
Quantized
Abalone (Lalet, Levi, 1987)
Black Angel (Dujardin, Georges, Orban, 2019)
Masters of Renaissance: Lorenzo il Magnifico - The Card Game (Luciani, Mangone, 2019)
Panamax (d'Orey, Sentiero, Soledade, 2014)
Ulm (Burkhardt, 2016)
Freeform
Kabuto Sumo (Miller, 2021)
Niagra (Liesching, 2004)
Redcap Ruckus (Ude, 2021)
Via Appia (Feldkötter, 2013)
ACT-22 Matching
Description
A player is limited to playing a card or token that matches some feature on the card or the token played just prior. In some instances, several cards or tokens from previous plays will be visible and available to match against.
Discussion
The purest implementation of this mechanism, and the one that many players encounter very early in their lives, is in Crazy Eights and Uno. Play proceeds around a circle, and each player must play a card into the discard pile that matches either the value or color/suit of the card currently on top. Another example that may be familiar from childhood is Dominoes, in which players match numbers, rather than suits, and each tile features two values, one on each side, to facilitate matching. The simplicity of determining which plays are valid makes this an ideal mechanism for a lower-complexity game or for a subsystem in a high-complexity game. 这种机制最纯粹的实现方式,也是许多玩家在游戏初期就会遇到的,就是在疯狂八点和优诺游戏中。游戏围绕一个圆圈进行,每位玩家必须在弃牌堆中打出一张与当前在上面的牌的牌值或颜色/花色相匹配的牌。多米诺骨牌是另一个儿时就熟悉的游戏,玩家匹配的是数字而不是花色,每张牌都有两个数值,一边一个,以方便玩家匹配。由于确定哪种玩法有效非常简单,因此对于复杂度较低的游戏或复杂度较高的游戏中的子系统来说,这是一种理想的机制。
Games that feature matching as the core mechanism are often shedding games, where the objective is for a player to get rid of all their cards.
The key design criterion that drives this mechanism, and makes it interesting, is to have multiple axes of matching or to make a single card have multiple matching opportunities. These axes can be thought of as tracks or paths that a player can use to play. Crazy Eights has two tracks-the suit track and the value track. The suit track is much larger- 13 cards on 4 tracks, while the value track is the opposite- 4 cards on 13 tracks. These 推动这一机制并使其变得有趣的关键设计标准是拥有多个配对轴,或使单张牌拥有多个配对机会。这些轴线可以看作是玩家可以用来玩牌的轨道或路径。Crazy Eights 有两条轨道--花色轨道和价值轨道。花色轨道大得多,4 条轨道上有 13 张牌,而价值轨道则相反,13 条轨道上有 4 张牌。这些
intersect to give players different paths to navigate through the hands to discard all cards.
The designer needs to balance the number of crossing points at the different tracks and the size of each. Too many, and there will be little challenge in finding a match. Too few, and the game will lock, and many turns may be spent drawing cards or whatever the mechanism is to "unjam" the system. 设计者需要平衡不同轨道的交叉点数量和每个交叉点的大小。数量太多,找到匹配点的难度就会降低。太少,游戏就会锁定,许多回合可能都要花在抽卡或任何 "解除 "系统的机制上。
Matching can also be used as a subsystem or for bonuses on matches. Trick taking (CAR-01) is a matching mechanism, as players are restricted to following suit if possible. In Nightfall, cards have linking colors. Effect cards can be played in a chain, with each one linking to a color in the chain. After no more cards are added to the chain, the cards are resolved. Playing cards in chains is a key tactic in the game, as it allows for combo effects. 匹配也可作为子系统或用于匹配奖励。Trick taking(CAR-01)是一种匹配机制,因为玩家在可能的情况下只能跟随花色。在 "夜幕降临 "游戏中,卡牌具有连锁颜色。效果牌可以连环出牌,每张牌都与连环中的一种颜色相连。当链上不再有卡牌时,卡牌就会被分解。连环出牌是游戏中的一个关键战术,因为它可以产生组合效果。
This linking concept is used in the road game Geography, where players take turns naming a place, but it must begin with the last letter of the previous player's place. Players are not allowed to duplicate an answer already given, and the play continues until a player cannot come up with an answer. This game underscores the fundamental nature of this mechanism-restricting the domain of possible actions, hopefully to the one in which your opponent cannot. 在公路游戏《地理》中,玩家轮流说出一个地名,但必须以前一名玩家地名的最后一个字母开头。玩家不得重复已给出的答案,游戏一直持续到有玩家想不出答案为止。这个游戏强调了这一机制的基本性质--限制可能的行动范围,希望对手不能在其中行动。
The game We the People uses matching as a combat resolution mechanism. At the start of each battle, players draw cards that show tactics. The attacker leads, and the defender must match the tactic played by the attacker or lose the battle. The defender may then attempt to seize the initiative and lead the next card, or else the attacker does. 《我们人民》游戏使用匹配作为战斗解决机制。每场战斗开始时,玩家抽出显示战术的牌。进攻方领牌,防守方必须与进攻方的战术匹配,否则输掉战斗。然后,防守方可以尝试夺取主动权并带领下一张牌,否则进攻方就会这样做。
The definition of "matching" can also be extended to a category or rule, with interesting results. For example, in the difficult-to-internet-search-forgame The Game, players play cards to pile some of which must have higher cards played on them, and some of which require lower cards. The "match" space shrinks during the course of the round, giving a narrative arc. "匹配 "的定义也可以扩展到一个类别或规则,并产生有趣的结果。例如,在很难在网上搜索到的游戏 "游戏 "中,玩家在牌堆中出牌,其中一些牌上必须有较高的牌,而另一些牌则需要较低的牌。在游戏过程中,"匹配 "空间会逐渐缩小,从而形成一个叙事弧线。
Many tile games, such as Carcassonne, require players to match sides to place tiles. These are discussed in SET-02, Tile Laying.
Finally, some games require the players not to match but react to matches. This mechanism is most often found in speed games, such as Snorta! and Jungle Speed. In these games, players take turns flipping the top card of their personal draw piles. If the card flipped matches one showing for another player, the players involved must be the first to react. In Jungle Speed, players need to be the first to grab a wooden totem in the center of the table. In 最后,有些游戏要求玩家不进行匹配,而是对匹配做出反应。这种机制最常见于速度游戏,如 Snorta!和 Jungle Speed。在这些游戏中,玩家轮流翻动个人抽牌堆中最上面的牌。如果翻出的牌与其他玩家的牌相匹配,相关玩家必须率先做出反应。在 "丛林速度 "游戏中,玩家需要第一个抓住桌子中央的木制图腾。在
Snorta! each player has an assigned animal, and players must make the animal noise of the player they matched.
Several party games use a match, or sometimes anything-but-a-match mechanism. Some games leverage the Stroop Effect, including the eponymous Stroop. The Stroop Effect refers to the way our mental gears lock up when a word's visual presentation differs from its meaning, e.g., the word "green" written in red text. In Stroop, players must play a word that visually looks like the textual definition on the previous card. Cockroach Salad has players playing salad ingredients, naming the cards as they play them. However, if a player matches the same card as played just previously, they must "lie" and claim the card being played is something else. Similarly, if a player plays a card that matches the claim of a previous player, even if it does not match the card just played (e.g., in the case where the previous player lied), they must lie too. These party games work because they subvert our expectations, both psychological and ludological, about how matching typically works. 有几款派对游戏使用了匹配机制,有时甚至是 "非匹配机制"。有些游戏利用了史卓普效应(Stroop Effect),包括同名的 "史卓普"(Stroop)。斯特罗普效应指的是当一个单词的视觉呈现与其含义不同时,我们的思维会被锁定,例如用红色文字书写 "绿色 "一词。在施特罗普游戏中,玩家必须打出一个在视觉上与前一张卡片上的文字定义相似的单词。Cockroach Salad 让玩家扮演沙拉配料,边扮演边给卡片命名。但是,如果玩家打出的牌与之前打出的牌相同,他们就必须 "撒谎",声称打出的牌是其他牌。同样,如果一名玩家打出的牌与前一名玩家的说法一致,即使与刚才打出的牌不一致(例如,在前一名玩家撒谎的情况下),他们也必须撒谎。这些派对游戏之所以有效,是因为它们颠覆了我们对配对游戏通常运作方式的预期,包括心理预期和游戏学预期。
Sample Games
Carcassonne (Wrede, 2000)
Cockroach Salad (Zeimet, 2007)
Crazy Eights (unknown)
Dominoes (unknown)
The Game (Benndorf, 2015)
Geography (unknown)
Jungle Speed (Vuarchex, Yakovenko, 1997)
Nightfall (Gregg, 2011)
Snorta! (Childs, Richardson, 2004)
Stroop (Chaffer, 2017)
Uno (Robbins, 1971)
We the People (Herman, 1993)
ACT-23 Drawing
Definition
Players draw a picture and other players guess what the picture is intended to depict.
Discussion
The classic example of this mechanism is Pictionary. In Pictionary, players play in teams. One person on a team draws a picture to get their teammates to guess a word or phrase.
Note that we are using the term "drawing" here to imply some type of representation. There are games where you draw lines such as the classic paper and pencil game Dots & Boxes, or more recent games such as Doodle Quest and . These are not included in this mechanism. However, we do intend to include games in which representation is created through collage or assembly of shapes and icons, such as in Concept or Show & Tile. 请注意,我们在这里使用的 "绘画 "一词是指某种类型的表现形式。有一些游戏可以画线,如经典的纸笔游戏《点与框》,或最近的游戏,如《涂鸦任务》和 。本机制不包括这些游戏。不过,我们确实打算将通过拼贴或组合图形和图标来创建表现形式的游戏纳入其中,例如 Concept 或 Show & Tile。
A key objective for most designs in this category is to level the playing field in terms of artistic talent. Many games use time pressure to achieve
this. Some, such as Pictionary, achieve this through an actual timer. Others pit players against each other to create a sense of urgency. Pictionary also includes this mode ("All Play"), as well as Pictomania. In Pictomania, all players draw and guess what other players are drawing at the same time. When a player is done with both drawing and guessing, they grab a bonus token from the center of the table. When the last token is taken, the round ends immediately. Since there are fewer tokens than players, that forces a sense of urgency. 这一点。有些游戏(如 Pictionary)通过实际的计时器来实现这一目的。另一些游戏则让玩家相互竞争,以营造紧迫感。Pictionary 猜字游戏也包含这种模式("All Play")以及 Pictomania 模式。在 "Pictomania "模式中,所有玩家都要同时画画并猜测其他玩家在画什么。当一名玩家画完和猜完后,他们会从桌子中央抓取一个奖励令牌。当最后一个令牌被拿走时,本轮游戏立即结束。由于令牌数量少于玩家数量,这就迫使玩家产生紧迫感。
Another way to limit the utility of artistic talent is to use a Targeted Clues (RES-17). In this mechanism, the person drawing wants some but not all players to be able to guess. If the drawing is too good, it is a disadvantage. An example of a drawing game that uses this mechanism is A Fake Artist Goes to New York. In this game, one player is the Question Master, who secretly gives the same word to each player except for one, who is the Fake Artist. Players then take turns adding lines to a drawing to try to let the other "real" artists know that they know the target word. At the end of the round, the artists vote on who the Fake Artist was. If they are correct, they win-maybe. If they out the Fake Artist, then the Fake Artist has the opportunity to guess what the secret word was. If they are correct, they win anyway. As a result, players who know the word need to make a drawing that gives a hint of the target word but without being too obvious. 另一种限制艺术才能发挥的方法是使用定向线索(RES-17)。在这一机制中,画图者希望部分而非所有玩家都能猜到。如果画得太好,就会处于劣势。假艺术家去纽约》(A Fake Artist Goes to New York)就是一个使用这种机制的绘画游戏。在这个游戏中,一名玩家是出题大师,他会秘密地把相同的单词交给每个玩家,只有一名玩家除外,他就是假艺术家。然后,玩家轮流在图画上添加线条,试图让其他 "真正的 "艺术家知道他们知道目标单词。一轮游戏结束后,艺术家们投票决定谁是 "假艺术家"。如果正确,他们就赢了--也许。如果他们淘汰了 "假艺术家",那么 "假艺术家 "就有机会猜出暗语是什么。如果他们猜对了,他们就赢了。因此,知道暗语的玩家需要画出一幅能暗示目标暗语但又不太明显的图画。
This concept can be extended beyond drawing by giving players other things to combine to represent the target. This levels the playing field by giving all players the same limited tool set to work with. In Show & Tile, players receive tangram tiles and have a set amount of time to create a shape that will help players guess a specific word. There are many other variations on this idea: 这个概念可以延伸到绘画之外,让玩家用其他东西来组合表现目标。这就为所有玩家提供了相同的有限工具集,从而创造了公平的竞争环境。在 "展示与拼图 "游戏中,玩家会收到七巧板,并在规定时间内拼出一个形状,帮助玩家猜出一个特定的单词。这个想法还有很多其他变体:
Squint gives players cards with various lines and squiggles on them.
Pantone: The Game gives players access to identically sized rectangular cards but in a rainbow of colors.
Imagine uses transparent cards that have icons on them that players can overlay in various ways.
Concept goes a step further and has a board with a variety of icons that players can indicate in different ways.
All of these are specific implementations of Action Selection Restrictions (ACT-11) and Communication Limits (UNC-06).
Sample Games
Concept (Beaujannot, Rivollet, 2013)
A Fake Artist Goes to New York (Sasaki, 2012)
Imagine (Fujita, Nakashima, Ohki, Oikawa, 2015)
Pantone: The Game (Rogers, 2018)
Pictionary (Angel, 1985)
Pictomania (Chvátil, 2011)
Show & Tile (Loomis and Shalev, 2018)
Squint (Boss, 2002)
Telestrations (Uncredited, 2009)
Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis Group
http://taylorandfrancis.com
4
Resolution
In Chapter 3, we discussed Actions and the different ways that players can choose or plan Actions. Sometimes, the outcome of an Action is specific and definite. No chance is involved. For example, in Chess, if you take the Action of moving your knight, it will happen exactly as you plan. 在第 3 章中,我们讨论了行动以及玩家选择或计划行动的不同方式。有时,行动的结果是具体明确的。不存在任何偶然性。例如,在国际象棋中,如果你采取移动马的行动,它就会完全按照你的计划发生。
However, some Actions have uncertain outcomes. Some are related to performative uncertainty, as in a dexterity game, where you may not succeed in performing your planned action. Others relate to chance interfering with your plans, which we call Output Randomness (see Chapter 6). For example, in Risk, you may declare an attack on Kamchatka (the Action), but the result of that Action is not known when it is declared. You may win without losing a single army, lose all your armies, or some result in between. 然而,有些行动的结果是不确定的。有些与执行的不确定性有关,比如在灵巧游戏中,你可能无法成功完成计划的行动。还有一些则与干扰计划的偶然性有关,我们称之为输出随机性(见第 6 章)。例如,在《风险》游戏中,你可以宣布进攻堪察加半岛(行动),但在宣布行动时并不知道行动的结果。您可能在不损失任何一支军队的情况下获胜,也可能损失所有军队,或者出现介于两者之间的结果。
Because Output Randomness is most often associated with conflict, many of the examples here are from war or battle games. However, there are plenty of Actions that require some form of resolution, such as trying to sell at a market, finding a hidden object, upgrading a technology, or approving a budget in a political-economic game. This chapter discusses different ways of determining the outcomes of Actions. 由于输出随机性最常与冲突联系在一起,因此这里的许多例子都来自战争或战斗游戏。不过,也有很多行动需要某种形式的解决,例如在政治经济游戏中尝试在市场上销售、寻找隐藏物品、升级技术或批准预算。本章将讨论确定行动结果的不同方法。
RES-01 High Number
Description
Each player is represented by a numeric "strength," and the higher strength wins the conflict.
Discussion
This is a basic and common way of resolving conflicts. The base strength can be represented by a fixed value for the piece, as in Magic: The Gathering, or by the position on the board, as in Cosmic Encounter, where each defending token adds 1 to the total defender strength. Sometimes, strengths may be determined randomly. In War, players flip cards to compare strengths. Many games include a "roll-off" mechanism, where each player rolls a die and the high roll wins the contest. 这是解决冲突的一种基本而常见的方法。基础强度可以用棋子的固定值来表示,如《魔法:收集》;也可以用棋子在棋盘上的位置来表示,如《宇宙奇遇记》,每个防守标记都会为防守方的总强度加 1。有时,棋力可能是随机决定的。在 "战争 "游戏中,玩家通过翻牌来比较实力。许多游戏都有 "掷骰子 "机制,即每位玩家掷骰子,骰子掷得高者获胜。
Frequently, base strength can be modified by some factor. In Magic: The Gathering, there are a variety of cards that impact the Power and Toughness of creatures (comparable to an Attack and Defense strength). In Cosmic Encounter, each player secretly plays a number card which is added to the number of tokens on their side, including allies. 通常情况下,基础力量会受到某些因素的影响。在《魔法:收集》中,有多种卡牌可以影响生物的力量和韧性(相当于攻击力和防御力)。在《宇宙奇遇记》中,每位玩家都会暗中打出一张数字牌,这张数字牌会与自己一方的代币(包括盟友)数量相加。
Modifiers need to be carefully considered by the designer. Their inclusion increases the complexity of the resolution, particularly if they come from multiple sources. For example, a game may grant the defenders a +2 modifier because they are defending in the mountains and a -1 modifier because they are infantry defending against artillery. While the math seems simple, having a long list of modifiers for the players to apply can be burdensome. It is better to have these factored into intrinsic strengths, or through card play or dice pools whose outcomes model the probabilities desired. 修改器需要设计者仔细考虑。修改器的加入会增加决议的复杂性,尤其是当修改器来自多个方面时。例如,游戏可能会因为防守方在山区防守而给予他们 +2 的修正量,又会因为他们是步兵防守火炮而给予 -1 的修正量。虽然计算看起来很简单,但让玩家应用一长串修改器可能会造成负担。更好的办法是将这些因素考虑到内在实力中,或通过纸牌游戏或骰子池,其结果模拟所需的概率。
The dungeon-crawler Descent: Journeys in the Dark uses a High Number mechanism combined with a Dice Pool. The characters, weapons, and
situation add or remove dice from the attacker's and defender's pools. They then each roll their dice and count hits (for the attacker) or shields (for the defender). The higher number prevails. If the hits exceed the shields, the defender takes damage based on the difference. 情况是从攻方和守方的骰子池中添加或移除骰子。然后他们各自掷骰子并计算命中(攻击方)或护盾(防御方)。数字高者获胜。如果命中率超过护盾,防御方将根据差值受到伤害。
This attrition-style mechanism, where damage is based on the delta between the final strengths, is common. A less common alternative is Winner Takes All, where the losing side is completely eliminated at no cost to the winner. The game 4000 AD implements this mechanism, which can lead to tension and wide swings, as a 10 -strength fleet will completely eliminate both a 1- and a 9-strength fleet at no loss to itself. The lack of realism can impact theme and immersion. 这种损耗式机制很常见,其损害基于最终实力之间的差距。另一种不太常见的机制是 "赢家通吃"(Winner Takes All),即输掉比赛的一方将被完全淘汰,而赢家无需付出任何代价。公元 4000》游戏就采用了这一机制,这可能会导致局势紧张和大起大落,因为一支 10 实力的舰队会完全消灭一支 1 实力和一支 9 实力的舰队,而自己不会有任何损失。缺乏真实感会影响主题和沉浸感。
An Ordered High Number system is used in the Risk series of games. In these games, Attacker and Defender typically roll multiple dice. The highest roll of the Attacker is compared to the highest of the Defender, secondhighest Attacker roll to second-highest Defender roll, etc. Because of the simultaneous ordering of the rolls from highest to lowest, this system has lower variance than just making independent rolls. It also offers a much simpler way to give an advantage to the player with greater numbers without resorting to modifiers. If a player has a 3:1 numerical advantage, they simply roll three dice versus the opponent's one, which is much simpler than gaining modifiers to the die roll. 风险》系列游戏中使用了有序高数系统。在这些游戏中,进攻方和防守方通常会掷多个骰子。攻击方的最高掷骰数与防守方的最高掷骰数进行比较,攻击方的次高掷骰数与防守方的次高掷骰数进行比较,等等。由于掷骰子的顺序从高到低同时进行,因此该系统的方差比仅进行 独立掷骰子要小。它还提供了一种更简单的方法,让人数更多的玩家获得优势,而无需借助修改器。如果玩家的数字优势为 3:1,那么他们只需掷三颗骰子,而对手只需掷一颗,这比在掷骰子时获得修改器要简单得多。
An interesting twist on this system is to switch whether the high or low number is the winner within the same game. For example, in Battleball, a simulation of futuristic football, players are represented by dice of different sides-six-sided, eight-sided, twelve-sided, or twenty-sided. When moving, rolling higher is better. High rolls allow a player to move farther. The D20 wide receivers are great at dashing down the field. The D6 linesmen are much less mobile. But when trying to tackle, both players roll their die against each other, but now, the low number wins. So, linesmen will usually tackle wide receivers. However, this system leaves open the possibility for surprises in both running and tackling. 这个系统的一个有趣的变化是,在同一场比赛中,孰高孰低成为赢家。例如,在模拟未来足球的 Battleball 游戏中,球员由不同面数的骰子代表--六面、八面、十二面或二十面。移动时,掷得越高越好。掷得越高,球员移动得越远。D20 的接球员擅长在场上冲刺。而 D6 后卫的移动能力则要差很多。但在试图擒抱对方时,双方都会互相掷骰子,但现在是数字低的一方获胜。因此,边裁通常会擒抱外接球员。不过,这种系统在跑动和擒抱方面都有可能出现意外。
In numeric comparison systems, some means to deal with ties need to be included. In combat simulations, these ties typically are awarded to the defender; however, any tie-breaking mechanism can be used.
High Number and Stat Check mechanisms can be combined for a more nuanced mechanism. See the Stat Check section for more details.
Sample Games
4000 AD (Doherty, 1972)
Battleball (Baker, 2003)
Cosmic Encounter (Eberle, Kittredge, Norton, and Olatka, 1977)
Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Wilson, 2005)
Magic: The Gathering (Garfield, 1993)
Risk (Lamorisse and Levin, 1959)
War (Unknown)
RES-02 Stat Check
Description
There is a target number required to succeed at some tests. A random number is generated (by card draw, die roll, etc.), which is compared to the target. If it meets or exceeds the target, the action succeeds.
Discussion
This mechanism goes by a variety of names, including Task Check, Skill Check, and others. It is commonly used in role-playing games, such as Dungeons & Dragons, where a player makes a roll against a stat or target number. Typically, if it is lower than the target, the action succeeds. 这种机制有多种名称,包括任务校验、技能校验等。它常用于角色扮演游戏,如《龙与地下城》,玩家根据某个状态或目标数字进行掷骰。通常情况下,如果低于目标值,则行动成功。
Stat Check is frequently used in battle games, like Axis o Allies, where each type of unit has a target number that it is trying to meet or exceed to score a hit. Warhammer uses a similar system with six-sided dice and rates units as, for example, , or , if it needs to roll a 2 or higher, 3 or higher, or 4 or higher. The group of minis (or single mini) is then rated for how many dice it gets to roll. One attack may be rolling 8 dice for a 4+ and another might be 5 dice for a . Target numbers may be modified based on characteristics of the defender, such as terrain or special armor, but the rolls are typically not opposed by the defender, as in the High Number Mechanism. The defender may get to respond but as a separate check. For example, in Warhammer, defending figures may be able to cancel hits by making a Saving Roll of 3+. Performing a series of Stat Checks not only lengthens the game 统计校验经常用于战斗游戏,如《轴心国与同盟国》,在该游戏中,每种单位都有一个目标数字,要达到或超过该数字才能命中。战锤》也使用类似的系统,使用六面骰子,如果需要掷出 2 或更高、3 或更高、4 或更高的骰子,则将单位评为 或 等。然后,这组小兵(或单个小兵)会根据掷骰子的数量进行评级。一次攻击可能掷 8 粒骰子获得 4+,另一次可能掷 5 粒骰子获得 。目标数字可能会根据防御方的特征(如地形或特殊装甲)进行修改,但掷骰通常不会受到防御方的反对,就像在 "高数字机制 "中一样。防守方可以做出回应,但要单独进行检查。例如,在《战锤》中,防守方人物可以通过做出 3+ 的救命卷来取消命中。进行一系列状态检定不仅会延长游戏时间
but also increases tension and can simplify the rules as modifiers and other effects are localized.
Some games keep the target number the same but differentiate units by the type of dice rolled. For example, in the 1986 Fortress America, the target number is always a " 5 " or greater. But some units roll a six-sided die, some an eight-sided die, and others a ten-sided die. This makes it easier for the player to perform combat, as there is only one target number to remember. 有些游戏保持目标数字不变,但根据掷出骰子的类型来区分单位。例如,在 1986 年的《美国要塞》中,目标数字总是 "5 "或更大。但有些单位掷的是六面骰,有些单位掷的是八面骰,还有些单位掷的是十面骰。这让玩家更容易进行战斗,因为只需记住一个目标数字。
In the 2012 reprint, this was simplified further by simply having "hit" or "miss" symbols on the relevant dice, so only two sides of the six-sided die have the Hit symbol, but four sides of the eight-sided die do. While this system was a visual improvement, it was more opaque as to the strengths of the dice. Players would have to examine all sides of the dice and memorize their odds, which was fiddlier than with the target number system. 在 2012 年的再版中,该系统进一步简化,只需在相关骰子上标注 "命中 "或 "未命中 "符号即可,因此六面骰子只有两面标注 "命中 "符号,而八面骰子则有四面标注 "未命中 "符号。虽然这一系统在视觉上有所改进,但在骰子的强度方面却更加不透明。玩家必须检查骰子的所有面,并记住它们的赔率,这比目标数字系统更麻烦。
Some games combine a Stat Check with a High Score system. One example is the miniatures game Infinity. The Infinity mechanism has each player trying to roll below their stat using a 20 -sided die but higher than their opponent. For example, let's say two units are shooting at each other and one has a skill of 17 and the other a skill of 12 . First, a player is only eligible to hit if they roll less than or equal to their target. If only one player succeeds on the Stat Check, that player hits their opponent. If both miss, then there is no effect. If both hit, then the player with the higher roll (but still below the target) succeeds and the other fails. Combining systems like this gives a compact and fluid method for a variety of results. 有些游戏结合了统计检查和高分系统。其中一个例子就是微型游戏 "无限"。无限机制要求每位玩家使用 20 面骰子掷出低于自身状态但高于对手的分数。例如,假设有两个单位在互相射击,其中一个单位的技能是 17,另一个单位的技能是 12。首先,玩家只有在掷出的骰子小于或等于目标时才有资格命中。如果只有一名玩家的状态检查成功,则该玩家击中对手。如果双方都未命中,则没有影响。如果双方都命中,那么掷中率较高(但仍低于目标值)的一方成功,另一方失败。将这样的系统结合起来,就能为各种结果提供一种紧凑流畅的方法。
Stat Checks can incorporate modifiers. The same considerations that are discussed in High Number apply here.
Sample Games
Axis & Allies (Harris, Jr., 1981)
Dungeons & Dragons (Arneson and Gygax, 1977)
Europe Engulfed (Evans and Young, 2003)
Fortress America (Uncredited, 1986)
Infinity (Rodriguez, 2005)
Nexus Ops (Cantino and Kimball, 2005)
Titan (McAllister and Trampier, 1980)
Warhammer Age of Sigmar (Uncredited, 2015)
RES-03 Critical Hits and Failures
Description
Dice are rolled, and those exceeding a target number generate success. Certain rolls (typically the highest and/or lowest on the die) generate additional success or extreme failure.
Discussion
Critical Hits (and Critical Failures) add variance to a resolution system, in essence lengthening the "tail" of the result distribution. They also add excitement by creating jackpot effects, similar to a slot machine. You have a pretty good idea of what the result range may be, but Critical Hits and Failures, depending on implementation, can give bonuses that make success possible where it normally might not be or add tension to an overwhelming attack. 临界命中(和临界失败)增加了解题系统的变异性,实质上延长了结果分布的 "尾部"。它们还能产生类似老虎机的中奖效果,从而增加刺激性。你对结果的范围已经有了一个很好的概念,但 "临界命中 "和 "临界失败"(取决于实施情况)可以提供奖励,使通常不可能成功的事情也有可能成功,或者为压倒性的攻击增加紧张感。
In its standard implementation, Critical Hits double the damage of an attack or improve the result in other ways. However, there are several novel uses of Critical results.
Uncharted Seas and Dystopian Wars, miniatures games from Spartan Games, have an "exploding dice" critical system. In this system, players roll a number of 6 -sided dice and get a success on a 4 or higher. On a roll of a 6 , however, the player gets 2 successes and also gets to reroll those dice. Additional 6 s on the rerolls will yield additional double successes and more rerolls. In this system, it is theoretically possible to get any number of hits on any attack, which can make for dramatic moments as dice are rolled and rerolled, and successes accumulate. Uncharted Seas 和 Dystopian Wars 是 Spartan Games 的微型游戏,采用 "爆炸骰子 "关键系统。在该系统中,玩家掷若干个 6 面骰子,掷出 4 或更高的骰子则成功。但是,如果掷出 6 点,玩家将获得 2 次成功,还可以重掷这些骰子。如果重掷的骰子上出现更多的 6,则会获得额外的双倍成功和更多的重掷机会。在这个系统中,理论上任何攻击都有可能获得任意数量的命中,当掷骰子和重掷骰子以及成功累积时,会出现戏剧性的时刻。
WarmachinelHordes allows for a critical hit any time at least two dice in an attack show the same result. Normally an attack is made with two dice, but this number may be increased or decreased, naturally changing the frequency of critical hits or removing their possibility (as in the case of a one-die attack) without any additional rules overhead. 《战火群雄》允许在一次攻击中至少有两颗骰子显示相同结果的情况下进行要害攻击。通常情况下,一次攻击使用两颗骰子,但这个数字可以增加或减少,从而自然地改变要害命中的频率或消除要害命中的可能性(如单骰攻击),而无需任何额外的规则开销。
Advanced Squad Leader generates extra effects (both positive and negative) on rolls of 2 or 12 on two 6 -sided dice. A 2 causes a Heat of Battle effect, which may cause a hero to emerge, a unit to upgrade, or the squad to go berserk and charge the enemy; a 12 may cause weapons to break or other negative results, resolved by rolling on a separate chart (RES-04). These add a lot of variety to combat results and force players to adapt to changing circumstances. 高级小队长 "在两个 6 面骰子上掷出 2 或 12 时会产生额外效果(包括正面和负面效果)。掷 2 会产生 "战斗白热化 "效果,可能导致一个英雄出现、一个单位升级或整个小队发狂并向敌人发起冲锋;掷 12 可能导致武器损坏或其他负面结果,通过在单独的图表(RES-04)上掷骰子来解决。这些都为战斗结果增添了许多变化,迫使玩家适应不断变化的环境。
Several games convert special symbols or excess successes (if rolling against a target) into a type of currency that can be spent on various beneficial effects. Sometimes called Surges, these can also give a lot of tools to the player to use tactically, beyond simply resolving the combat. The miniatures game Malifaux adapts this by using a card-flipping system to generate random combat strengths but allowing special abilities to trigger if the correct suit flips. 有几款游戏会将特殊符号或多余的成功(如果掷中目标)转换成一种货币,可以用来购买各种有益的效果。这些货币有时被称为 "涌动",除了解决战斗之外,还能为玩家提供许多战术工具。微型游戏《马里法克斯》(Malifaux)就采用了这一方法,它使用翻牌系统随机生成战斗力,但如果翻牌正确,就能触发特殊能力。
Sample Games
Advanced Squad Leader (Greenwood, 1985)
Dungeons & Dragons (Arneson and Gygax, 1977)
Dystopian Wars (Fawcett, Flack, Glover, Padfield, Sammarco, and Sinclair, 2010)
Malifaux (Caroland, Johns, and Weber, 2009)
Uncharted Seas (Fawcett and Sims, 2008)
Warmachine/Hordes (McVey, Snoddy, and Wilson, 2003)
RES-04 Ratio/Combat Results Table
Description
The Attacker and Defender each total their strength. This is then expressed as a ratio and is used to index into a Combat Results Table (CRT). A dice roll then determines the result of the conflict.
Discussion
Pioneered in the earliest war games, the CRT has become a staple of the genre. CRTs are typically indexed by calculating the ratio of the attacker's strength to the defender's. For example, if the attacker has a strength of 8 , and the defender has a strength of 4 , the 2:1 column would be used, as 8 is 2 times 4. Typically, these are rounded down in favor of the defender, so a attack would also be resolved on the 2:1 column (Illustration 4.1). 在最早的战争游戏中,CRT 已成为一种主要类型。CRT 通常通过计算攻击方与防御方的兵力比来进行索引。例如,如果进攻方的兵力为 8 ,而防守方的兵力为 4,那么将使用 2:1 列,因为 8 是 4 的 2 倍。通常情况下,四舍五入对防御方有利,因此 攻击也将在 2:1 列中解决(插图 4.1)。
Once the correct column is determined, a die is rolled to determine the final result. In war games, this is typically some combination of force eliminations, damage, or retreats.
The use of the CRT gives the designer a lot of control over potential results. It is possible to have a tightly grouped range of outcomes from one to six or a wild variation. In addition, the designer has many hooks to apply
COMBAT RESULTS TABLE
DIE
MBA
ODI
DIE
ROLL
ROLL
0
AE
AA
AA
AD
BD
BD
0
1
AA
AA
AD
BD
DD
1
2
AD
AD
DD
DX
2
3
BD
DD
DX
3
4
BD
BD
DD
DX
DE
DE
4
5
DD
DD
DX
DE
DE
5
6
DX
DX
DE
DE
DE
DE
6
Explanation: Attacker Eliminated, Attacker Attrition, AD = Attacker Demoralized, Both Demoralized, Defender Demoralized, Defender Exchange, Defender Eliminated (see Rule 13.4).
Illustration 4.1 Combat Results Table from The Guns of August. The modified die roll is cross-indexed with the Combat Odds.
other effects. For example, the attacker or defender strength can be modified, the final die roll can be modified, or the column used can be shifted left or right. This flexibility has led to its continued popularity in the war-gaming community. 其他效果。例如,可以修改进攻方或防守方的兵力,修改最终的掷骰子数,或将使用的列向左或向右移动。这种灵活性使其在战争游戏界一直很受欢迎。
Designs have taken the CRT in a wide variety of directions. Squad Leader eschews strength ratios and simply has the column chosen by the firepower of the attacker. It also includes a mechanism called Cowering, where if doubles are rolled (two dice are rolled in Squad Leader), the column used is shifted one to the left, to a weaker column. Elite troops are typically immune to Cowering. This is a good example of the opportunities CRTs offer to differentiate and apply various effects. CRT 的设计方向多种多样。小队长 "摒弃了兵力比例,只需根据进攻方的火力选择纵队。它还包含一种称为 "畏缩 "的机制,如果掷出双倍(《小队长》中掷两颗骰子),则使用的纵队会向左移动一列,移至较弱的纵队。精英部队通常对 "畏缩 "免疫。这是一个很好的例子,说明 CRT 为区分和应用各种效果提供了机会。
Some games have the column selected by a differential between Attacker and Defender rather than a ratio. This has the benefit of simplicity, as division can be confusing when the strengths get large. Differentials are less realistic, however, as they will treat a 10-8 attack the same as a 3-1 attack. But, if the values are bounded within a reasonable range, differential CRTs can give a lighter feel. 有些游戏根据攻方和守方之间的差距而不是比例来选择列。这样做的好处是简单明了,因为当双方实力相差较大时,分栏可能会造成混乱。不过,差值不太现实,因为它们会将 10-8 的攻击与 3-1 的攻击同等对待。但是,如果数值限制在合理范围内,差分 CRT 可以给人一种轻松的感觉。
Some games use charts with various conditions as columns to resolve Actions and random events. Down with the King has charts that players roll on to determine the result. For example, there are separate charts for Gambling, Seducing, and Carousing. The solitaire game : Queen of the 《有些游戏使用带有各种条件列的图表来解决行动和随机事件。打倒国王》的图表由玩家掷骰子决定结果。例如,"赌博"、"引诱 "和 "狂欢 "都有不同的图表。接龙游戏 : Queen of the
Skies includes charts for damage from German fighters, bombing accuracy, and the result of crew member injuries.
While charts can encapsulate a large amount of information and give a lot of flexibility to the designer, they can be intimidating to players and tedious to use and are considered old-fashioned. However, in the right situations, they can be quite useful. 虽然图表可以囊括大量信息,并为设计者提供了很大的灵活性,但它们可能会让玩家望而生畏,使用起来也很乏味,被认为是过时的东西。不过,在适当的情况下,它们还是非常有用的。
Sample Games
B-17: Queen of the Skies (Frank and Shelley, 1981)
Down with the King (Rahman and Rahman, 1981)
France 1944: The Allied Crusade in Europe (Herman, 1986)
The Guns of August (Beyma and Davis, 1981)
Gettysburg (Roberts, 1958)
Squad Leader (Hill, 1977)
RES-05 Die Icons
Description
The player rolls dice, and any die showing the target icon is a success.
Discussion
This mechanism is typically a subset of High Number (RES-01) or Stat Check (RES-02), as the number of successes ultimately reduces to one of these. However, we are listing this as a separate mechanism due to some subtleties in the implementation and player interaction. 该机制通常是 "高数字"(RES-01)或 "统计检查"(RES-02)的子集,因为成功的次数最终会减少到其中之一。不过,由于在实施和玩家互动方面存在一些微妙之处,我们将其列为一个单独的机制。
The use of Die Icons has several advantages over traditional dice with numbers on the sides. First, using an icon makes it simpler for players to interpret the result, if they are properly chosen. Counting icons is inherently simpler from a cognitive perspective than adding numbers or checking to see if numbers on dice exceed certain values. This ease increases as the number of dice rolled increases and is particularly true if the target value may vary depending on the game situation. In this case, icons are easier to parse at a glance, especially if they are thematic. 与边上有数字的传统骰子相比,使用 "骰子图标 "有几个优点。首先,如果选择得当,使用图标会让玩家更容易理解结果。从认知的角度来看,数图标比加数字或检查骰子上的数字是否超过特定值更简单。随着掷出骰子数量的增加,这种简单程度也会增加,尤其是当目标值可能会根据游戏情况而变化时。在这种情况下,图标更容易一目了然,尤其是当图标具有主题性时。
For example, contrast Warbammer with Memoir '44. In Warbammer, a player may roll 4 dice for an attack, looking for a 5 or higher for a success (a , in the parlance). After rolling, the player needs to look at the dice, remembering the target number. Memoir '44, like Warhammer, bases 例如,将《战地锤击》与《回忆录 44》进行对比。在《Warbammer》中,玩家可以掷 4 颗骰子进行攻击,掷出 5 或更高的骰子即为成功(术语为 )。掷完后,玩家需要看着骰子,记住目标数字。回忆录 44》和《战锤》一样,以
the number of dice rolled on the type of the attacking unit. The icon that counts as a hit is based on what is being targeted. When attacking an Infantry, each Infantry symbol counts as a hit. When attacking Armor, each Armor symbol counts as a hit. In addition, the grenade icon always counts as an additional hit. Since there are two infantry icons, one armor icon, and one grenade icon on a die, an attack on infantry is equivalent to a and an attack on armor a . But the player does not need to have a chart of those numbers or track them in any way. It is intuitively obvious to look for the icons of what you are attacking and just count them up. Advanced players can understand the symbol distribution, but it is not necessary. The die does the heavy lifting. 掷出的骰子数与攻击单位的类型有关。算作命中的图标取决于目标是什么。攻击步兵时,每个步兵符号都算一次命中。攻击装甲部队时,每个装甲符号都算作一次命中。此外,手榴弹图标总是算作额外的命中。由于骰子上有两个步兵图标、一个装甲图标和一个手榴弹图标,攻击步兵相当于 ,攻击装甲相当于 。但玩家不需要将这些数字制成图表,也不需要以任何方式跟踪这些数字。很直观的做法就是寻找攻击对象的图标,然后把它们数出来。高级玩家可以理解符号的分布,但这并非必要。骰子就能完成这些繁重的工作。
The distribution of icons also gives the designer fine-grained control over possible combat outcomes and allows for multiple effects to be determined. The Memoir ' 44 dice also include a Retreat icon, which applies in conjunction with the removal effects, allowing for a wide variety of outcomes (Illustration 4.2). 图标的分布还能让设计者对可能的战斗结果进行精细控制,并可确定多种效果。回忆录'44 骰子还包括一个 "撤退 "图标,该图标与移除效果一起使用,可产生多种结果(插图 4.2)。
Illustration 4.2 The dice from Memoir '44 are used to resolve battles and are resolved relative to the target. Infantry icons eliminate an infantry, Tank icons eliminate a tank, and the Hand Grenade eliminates either. Flags force a retreat, and the star icons are used for special effects. 插图 4.2 《44 年回忆录》中的骰子用于解决战斗,并相对于目标进行解决。步兵图标可消灭步兵,坦克图标可消灭坦克,手榴弹可消灭两者之一。旗帜可强制撤退,星形图标用于特殊效果。
A disadvantage of icons is that it is very difficult to deal with modifiers or other ways to modify attacks based on, for example, terrain or different quality forces.
Some games, like Descent, deal with this by having dice of different qualities, relating to the power and skill of the character, weapon, armor, or other equipment. The dice can be segregated into types like attack, defense, knockback, special, and others, again allowing the designer fine-grained control over possible outcomes while making it simple for the player to interpret. They just need to see what color dice need to be rolled and then read off the icons to see the results. 有些游戏(如《后裔》)通过不同品质的骰子来解决这个问题,这些骰子与角色、武器、盔甲或其他装备的力量和技能有关。骰子可以分为攻击、防御、击退、特殊等类型,这同样允许设计者对可能出现的结果进行精细控制,同时让玩家很容易理解。玩家只需查看需要掷出的骰子颜色,然后读出图标即可看到结果。
Eclipse is a hybrid of this system, with three colors of dice representing different powers-yellow (the weakest), orange, and red. However, Eclipse does not use icons on the dice. Standard numeric pips are used but with nonstandard distributions to model the varying power levels. Eclipse 是这一系统的混合体,用三种颜色的骰子代表不同的力量--黄色(最弱)、橙色和红色。不过,Eclipse 不在骰子上使用图标。它使用标准数字点数,但采用非标准分布来模拟不同的力量水平。
At the extreme end, Dragon Dice has custom dice for every single unit in the game. The same effect can be represented by different icons for different units. For example, Move icons may be boot prints for one creature and hoof prints for another. Although it increases thematic immersion, having so many icons can make it difficult for players to quickly parse results. It can also create production challenges, and indeed, Quarriors!, the game that launched the concept of collectible dice games, struggled to find a publisher because of the manufacturing challenge the game presented. 在极端情况下,《龙骰》为游戏中的每个单位都定制了骰子。不同的单位可以用不同的图标来表示相同的效果。例如,一种生物的移动图标可能是靴印,而另一种生物的移动图标可能是蹄印。虽然这样可以增加主题的沉浸感,但如此多的图标可能会让玩家难以快速分辨结果。事实上,推出可收集骰子游戏概念的《Quarriors!
While they are most commonly used on dice, icons can be placed on cards to be flipped for resolution as well. Similar considerations apply, except that it is rare to have draws from multiple different decks the same way games like Descent: Journeys in the Dark have players roll different dice. 虽然图标最常用在骰子上,但也可以放在卡牌上翻转进行解牌。类似的考虑因素也适用,只是像《后裔》等游戏那样从多个不同牌组中抽牌的情况并不多见:Journeys in the Dark》等游戏一样,让玩家掷不同的骰子。
Sample Games
Command & Colors (Borg, 2006)
Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Wilson, 2005)
Dragon Dice (Smith, 1995)
Eclipse (Tahkokallio, 2011)
Memoir ' 44 (Borg, 2004)
Quarriors! (Elliott and Lang, 2011)
RES-06 Card Play
Description
Each player simultaneously or sequentially plays one or more cards. These modify the base outcome of a conflict and allow various special abilities to apply.
Discussion
This resolution system places more control in the hands of the players. In its simplest form, the player plays a number card to be added to the base results, as in Cosmic Encounter. However, this can be taken in a wide variety of directions to make combat more tactical. 这种解析系统将更多的控制权交到了玩家手中。最简单的形式是,玩家打出一张数字牌,将其添加到基本结果中,就像《宇宙奇遇记》中那样。然而,这可以有多种不同的方向,使战斗更具战术性。
Kemet resolves the conflict by giving players a strength based on the number of units in the battle. The players then each select a single Combat Card that modifies the outcome. It has three values: strength bonus, shield value, and damage caused. The strength bonus is added to the unit strength to determine the victory, while the shield value and damage bonuses determine how many opposing units are killed. Units are only removed based on those values, not winning or losing the battle. Players may know they are most likely to lose and, therefore, choose a Combat Card with little strength bonus but high damage value. This way, they destroy as many units as possible, possibly setting up for a counterattack, or even a Pyrrhic victory, should they succeed in eliminating all the attacking forces. This type of counterplay leads to a lot of Yomi (UNC-01), as players try to outguess their opponent's intent. 凯米特会根据参战单位的数量给玩家一个实力值来解决冲突。然后,玩家各自选择一张战斗卡来修改结果。它有三个值:力量奖励、护盾值和造成的伤害。力量奖励加到单位力量上决定胜负,而护盾值和伤害奖励则决定对方单位的死亡数量。单位只会根据这些数值被移除,而不会影响战斗的输赢。玩家可能知道自己最有可能输掉战斗,因此会选择一张力量加成小但伤害值高的战斗卡。这样,他们就能摧毁尽可能多的单位,如果他们成功消灭了所有进攻部队,就有可能为反击甚至是殊死一搏做好准备。这种类型的反击会导致很多 Yomi(UNC-01),因为玩家会试图猜测对手的意图。
Kemet also has players exhaust Combat Cards that they use, plus one additional card, in each battle. When all cards are exhausted, they are recovered, similar to an Action Retrieval system (ACT-03). This gives players more decisions to make and gives savvy players the opportunity to track which Combat Cards may still be in play for their opponents. 凯米特还让玩家在每场战斗中耗尽他们使用的战斗卡,外加一张额外的卡。当所有卡牌耗尽时,它们会被回收,类似于行动回收系统(ACT-03)。这让玩家可以做出更多决定,也让精明的玩家有机会追踪对手可能还在使用的战斗卡牌。
A variety of other games allow players to play cards that modify the battle in more extreme ways. Starship Samurai allows each player to include one battle card, the effects of which may range from a simple strength addition to the ability to redeploy units into or out of the battle, changing the situation drastically. Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games use cardbased Interrupts (TRN-17) to allow for a wide variety of different effects. 还有许多其他游戏允许玩家出牌,以更极端的方式改变战局。星舰武士》允许每位玩家加入一张战斗卡,其效果从简单的力量加成到可以将单位重新部署到战斗中或退出战斗,从而彻底改变局势。魔法:收集》和其他收集卡牌游戏使用基于卡牌的中断(TRN-17)来实现各种不同的效果。
Card systems can get quite complex. We the People has players draw a hand of tactics cards to resolve battles, the size of which is based on a variety of factors, including strength. Players then alternate playing or matching an opponent play. The first player who is not able to match the opponent loses the battle, so the player with more cards will typically win, but not always, and seizing the ability to lead the card play becomes a critical tactic. In Starcraft: The Board Game, players have a small hand of cards with abilities that trigger based on the units involved in the battle. As in We the People, players alternate card play to gain an advantage. Starcraft allows players to purchase upgraded tech cards to shuffle into their combat decks, but there is no guarantee they will be available, leading to opportunities for bluffing (UNC-01). 卡牌系统可以变得相当复杂。我们人民》让玩家抽取一手战术牌来解决战斗,战斗的规模取决于各种因素,包括实力。然后,玩家交替出牌或配合对手出牌。最先无法匹配对手的玩家输掉战斗,因此拥有更多卡片的玩家通常会获胜,但并非总是如此。在《星际争霸棋盘游戏》中,玩家有一小手牌,这些牌的能力会根据参战单位触发。与《我们是人民》一样,玩家通过交替出牌来获得优势。星际争霸》允许玩家购买升级版科技卡牌洗入战斗卡组,但不能保证一定能获得这些卡牌,这就为玩家提供了虚张声势的机会(UNC-01)。
The disadvantage of the more sophisticated card-based systems is that they slow down play quite a bit as battles are resolved. In a two-player game, this may not be an issue, but it is a consideration with higher player counts. Nonetheless, these systems can offer enormous design opportunities, and the ability to model a wide range of thematic moments and stratagems, as a play of War of the Ring will demonstrate. 更复杂的卡牌系统的缺点是,在解决战斗时,游戏速度会减慢很多。在双人游戏中,这可能不是一个问题,但在玩家人数较多的情况下,这就是一个需要考虑的问题了。不过,这些系统可以提供巨大的设计机会,并能模拟各种主题时刻和计谋,《魔戒战争》的游戏就能证明这一点。
Sample Games
Cosmic Encounter (Eberle, Kittredge, Norton, and Olatka, 1977)
Hannibal (Bauza, 2010)
Kemet (Bariot and Montiage, 2012)
Magic: The Gathering (Garfield, 1993)
Starcraft: The Board Game (Konieczka and Petersen, 2007)
Starship Samurai (Vega, 2018)
War of the Ring (Di Meglio, Maggi, and Nepitello, 2004)
We the People (Herman, 1993)
RES-07 Rock, Paper, Scissors
Description
There are three possible options, and they are cyclically superior (A beats B, B beats C , and C beats A ).
Discussion
Rock, Paper, Scissors (RPS) is one of the core resolution mechanisms. Unlike High Number or Stat Check, it is intransitive. A transitive relationship means that if A beats B and B beats C , then A beats C . For example, simply comparing strengths leads to a transitive relationship. 石头、剪子、布(RPS)是核心解决机制之一。与 "高数字 "或 "统计检查 "不同,它是不传递关系。传递关系是指如果 A 打败 B,B 打败 C,那么 A 打败 C。例如,简单地比较强弱就会产生传递关系。
Adding intransitive elements to conflict resolution leads to interesting and novel decisions for the players. For example, many Napoleonic war games treat the relationship between infantry, cavalry, and artillery as intransitive. Infantry beats cavalry (defending in a square), cavalry beats artillery, and artillery beats infantry. Note that "beats" in this context means "has an advantage over." It does not typically mean wins of the time. Age of Mythology: The Board Game is an example of this type of system. 在解决冲突的过程中加入不等式元素会给玩家带来新奇有趣的决定。例如,许多拿破仑战争游戏将步兵、骑兵和炮兵之间的关系视为不等式关系。步兵打败骑兵(在方阵中防守),骑兵打败炮兵,炮兵打败步兵。请注意,"击败 "在这里的意思是 "拥有优势"。它通常并不意味着在 时间内获胜。神话时代棋盘游戏》就是这类系统的一个例子。
There are a variety of ways to implement an RPS-based resolution system. Some games, like Secret Labyrinth and Darkover, have players secretly select one of three options (literally, RPS in the case of Secret Labyrinth), reveal, and compare. Others will give bonuses or penalties to players based on their choices, such as a modifier in a High Number system (RES-01), varying the number of dice to be rolled, or changing or adding target icons. 有多种方法可以实现基于 RPS 的解析系统。有些游戏,如《神秘迷宫》和《黑暗覆盖》,会让玩家从三个选项(《神秘迷宫》中为 RPS)中秘密选择一个,然后揭晓并进行比较。还有一些游戏会根据玩家的选择给予奖励或惩罚,例如在高数字系统(RES-01)中使用修改器,改变掷骰子的数量,或者改变或增加目标图标。
One system that is infrequently used is Intransitive Dice. In this implementation, there are three different dice with varying values on the faces. These are mathematically designed so that, on average, die A will roll higher than die B, die B higher than die C , and die C higher than die A . Typically, the advantage is around , so it can be difficult to engineer a dominant advantage, but over the course of many rolls, the player who gets the best matchups will come out ahead. 其中一种不常用的系统是内切骰子。在这种系统中,有三个不同的骰子,骰面上的数值各不相同。通常情况下,优势大约在 左右,因此很难设计出占优的优势,但在多次掷骰子的过程中,获得最佳配对的玩家就会领先。
The RPS mechanism can also arise indirectly from the interaction of player choices. For example, in Hoity Toity, players who go to the Auction House may choose to play a Cash card, to buy an artifact; a Thief, to steal a Cash card; or a Detective, to catch a Thief. Similarly, in Nobody But Us Chickens, players can play a Chicken for points, a Fox to catch a Chicken, or a Dog to catch a Fox. If there are more than three players, the interactions and choices can get complex for players to decide, while being easy to resolve. RPS 机制也可以间接产生于玩家选择之间的相互作用。例如,在《Hoity Toity》中,去拍卖行的玩家可以选择出一张现金卡,以购买神器;出一张盗贼卡,以偷窃现金卡;或者出一张侦探卡,以抓住盗贼。同样,在 "只有我们鸡 "游戏中,玩家可以选择 "鸡 "来获得积分,也可以选择 "狐狸 "来抓 "鸡",还可以选择 "狗 "来抓 "狐狸"。如果玩家超过三人,互动和选择就会变得复杂,玩家需要做出决定,同时又很容易解决。
Hoity Toity has the additional wrinkle that if multiple players select Thief, they cancel out, which has shades of the Prisoner's Dilemma (RES-08) and Sealed Bid with Cancellation (AUC-05).
Many games extend a hierarchical system by including a wrap-around with the weakest piece defeating the strongest. For example, in Stratego, the Marshall is the strongest piece, but it can be defeated by the Spy, the weakest. Similarly, in Frank's Zoo, the Elephant is the strongest card, but it is defeated by the Mouse. This adds a beneficial layer of uncertainty to these games. Stratego without the possibility of losing your Marshall would be a much poorer game. 许多游戏都会通过最弱的棋子打败最强的棋子来扩展等级系统。例如,在 "战略棋 "中,"马歇尔 "是最强的棋子,但它会被最弱的 "间谍 "打败。同样,在《弗兰克动物园》中,大象是最强的牌,但却被老鼠打败了。这为这些游戏增添了一层有益的不确定性。没有可能失去马歇尔的策略游戏将是一个糟糕得多的游戏。
Sample Games
Age of Mythology: The Board Game (Drover, 2003)
Darkover (Eberle, Kittredge, and Olatka, 1979)
Frank's Zoo (Matthäus and Nestel, 1999)
Hoity Toity (Teuber, 1991)
Nobody but Us Chickens (Nunn, 2003)
Secret Labyrinth (Kobbert, 1998)
Stratego (Mogendorff, 1946)
RES-08 Prisoner's Dilemma
Description
Each player has a choice between Cooperating or Defecting. The total payoff is maximized if both players Cooperate, but if one Defects and the other Cooperates, the Defector will score more individual points.
Discussion
The Prisoner's Dilemma (PD) is one of the core Resolution mechanisms. Players choose to either cooperate with each other or defect. A typical payoff chart is shown in the diagram above. Since the payoffs if both defect or cooperate are equivalent for both players, this system only works if there are more than two players, even if only two are involved in the PD. If there are only two players, neither gains ground if they select the same option, so picking Defect is always the correct strategy. 囚徒困境(PD)是核心决议机制之一。玩家要么选择相互合作,要么选择叛变。典型的报酬图如上所示。由于投敌或合作的收益对双方来说都是等价的,因此这个系统只有在有两个以上玩家的情况下才会起作用,即使只有两个玩家参与 "囚徒困境"。如果只有两个棋手,那么如果他们选择相同的选项,都不会获得收益,所以选择 "叛变 "总是正确的策略。
As indicated by the traditional choice names of Cooperate and Defect, the PD brings elements of trust to the forefront and strong elements of Yomi (UNC-01). This can lead to emotional investment by the players, or reaction
to being betrayed, particularly in longer games where the outcome can have a significant impact on player position.
An example of this is Diplomacy, a 6-8 hour game of conquest in Europe. The players representing Austria and Italy start with two key spaces and armies, Venice and Trieste, adjacent to each other at the start of the game, the only such situation among the seven players. In Diplomacy, players write down orders and reveal them simultaneously (TRN-09, for more on Simultaneous Action Selection). After the initial negotiation phase, Italy and Austria need to decide if they will move away from their common border (Cooperate) or invade (Defect). If both Cooperate, it can set them up for a reasonable start and good long-term relationship. If both Defect, no one loses a home supply center, but it will sow distrust and put them behind the other players as their forces will not have moved. And if one Cooperates and the other Defects, a home supply center will be lost, putting one player at a significant disadvantage. 外交》就是一个例子,这是一个耗时 6-8 小时的征服欧洲的游戏。代表奥地利和意大利的棋手在游戏开始时,威尼斯和的里雅斯特这两个关键空间和军队彼此相邻,这在七个棋手中是唯一的情况。在 "外交 "游戏中,玩家写下命令并同时揭晓(TRN-09,关于 "同时行动选择 "的更多信息)。初始谈判阶段结束后,意大利和奥地利需要决定是离开共同边界(合作)还是入侵(叛逃)。如果双方都合作,这将为他们建立一个合理的开端和良好的长期关系。如果双方都叛逃,谁也不会失去一个本土补给中心,但这会造成不信任,并使他们落后于其他玩家,因为他们的军队不会移动。而如果一方合作,另一方叛变,则会失去一个家庭供应中心,使一方处于明显的劣势。
While Diplomacy frequently creates high emotional moments like this, the Prisoner's Dilemma does not always need to involve such high stakes. For example, in Hoity Toity, players in the Auction House may choose to purchase an item, play a Thief card to steal money, or a Detective card to catch a thief. While this is fundamentally an RPS mechanic (RES-07), if multiple players choose Thief, they cancel out and no thieves gain any benefit. This adds elements of a PD, but in a lighter way as there is no negotiation in Hoity Toity, and for players the stakes are much lower. 虽然外交游戏经常创造出类似的高情感时刻,但 "囚徒困境 "并不一定需要涉及如此高的赌注。例如,在《Hoity Toity》中,拍卖行中的玩家可以选择购买物品、出 "小偷牌 "偷钱或出 "侦探牌 "抓小偷。虽然从根本上说这是一种 RPS 机制(RES-07),但如果多个玩家都选择了 "小偷",那么他们的选择就会被抵消,小偷也不会获得任何好处。这增加了 "PD "的元素,但方式比较轻松,因为在 Hoity Toity 中没有谈判,玩家的赌注要小得多。
Another example of this is Incan Gold, where each turn players need to decide simultaneously if they are continuing to explore an abandoned temple in search of treasure or will return home. Sometimes earlier treasures and artifacts may be left behind players, to be scooped up by players who leave the cave. In particular, artifacts create a PD, as they are only gained if a single player chooses to leave the temple. If multiple players leave the cave on the same turn, none gain the artifacts. This implementation also tends to be light as there are potential benefits for both staying and leaving, and no negotiation prior to selection. 另一个例子是《印加黄金》(Incan Gold),在该游戏中,每个回合玩家都需要同时决定是继续探索一座废弃的寺庙寻找宝藏,还是返回家园。有时,早期的宝藏和工艺品可能会被玩家留在身后,被离开洞穴的玩家拾取。尤其是神器,因为只有单个玩家选择离开寺庙时才能获得,所以会产生 PD。如果多名玩家在同一回合离开洞穴,则都不会获得神器。这种实现方式也比较简单,因为留下和离开都有潜在的好处,而且在选择之前无需协商。
Cosmic Encounter introduces the PD through Negotiation cards. Conflict is resolved by both attacker and defender selecting a Number card from their hand. The player with the highest Number card plus Force strength wins the battle. Players also have the option to play a Negotiate card, if they have one, instead of a Number card. If both players Negotiate, they are allowed to negotiate a deal, which can be mutually beneficial. However, if only one Negotiates, that player automatically loses, and the player and their allies lose all their 《宇宙奇遇记》通过谈判卡引入了 PD。冲突由攻守双方从手中选择一张数字牌来解决。拥有最高数字牌和武力值的玩家赢得战斗。玩家也可以选择打出一张 "谈判牌"(如果有的话)来代替 "数字牌"。如果两名玩家都出 "谈判 "牌,他们可以通过谈判达成交易,这可能对双方都有利。但是,如果只有一方谈判,则该玩家自动输掉战斗,并且该玩家及其盟友会失去他们所有的
involved forces. In an interesting twist, the player who chose a Negotiate card in this situation gains a small compensating benefit but not Allies. Thus, inviting Allies to join you in a battle where you know you will play a Negotiate is its own form of Defection, building a secondary PD into the core mechanism. 参与部队。一个有趣的转折是,在这种情况下选择 "谈判 "牌的玩家会获得少量补偿性收益,但盟军不会。因此,邀请盟友加入一场你知道自己会打出协商牌的战斗本身就是一种 "变节",在核心机制中加入了次级 PD。
Dead Last has two players dividing up four loot cards and adds a third option to the classic PD. In addition to Share and Steal (Cooperate/Defect), players may also choose Grab One, which guarantees exactly one loot card, possibly leaving three for the opponent. Dead Last 让两名玩家瓜分四张战利品卡,并为经典的 PD 增加了第三个选项。除了 "分享 "和 "偷窃"(合作/破坏)之外,玩家还可以选择 "抢一张",这将确保获得一张战利品卡,而对手可能会获得三张。
Sample Games
Cosmic Encounter (Eberle, Kittredge, Norton, and Olatka, 1977)
Dead Last (Grosso and Patton, 2016)
Diplomacy (Calhamer, 1959)
Fantasy Business (Boelinger, 2002)
Hoity Toity (Teuber, 1991)
Incan Gold (Faidutti and Moon, 2005)
Zombie in My Pocket (Lee, 2010)
RES-09 Alternate Removal
Description
The player with fewer units removes one. Then players alternate removing units until reaching a set number, one player is out of units, or some other stopping mechanism.
Discussion
The system of Alternate Removal was first introduced in the 1980 game Civilization. Conflict in Civilization only needs to be resolved if the total number of tokens in an area exceeds its carrying capacity (representing the fertility of the particular area), which ranges from one to five. If the total quantity exceeds this, the Alternating Removal process is initiated. Tokens are removed, starting with the player with the fewest until the total number of tokens no longer exceeds the carrying capacity. 替代迁移系统最早出现在 1980 年的游戏《文明》中。文明》中的冲突只有在某一地区的代币总数超过其承载能力(代表特定地区的肥沃程度)时才需要解决,承载能力从 1 到 5 不等。如果总数超过承载能力,就会启动 "交替移除 "程序。令牌从最少的玩家开始移除,直到令牌总数不再超过承载能力。
If players have equal numbers of tokens, the tied players each remove a token at the same time.
This system has a variety of intriguing features. First, it is strictly deterministic. It is a determinative process with no hidden information. This is rare among conflict resolution mechanisms. Second, coexistence in an area is allowed and common. Many games with conflict or battles for areas only permit a single player to ultimately occupy an area or control it in the case of Area Majority games (ARC-02). This gives more flexibility for players to negotiate and settle borders. 这个系统有许多引人入胜之处。首先,它具有严格的确定性。它是一个没有隐藏信息的决定性过程。这在冲突解决机制中是罕见的。其次,在一个区域内共存是允许的,也是常见的。许多有冲突或争夺区域的游戏只允许单个玩家最终占领一个区域,或在区域多数人游戏(ARC-02)中控制一个区域。这为玩家协商和解决边界问题提供了更大的灵活性。
Finally, it gives the design hooks for special abilities later in the game. For example, if only one player in a Conflict has Metal Working, they are always the last to remove a token.
Inis uses a similar removal system, except that players have the option of removing a unit or discarding a card. In addition, players have the option, after taking a casualty, to withdraw from the battle rather than pursuing the conflict. Notably, this doesn't trigger a retreat from the disputed territory. 《伊尼斯》使用类似的移除系统,但玩家可以选择移除一个单位或丢弃一张牌。此外,玩家在伤亡后可以选择退出战斗,而不是继续冲突。值得注意的是,这不会触发从争议领土撤退。
Sample Games
Civilization (Tresham, 1980)
Inis (Martinez, 2016)
RES-10 Physical Action
Description
A Physical Action needs to be performed by one or more players to determine the outcome of the action.
Discussion
Adding a physical element for resolving player actions makes for an intuitive, tense, and exciting play experience by adding Performance Uncertainty (Chapter 6). Physical Action resolution is somewhat skill-based but also acts as a randomizer. However, its use does give a game a lighter, toyetic feel, as players interact with the game pieces. In a highly strategic game, this can lead to a disconnect, as the strategy is undercut by what can feel like a highly variable resolution mechanism. It also can make players that are poor at performing the activity feel like they are at a disadvantage throughout the game, and it is not something that they can compensate for, leading to a negative experience. 通过增加 "表现不确定性"(第 6 章),为玩家行动的解决添加物理元素,从而带来直观、紧张和刺激的游戏体验。物理行动的解决在某种程度上是以技能为基础的,但同时也是一种随机因素。然而,当玩家与游戏棋子互动时,它的使用确实会给游戏带来一种轻松、玩具化的感觉。在一个策略性很强的游戏中,这可能会导致游戏脱节,因为策略性会被一个变化多端的解决机制所削弱。这也会让不擅长进行这种活动的玩家感觉自己在整个游戏中处于劣势,而这又不是他们可以弥补的,从而导致负面体验。
The most common implementation of Physical Action is flicking, which is covered in its own entry, RES-24. Games with balance and stacking elements are also common and are covered in RES-25. While flicking is a popular implementation of a physical resolution mechanism, there are many alternatives. Flip Ships has a form of flicking, with a ship being placed on a platform and flipped off of it. Dungeon Fighter has players bounce a die off the table surface to land on a target. 最常见的 "物理动作 "是 "轻弹",这在第 24 单元中有所介绍。带有平衡和堆叠元素的游戏也很常见,在 RES-25 中也有介绍。虽然弹击是物理解析机制的一种常用实现方式,但也有许多替代方法。Flip Ships(翻转船只)就是一种翻转形式,将船只放在平台上,然后从平台上翻转下来。地下城战士》让玩家将骰子弹离桌面,落在目标上。
Wallenstein introduced the Cube Tower. This is a tower with internal ledges. Players resolve a conflict by taking a specific number of cubes of different colors (the attacking and defending cubes, for example), and throw them into the tower. The cubes that emerge at the bottom determine the outcome. Cubes that get stuck inside are left behind and may emerge in future conflicts. If a player knows he or she has many cubes stuck in the tower, he or she may be more inclined to initiate conflicts, for example. 华伦斯坦推出了立方体塔。这是一座内部有壁架的塔。玩家在解决冲突时,需要将一定数量的不同颜色的方块(例如进攻方和防守方的方块)扔进塔中。出现在底部的方块决定了结果。卡在里面的方块会被留下来,并可能在未来的冲突中出现。例如,如果玩家知道自己有很多方块卡在塔里,他或她可能会更倾向于发起冲突。
Other games have objects being removed, like Ker-Plunk and Don't Break the Ice. There are also games that combine removal with stacking, including Jenga and Villa Paletti.
Finally, there are a variety of outlier physical mechanics, including throwing darts in Dart Wars, distinguishing items by feel in Space Cadets, eggremoval in Gulo Gulo, the pie launcher of Pie Face, finger gymnastics of Climb!, and popping balloons in Kamasutra. A comprehensive listing of these is beyond the scope of this book. 最后,还有各种与众不同的物理机制,包括《飞镖大战》中的投掷飞镖、《太空学员》中的凭感觉分辨物品、《咕噜咕噜》中的拆蛋、《馅饼脸》中的馅饼发射器、《攀爬!》中的手指体操以及《卡玛苏特拉》中的爆破气球。全面列举这些内容超出了本书的范围。
Another variation on the physical resolution is Speed Matching. Cards are flipped up, and players need to see if two match, and either slap the cards or grab a totem. Games that incorporate this type of system include Jungle Speed and Scan. The inclusion of physical action can give players an opportunity to feint and induce a mistaken grab by other players, leading to a penalty in some games. Jungle Speed incorporates this tactic. 物理解法的另一个变种是快速配对。玩家需要翻开卡片,查看是否有两张匹配,然后拍打卡片或抓取图腾。采用这种系统的游戏包括 "丛林速度 "和 "扫描"。肢体动作的加入会给玩家提供佯攻的机会,诱使其他玩家误抓,从而在某些游戏中导致惩罚。丛林速度》就采用了这种战术。
Introducing a physical action gives the designer a chance to add physical handicaps to mix up the challenges and make them harder. It also ups the "zaniness" factor, giving games a lighter feel. Dungeon Fighter has players act with their non-dominant hands, eyes closed, and various other physical challenges. 《引入肢体动作让设计者有机会增加肢体障碍,从而混合挑战,增加难度。它还能增加 "刺激 "因素,给游戏带来轻松的感觉。地牢战士》(Dungeon Fighter)让玩家用非惯用手行动、闭眼以及其他各种肢体挑战。
Sample Games
Animal Upon Animal (Miltenberger, 2005)
Ascending Empires (Cooper, 2011)
Bausack (Zoch, 1987)
Catacombs (Amos, Kelsey, and West, 2010)
Climb! (Michaud, 2008)
Dart Wars (Reymond, 2006)
Diskwars (Gelle, Hardy, Jolly, and Petersen, 1999)
Don't Break the Ice (Uncredited, 1965)
Dungeon Fighter (Buonfino, Silva, and Sorrentino, 2011)
Flick 'em Up (Beaujannot and Monpertuis, 2015)
Flip Ships (Klenko, 2017)
Gulo Gulo (Granau, Kramer, and Raggan, 2003)
Jenga (Scott, 1983)
Jungle Speed (Vuarchex and Yakovenko, 1997)
Junk Art (stacking) (Cormier and Lim, 2016)
Kamasutra (Faidutti, 2000)
Ker-Plunk (Goldfarb and Soriano, 1967)
Meeple Circus (Millet, 2017)
Pie Face (Uncredited, 1964)
Scan (Glass, 1970)
Seal Team Flix (Ruth and Thomas, 2018)
Space Cadets (Engelstein, Engelstein, and Engelstein, 2012)
Villa Paletti (Payne, 2001)
Wallenstein (Henn, 2002)
RES-11 Static Capture
Description
Pieces are captured when another piece occupies or passes over their space.
Discussion
This is one of the oldest conflict resolution mechanisms, going back thousands of years.
Typically combined with a movement system, a token is affected in some way when another enters its space. For example, it may be captured (Chess, Checkers), be sent back to start (Parcheesi, Trouble, Sorry!', Backgammon), or switch sides (Shogi).
In order to make capturing challenging and meaningful, the movement of pieces needs to be restricted in some fashion. Chess and Shogi allow pieces to move to defined squares, while the Parcheesi family of games uses a randomizer and the moved piece must, typically, move the full amount. More information about Movement schemes is in Chapter 10, but a few features are worth noting here. 为了使吃子具有挑战性和意义,棋子的移动需要受到某种限制。国际象棋和将棋允许棋子移动到规定的位置,而巴棋(Parcheesi)系列游戏则使用随机器,被移动的棋子通常必须走完全程。有关移动方案的更多信息请参见第 10 章,但这里有几个特点值得注意。
In most cases, the moving piece will make the capture on its final space of movement. This is particularly true of games where movement is controlled by a randomizer, with pieces typically needing to land on an opposing piece by exact count to make a capture. There are exceptions, 在大多数情况下,移动中的棋子会在其最后的移动空间中吃掉对方的棋子。这在由随机器控制移动的游戏中尤为明显,棋子通常需要准确地落在对方棋子上才能吃掉对方棋子。但也有例外、
of course. Sorry! has specific areas where a piece may slide through multiple spaces, sending all pieces encountered back to start, and in Checkers pieces make jumps to capture and can string together multiple jumps as a single move.
Motion is not a requirement for this mechanism. Through the Desertallows players to claim Palm Trees for points by extending a chain of camels across the board. Camels do not move once placed, but players may only add to chains in certain ways. Expedition has a similar chain mechanism, as players attempt to "capture" certain cities on the board to earn points. 《该机制不要求移动。穿越沙漠游戏允许玩家通过在棋盘上延伸骆驼链来获得棕榈树积分。骆驼放置后不会移动,但玩家只能以特定方式增加链条。远征》也有类似的连锁机制,玩家试图 "占领 "棋盘上的某些城市来获得积分。
Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends has players placing pieces on the board, trying to achieve certain patterns. When those patterns are realized, enemy pieces may be captured.
While not truly Static Capture, there are games that feature pushing as a means to capture, including Abalone. In these games, there are typically restrictions on which pieces can move and be captured. In these games, pieces or groups of pieces may push other pieces, typically with the intention of pushing them off the board or into a dead space. Because of the physical nature of pushing, particularly chain pushing, the physical design of the board and pieces usually facilitates the mechanism. Abalone has a grooved board that makes it easy to push marbles in the six hexagonal directions. 虽然不是真正意义上的静态吃子,但也有以推子为吃子手段的游戏,包括《鲍鱼》。在这些游戏中,通常会限制哪些棋子可以移动和被吃掉。在这些游戏中,棋子或棋子组可以推其他棋子,通常是为了把它们推离棋盘或推入死角。由于 "推 "的物理特性,尤其是连锁 "推",棋盘和棋子的物理设计通常会为这一机制提供便利。鲍鱼棋有一个凹槽棋盘,可以方便地将弹珠推向六个六边形方向。
Sample Games
Abalone (Lalet and Levi, 1987)
Backgammon (Unknown, 3000 всЕ)
Checkers (Unknown)
Chess (Unknown, 〜1200)
Expedition (Kramer, 1996)
Onitama (Sato, 2014)
Parcheesi (Unknown, 400)
Shogi (Unknown)
Sorry! (Haskell, Jr. and Storey, 1929)
Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends (Chvátil, 2013)
Through The Desert (Knizia, 1998)
Trouble (Kohner, Kohner, and Kroll, 1965)
RES-12 Enclosure
Description
Players try to surround pieces or key areas.
Discussion
Dating back thousands of years, Go is one of the most famous examples of this type of conflict resolution. If a group of connected stones has no empty spaces adjacent to it, it is captured. While the stones themselves are static, the evolution of groups gives Go a dynamic feel. 围棋可以追溯到几千年前,是这种冲突解决方式最著名的例子之一。如果一组相连的棋子旁边没有空位,那么这组棋子就被吃掉了。虽然棋子本身是静态的,但棋组的演变给围棋带来了动态感。
Reversi implements Enclosure by allowing players to flip tiles of the opposing color that are between two tiles of their own color.
The nature of Enclosure games makes certain regions of the board more or less desirable. In Reversi, the corner and edge spaces are more valuable, as it is harder or impossible to surround pieces located there. Similarly, in Go, players typically start near corners, where it is easier to enclose territory and make stones safe, and then extend down the sides and toward the middle (Illustration 4.3). 围棋游戏的性质决定了棋盘上某些区域的价值有高有低。在 Reversi 中,角落和边缘的空间更有价值,因为很难或不可能包围位于那里的棋子。同样,在围棋中,棋手通常从角落附近开始下棋,因为那里更容易围住地盘并保证棋子的安全,然后再向两边和中间延伸(图 4.3)。
Elements of Enclosure games can also be seen in games like Samurai, where the objective is to surround board elements with tiles. These are both
Illustration 4.3 A game of Go in progress. White has surrounded territory on the lower left and upper right.
Enclosure games and a type of Area Majority (ARC-02), where tiles can be placed so that they are adjacent to multiple objectives, contributing strength toward both.
In general, good enclosure games are designed so that pieces are both trying to enclose and at risk of being enclosed themselves, or there are several possible ways they can be used for Enclosure.
Sample Games
Go (Unknown, 2200 всЕ)
Reversi (Mollet and Waterman, 1883)
Samurai (Knizia, 1998)
Through the Desert (Knizia, 1998)
RES-13 Minimap
Description
When a conflict is initiated, pieces are moved to a separate board for resolution.
Discussion
This is a meta-mechanic, as it is a way of organizing conflict, and relies on one of the other methods discussed here to actually resolve individual attacks.
One of the earliest examples of the Minimap mechanism is the 1962 game Bismarck. In this naval game, players secretly move task forces around a search board. When they discover each other, task forces are moved to the Battle Board, where the conflict is actually resolved (through a Stat Check mechanism in Bismarck's case). It is like "zooming in" on the battle to get more tactical. Video games like Master of Orion and Heroes of Might and Magic implement a similar system. 最小地图机制最早的例子之一是 1962 年的游戏《俾斯麦》。在这款海军游戏中,玩家在搜索板上秘密移动特遣部队。当他们发现对方时,特遣部队就会被移动到战斗棋盘上,冲突就会在那里得到实际解决(在俾斯麦游戏中是通过统计检查机制)。这就好比 "放大 "了战斗,使其更具战术性。电子游戏《猎户座大师》和《英雄无敌》也采用了类似的系统。
The Battle Board was later extended in Titan, where players move groups of monsters (Legions) around a master board. When two opposing Legions meet in the same space, they are transferred to a battle board to actually fight the battle. Titan is notable in that it has a different battle board for each type of terrain, and the side the defender sets up on depends on the direction from 后来在《泰坦》中,玩家可以在主棋盘上移动怪物群(军团)。当两个对立的军团在同一空间相遇时,它们会被转移到战斗板上进行实际战斗。泰坦》的显著特点是每种地形都有不同的战棋盘,而防守方设置在哪一侧取决于从哪一侧出发。
which the attacker entered the space. This makes battles extremely variable and tactical (Illustrations 4.4 a and 4.4b).
A variation on this can be seen in Buck Rogers: Battle for the 25th Century, which has both a solar system map and separate maps for each planet, colocated on the board. Unlike Titan, which has many, many Jungle spaces, all
Illustration 4.4a When a battle takes place in a Hills space in Titan, the battle is conducted on this separate board. Each board has different combinations of terrain. This board features Hill spaces that confer a combat advantage to occupiers and Forest spaces that are impassable. A much simpler version of this mechanism is used in Axis & Allies, which uses a Battle Board not to give tactical options to the players, but as a player-aid to help organize and keep track of the strength of units, what they need to roll to hit, and which units are still able to fire. This is more of a graphic design technique than a mechanism. A similar system is seen in many Force Commitment games (ARC-06). 说明 4.4a 当战斗发生在《泰坦》中的希尔斯空间时,战斗就在这块独立的棋盘上进行。每个棋盘都有不同的地形组合。这块棋盘上的丘陵空间会给占领者带来战斗优势,而森林空间则无法通行。轴心国与同盟国》(Axis & Allies)中使用的这种机制要简单得多,它使用战斗棋盘并不是为了给玩家提供战术选择,而是作为一种玩家辅助工具,帮助玩家组织和记录单位的实力、需要掷骰子才能击中的位置以及哪些单位仍能开火。这与其说是一种机制,不如说是一种图形设计技巧。许多 "部队投入 "游戏(ARC-06)中也有类似的系统。
Illustration 4.4b The battle board in Axis & Allies: Europe. The boxes are used to organize units by combat strength and track casualties. It obviates the need for players to memorize the combat strength of all the different units.
of which resolve on the Jungle board, here the planet maps are very specific to the planets in the solar system and act as a place for units on the planet to be located and for ground battles to be resolved.
Sample Games
Axis & Allies (Harris, Jr., 1981)
Bismarck (Roberts and Shaw, 1962)
Buck Rogers: Battle for the 25th Century (Grubb, 1988)
Titan (McAllister and Trampier, 1980)
RES-14 Force Commitment
Description
The players select how many of their forces they will commit to the battle to different categories. The players then reveal their assignments and resolve.
Discussion
This is a meta-mechanic that builds on other Resolution means. Typically, players will reveal their strengths in different categories, with the High Number gaining the benefit (RES-01). If the allocation portion of this mechanism is done secretly, it is a Sealed Bid Auction, so considerations noted in that section (AUC-05) apply here. 这是一种元机制,建立在其他决议手段之上。通常情况下,棋手会在不同的类别中展示自己的实力,高分者会获得好处(RES-01)。如果该机制的分配部分是秘密进行的,则属于密封竞价拍卖,因此该部分(AUC-05)中的注意事项也适用于此处。
In one of the earlier implementers of this system, Dune and its successor, Rex: Final Days of an Empire, have players allocating to just two categories: in the battle or out of the battle. Units that a player commits to a battle will be lost. In addition, all units from the loser are eliminated. This system makes the players evaluate whether to give themselves a higher chance to win by committing larger forces or preserve as much of their force as possible by committing fewer forces. 在这一系统的早期实施者之一《沙丘》及其后续作品《雷克斯:帝国的末日》中,玩家的分配只有两类:参战或不参战。玩家投入战斗的单位将丢失。此外,失败者的所有单位都会被淘汰。这个系统让玩家评估是投入更多兵力来提高胜率,还是投入更少兵力来尽可能多地保留兵力。
Dune augments the mechanism by allowing the players to also commit leaders and bonus cards along with forces. This uncertainty is critical for this
system to work so that the player with the larger force cannot just bid one more than the size of the smaller (Illustration 4.5).
A modified form of this system has the loser only losing part of its force, not the full force. This makes the decision of Force Commitment for the larger side more challenging, as it introduces more Yomi (UNC-01) by giving a broader possible strength range of the commitment of the smaller force. 该系统的一种改进形式是输方只损失部分兵力,而不是全部兵力。这使得大部队一方的兵力投入决定更具挑战性,因为它为小部队的兵力投入提供了更广阔的可能兵力范围,从而引入了更多的 Yomi(UNC-01)。
Cry Havoc and Rising Sun give more options to players for Force allocation. In Cry Havoc, players may allocate forces to take control of the area being fought over, cause casualties, or take prisoners. Control and Prisoners are executed by the player with the most forces in that region, while Cause Casualties is executed by all players who have units there. Tactics cards can also be played to affect the battle in various ways. Cry Havoc 和 Rising Sun 为玩家分配部队提供了更多选择。在 "哭泣的浩劫 "中,玩家可以分配部队控制战斗区域、造成伤亡或俘虏。控制和俘虏由在该区域拥有最多部队的玩家执行,而造成伤亡则由在该区域拥有部队的所有玩家执行。战术牌也能以各种方式影响战局。
Rising Sun has a similar system to Cry Havoc, except with slightly different assignment options (the ability to sacrifice your own units for victory points, for example). Also, while Rising Sun uses the same simultaneous secret assignment of forces, Cry Havoc has the Attacker allocate first, followed by the Defender. Secret assignment emphasizes the guessing nature and leads to a lighter, more random feel, while sequential assignment removes luck but 旭日东升》的系统与《哭泣的浩劫》类似,只是分配选项略有不同(例如,可以牺牲自己的单位来换取胜利点数)。此外,《旭日东升》采用了相同的同时秘密分配兵力的方式,而《哭泣的浩劫》则是先分配进攻方,然后再分配防守方。秘密分配强调了猜测的性质,使游戏感觉更轻松、更随机,而顺序分配则消除了运气成分。
Illustration 4.5 The Combat Wheel in Dune. Players select the strength they are committing to the battle and may also add a leader disk and cards. This is held in the hand and then simultaneously revealed.
may give an advantage to the side that places last (the Defender, in the case of Cry Havoc).
These types of systems give the players a lot of flexibility in the goals they want to achieve in a battle. Are they trying to hold ground? Cause losses? Earn points? The player can use the options to pursue a variety of strategies.
Sample Games
Cry Havoc (Rodiek, Oracz, and Walczak, 2016)
Dune (Eberle, Kittredge, and Olatka, 1979)
Rex: Final Days of an Empire (Eberle, Goodenoungh, Kitteredge, Konieczka, Olatka, and Petersen, 2012)
Rising Sun (Lang, 2018)
Scythe (Stegmaier, 2016)
RES-15 Voting
Description
Players vote on whether a proposed action will occur or not.
Discussion
The Voting mechanism is often used in games with a political theme, although some, like Die Regeln Wir Shon, are more abstract. In some games, each player gets one vote. In others, players may have multiple votes that they can apply.
Voting is in many ways an Area Majority mechanism (ARC-02), except that players are either on the "Yay" or on the "Nay" sides, rather than only able to win something individually. This can lead to shifting coalitions of players on either side of an issue, as interests align and diverge, underscoring the political nature of this resolution means. 投票在很多方面都与地区多数机制(ARC-02)类似,只不过玩家要么站在 "赞成 "的一方,要么站在 "反对 "的一方,而不是只能单独赢得一些东西。这可能会随着利益的一致和分歧,导致问题双方的玩家联盟发生变化,从而凸显出这种解决方式的政治性质。
The item being voted on can fit at various levels in the game. In Junta, players are voting to decide whether the budget proposed by El Presidente passes and the money is distributed to the players. This is an example of a sub-system of the game that links to other key mechanisms. The Republic of Rome is similar in that players are voting on which characters should gain offices, how wars are conducted, and even the execution of characters. These decisions then feed into other systems to propel the game forward (Illustration 4.6). 投票的项目可以适用于游戏中的不同级别。在 "军政府 "中,玩家投票决定 "总统 "提出的预算是否通过,并将钱分配给玩家。这是游戏中与其他关键机制相连的子系统的一个例子。罗马共和国》与此类似,玩家通过投票决定哪些角色应该获得职位、战争如何进行,甚至是处决哪些角色。这些决定会反馈到其他系统,推动游戏向前发展(插图 4.6)。
Some games have players vote on actual changes to the rules themselves. Democrazy and Das Regeln Wir Shon are prime examples of this, as
Illustration 4.6 Two voting cards from Junta. Unlike many voting games, players do not get an equal number of votes.
players play cards that contain possible game rules, and players vote on them. Proposing rules that help several players, including yourself, but yourself a little bit more, is a key skill in the game and can lead to intriguing and exciting game play. These rules changes range from what actions are available to players, how resources can be exchanged, how the game ends, and what contributes toward victory. 游戏规则是由玩家出牌,牌中包含可能的游戏规则,玩家对这些规则进行投票。提出对包括自己在内的多名玩家都有帮助的规则是游戏中的一项关键技能,可以带来引人入胜的精彩游戏。这些规则变化的范围包括玩家可以采取哪些行动、如何交换资源、游戏如何结束以及哪些因素有助于取得胜利。
Galactic Destiny, which includes a Galactic Senate mechanism, also has players vote on new rules to be added, but these are not the core of the game. They impact what actions players may perform, and what is legal or illegal.
As mentioned earlier, some voting games, like Das Regeln Wir Shon, give one vote to each player, and a simple majority wins. However, there are other variations. In Junta and Republic of Rome, the players represent factions, and so they may have control of various characters or blocks of voters that give them more than one vote. If players are powerful enough, they may even be able to pass anything they want. 如前所述,有些投票游戏(如 Das Regeln Wir Shon)给每位玩家一票,简单多数获胜。不过,还有其他一些变体。在 "军政府 "和 "罗马共和国 "中,玩家代表的是派别,因此他们可能控制着不同的角色或选民群体,从而拥有不止一票。如果玩家足够强大,他们甚至可以通过任何他们想要的东西。
Some games vary from simple majority in votes. In Article 27: The UN Security Council Game, a unanimous vote is required for a measure to pass. Bribery and other inducements are encouraged to get players to vote your way.
While voting systems can be dynamic and interesting, they also encourage negotiation, which can make this mechanism very time-consuming. This should be carefully considered by the designer when determining if it is appropriate for the player experience desired. 投票系统可以是动态的、有趣的,但同时也鼓励协商,这可能会使这一机制非常耗时。设计者在确定是否适合玩家的体验时,应仔细考虑这一点。
Sample Games
Article 27: The UN Security Council Game (Baden, 2012)
Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game (Konieczka, 2008)
Das Regeln Wir Schon (Schmiel, 1994)
Democrazy (Faidutti, 2000)
Galactic Destiny (Mauro, O'Maoileoin, Pulis, and Pulis, 2007)
Hoax (Eberle, Horn Jr., Kittredge, and Olatka, 1981)
Junta (Goldberg, Grossman, Marsh, Marsh, Tsao, and Vrtis, 1978)
The Republic of Rome (Berthold, Greenwood, and Haines, 1990)
The Resistance (Eskrisdge, 2009)
Werewolf (Davidoff and Plotkin, 1986)
RES-16 Player Judge
Description
One player, the judge, decides the outcome of the Action.
Discussion
The standard use of this resolution mechanism is in games where players are performing a task, and there are no objective criteria as to which is best, so one player acts as Judge to select the winner. For example, in Apples to Apples, one player is the Judge, and the other players select one of their noun cards to match an adjective card. The Judge then selects which they think is closest. 这种解决机制的标准用法是在游戏中,玩家正在执行一项任务,而没有客观标准来判定哪一个是最好的,因此由一名玩家担任裁判来选出优胜者。例如,在 "苹果对苹果 "游戏中,一名玩家担任裁判,其他玩家从他们的名词卡中选择一张与形容词卡匹配。然后评委选出他们认为最接近的一个。
Similarly, in The Big Idea, players use noun cards to pitch products that fulfill a need, and the Judge selects which they like the most.
In these games, the role of Judge either rotates around the table in a regular fashion or passes to the player who won the last round. The latter is a type of balancing mechanism as the Judge usually cannot score, so it gives other players an opportunity to close the gap (VIC-18). 在这些游戏中,判官的角色要么按规则在桌上轮换,要么传给上一轮获胜的玩家。后者是一种平衡机制,因为法官通常不能得分,所以给了其他玩家缩小差距的机会(VIC-18)。
This Player Judge mechanism allows players to tailor their answers to the Judge's preferences. The best implementations of this system have anonymous responses, as in Apples to Apples. In games where it is known which player goes with which answer, the Judge may go against the spirit of the game, and deliberately not select players due to their score, rather than the intrinsic worth of their submission. Personal relationships that 玩家评委机制允许玩家根据评委的喜好调整自己的答案。该系统的最佳实施方式是匿名回答,如《苹果对苹果》中的匿名回答。在游戏中,如果哪个玩家的答案是众所周知的,那么评委可能会违背游戏精神,故意不根据玩家的得分而不是其提交答案的内在价值来选择玩家。个人关系
are outside of the game may also impinge (like someone giving preferential treatment to a spouse). While this mechanism is typically seen in lighter games, so this may not be that much of an issue, it is still a consideration, particularly when playing with children who may be more emotionally involved. 游戏之外的因素也可能产生影响(比如有人会优待配偶)。虽然这种机制通常出现在比较轻松的游戏中,因此问题可能不大,但这仍然是一个考虑因素,尤其是在与可能会更多地投入情感的儿童玩游戏时。
Some games, like Say Anything, sidestep this issue by having the players bet on which answer the Judge will select. This makes it impossible for the Judge to game the system and keeps players more involved in the game.
Sample Games
Apples to Apples (Kirby and Osterhaus, 1999)
The Big Idea (Ernest, 2000)
Cards Against Humanity (Dillon, Dranove, Halpern, Hantoot, Munk, Pinsof, Temkin, and Weinstein, 2009)
Say Anything (Crapuchettes and Pillalamarri, 2008)
RES-17 Targeted Clues
Description
A player gives clues that he or she wants some, but not all, players to guess.
Discussion
This resolution mechanism is often used in party games or lighter social games. The core idea is that one player gives clues to the group about a word or phrase, and the other players try to guess the answer. However, it is bad for the clue-giver if either no players guess correctly or if all players guess correctly. The player scores the most points when some of the players guess correctly but not all. 这种解谜机制通常用于派对游戏或轻松的社交游戏中。其核心理念是由一名玩家就某个单词或短语向大家提供线索,然后其他玩家试着猜出答案。但是,如果没有玩家猜对或所有玩家都猜对,则对提供线索的玩家不利。如果部分玩家猜对了,但不是所有玩家都猜对,则玩家得分最高。
For example, in Barbarossa, players make small clay sculptures to represent something-a lion, for example. If no one guesses that it is supposed to be a lion or if everyone does, the sculpting player does not score. They need to make a sculpture that is somewhere between obvious and obscure. Dixit operates similarly but with pictures. 例如,在 "巴巴罗萨 "游戏中,玩家制作小泥塑来代表某种东西--比如狮子。如果没有人猜出这应该是狮子,或者大家都猜出来了,那么做雕塑的玩家就不能得分。他们需要做出介于明显和模糊之间的雕塑。Dixit 的操作类似,但使用的是图片。
Decrypto is a variation on this idea. The players are broken up into two teams. One team has a list of four words that all players on the team can see. The clue-giver needs to give a clue that will allow their team to select the right word from the list. The other team can hear those clues but does 《解密》是这一想法的变体。玩家分成两队。其中一队有一份包含四个单词的列表,该队所有队员都能看到。提供线索的人需要给出一条线索,让自己的团队从列表中选出正确的单词。另一队可以听到这些线索,但不能
not see the word list. Over several rounds, players need to give multiple clues for the same word, and if the other team can figure out the word or concept, they can win. Thus, clues need to be given that are straightforward enough for your team to get it, without the opposing team figuring it out. 看不到单词表。在几轮游戏中,玩家需要为同一个单词提供多条线索,如果对方能猜出这个单词或概念,他们就能获胜。因此,给出的线索必须足够简单明了,让自己的队伍能够猜出来,而不被对方猜出来。
Sample Games
Barbarossa (Teuber, 1988)
Cluzzle (Hamilton, 2004)
Decrypto (Dagenais-Lesperance, 2018)
Dixit (Roubira, 2008)
RES-18 Tiebreakers
Description
If a resolution results in a tie, players look to an alternate means to break it.
Discussion
While we include this in Resolution, this is a meta-mechanic that can apply to Victory, Auctions, and many other mechanisms. While there are a wide variety of tie-breaking mechanisms, they typically fall into one of these categories:
Resource: The player with the most or least of a particular resource will break the tie. For example, in Trade on the Tigris, if the score is tied at the end of the game, the game is won by the player with the fewest Barbarian tokens. If these are also tied, the win goes to the player with the most Culture tokens. In a two-player game, this resource may take the form of a Priority token, with the player holding the Priority token 资源:拥有特定资源最多或最少的玩家将打破平局。例如,在 "底格里斯河上的贸易 "游戏中,如果游戏结束时比分相同,则拥有最少 "野蛮人 "令牌的玩家获胜。如果也打成平手,则由拥有最多文化令牌的玩家获胜。在双人游戏中,这种资源可以采取优先权令牌的形式,持有优先权令牌的玩家
breaking the tie, and then passing the token to their opponent. This is similar to the Possession arrow in basketball.
Positional: The player in a specific position in the turn order, or on a track, will break the tie. A common tiebreaker is for the player who is closest to the First Player will break the tie. As another example, in Rising Sun, the player who is higher on the Honor track wins the tie. In conflict games that use dice to resolve, ties will go to the defender. Risk works this way, for example. If the defender rolls a 6 , they will win regardless of what the attacker rolls. Most often ties go to the defender, but in some games that want to encourage aggression, ties may go to the attacker. 位置:在回合顺序或轨道上处于特定位置的玩家将打破平局。常见的打破平局方法是由最靠近 "第一玩家 "的玩家打破平局。再比如,在《旭日东升》中,在荣誉轨道上排名较高的玩家将赢得平局。在使用骰子决定胜负的冲突游戏中,平局将由防守方获胜。例如,"风险 "游戏就是这样。如果防守方掷出 6,无论进攻方掷出什么,他们都会获胜。大多数情况下,平局会归于防守方,但在一些鼓励进攻的游戏中,平局可能会归于进攻方。
Random: Players roll off or use some other randomization means to break the tie. This can be exciting but time-consuming. For certain tiebreakers, most notably if players are tied at the end of the game, breaking the tie randomly will be unsatisfying for players. 随机:玩家通过掷骰子或其他随机方式来打破平局。这可能会很刺激,但也很耗时。对于某些打破平局的游戏,最明显的是如果玩家在游戏结束时打成平手,随机打破平局会让玩家不满意。
Secondary Values: Components have a unique secondary value that is used to break ties. For example, in Libertalia, the role cards have a number on them that says when in sequence they should be played. For example, the Monkey card is #2 and is executed before the Cabin Boy which is #5. If two players both play a Monkey, they both have #2 on them. However, to resolve the tie, there is a smaller Flag number on each card, which is unique between all players. For example, one player has a 3 Flag on their Monkey card, while another has a 5, so the 3 would go first. The flag numbers are distributed so that on average each player will win the same number of ties. This gives a quick and simple way to break ties. 次要值:组件都有一个独特的次要值,用来打破平局。例如,在 Libertalia 中,角色牌上有一个数字,表示应按顺序何时出牌。例如,"猴子 "牌是 2 号牌,在 5 号牌 "小屋男孩 "之前出牌。如果两名玩家都出了一张猴子牌,那么他们身上的数字都是 #2。但是,为了解决平局问题,每张牌上都有一个较小的旗号,这个旗号在所有玩家中都是唯一的。例如,一名玩家的猴子牌上有 3 号旗子,而另一名玩家的猴子牌上有 5 号旗子,那么 3 号旗子就会先出。旗号的分布使每位玩家平均赢得相同数量的平局。这提供了一种快速简单的方法来打破平局。
The procedures described above, as in Libertalia and Rising Sun, determine which player wins the tie. However, some games award a tie-breaking ability to a specific player, who then decides which player is chosen. For example, in A Game of Thrones, the player that wins the auction for the Throne gains the ability to decide who wins all ties. This immediately brings Negotiation elements into the game (ECO-18), as players can lobby the player who resolves ties. 上述程序,如《解放》和《旭日东升》,决定哪位玩家赢得平局。不过,有些游戏会将打破平局的能力授予特定玩家,然后由他决定选择哪位玩家。例如,在《权力的游戏》中,赢得王位拍卖的玩家获得了决定谁赢得所有平局的能力。这立即将谈判元素带入了游戏(ECO-18),因为玩家可以游说解决平局的玩家。
It is also possible to not have a tiebreaker. For in-game resolutions, ties may be resolved as friendly or unfriendly. A friendly resolution means that all tied players gain the benefit of the action. If the leader in a particular category scores ten points, for example, if players are tied, they all score the ten 也可以不设决胜局。在游戏中,平局可以友好或不友好方式解决。友好解决意味着所有平局玩家都能从行动中获益。例如,如果某个类别中的领先者得了 10 分,那么如果玩家打成平手,他们都会得 10 分。
points. In unfriendly ties, tied players receive a reduced award or no award at all. Either way, all players are treated equally.
For the final victory, some games do not offer tiebreakers and have the players share in the victory. This may or may not be acceptable to players depending on the likelihood of ties and the length and seriousness of the game. If possible, tiebreakers for final victory should reward the players who have had a harder route to win, for example, by going last in the turn order, by acquiring a harder-to-obtain resource, or by using fewer resources overall. 对于最后的胜利,有些比赛不提供决胜局,而是让玩家分享胜利。棋手们可能接受,也可能不接受,这取决于出现平局的可能性以及比赛的长度和严肃性。如果可能的话,最终胜利的决胜局应该奖励那些获胜之路更艰难的玩家,例如,在回合顺序中排在最后,获得了更难获得的资源,或者总体上使用了更少的资源。
Sample Games
A Game of Thrones (Petersen and Wilson, 2003)
Libertalia (Mori, 2012)
Rising Sun (Lang, 2018)
Risk (Lamorisse and Levin, 1959)
Trade on the Tigris (Engelstein and Sturm, 2018)
RES-19 Dice Selection
Description
A player rolls multiple dice and selects one based on a rule.
Discussion
The most common implementation of Dice Selection has players roll two dice and select the highest or lowest. Dungeons & Dragons uses this system and refers to the two states as "advantaged" and "disadvantaged." An alternative is for players to roll three dice and to choose the median die. 《最常见的 "骰子选择 "是让玩家掷两颗骰子,然后选择最高或最低。龙与地下城》使用这种系统,并将两种状态称为 "优势 "和 "劣势"。另一种方法是让玩家掷三颗骰子,选择中位数。
A High/Low selection is a way for designers to skew single die results fairly significantly toward the high or low end. Conversely, a median selection system makes extreme results unlikely.
Result
1 die
2 dice, high (%)
2 dice, low (%)
3 dice, median (%)
1
16
3
31
7
2
16
8
8
19
3
16
14
19
24
4
16
19
14
24
5
16
25
8
19
6
16
31
3
7
The table above shows the chances of rolling different numbers with a standard die roll, rolling two dice and selecting the highest (or lowest), and rolling three dice and selecting the middle value. Rolling 2 dice and selecting the highest almost doubles the chances of a result of 6 , and a result of 1 is less likely than with a standard die roll. Selecting the middle out of 3 dice emphasizes results of 3 and 4 , while cutting the chances of a 1 or 6 in half compared to a standard roll. 上表显示了掷标准骰子、掷两颗骰子并选择最高值(或最低值)以及掷三颗骰子并选择中间值掷出不同数字的几率。掷两颗骰子并选择最高值,掷出 6 的几率几乎翻倍,而掷出 1 的几率 低于掷标准骰子的几率。从 3 颗骰子中选择中间值,结果会偏向于 3 和 4,而与标准掷骰相比,出现 1 或 6 的几率则降低了一半。
Root presents a related system, where two dice are rolled for battles, with the Attacker taking the higher roll and the defender the lower. This encourages aggression.
Sample Games
13th Age (Heinsoo and Tweet, 2013)
Dungeons & Dragons (Arneson and Gygax, 1977)
Root (Wehrle, 2018)
RES-20 Action Speed
Description
Actions are rated for speed or initiative. Faster actions are executed first.
Discussion
This system is most commonly used in Simultaneous Action systems (TRN09). In Critical Mass, each player selects an action card from their hand and plays it simultaneously. Each is rated for speed, and faster actions go sooner than slower ones.
Critical Mass uses numeric speed ratings. Some games use descriptors, which can be as simple as Fast or Slow, as in The Ares Project, or more thematic, like First Strike in Magic: The Gathering.
While this often represents the speed of an action, it can also be more abstract. In Libertalia, characters have a priority rating and operate in the order of priority from lowest number to highest.
Typically, if actions have the same speed, they are resolved simultaneously, although a tiebreaker may be used (RES-18). Each card in Libertalia, for example, has a unique number on it as a secondary tiebreaker.
Speed ratings give players a clear indication of the order of execution of actions, and the designer another resource to use for balance purposes. Faster
actions can be weaker, while slower actions can be more powerful, but more likely to not take effect.
Sample Games
The Ares Project (Engelstein and Engelstein, 2011)
Critical Mass (Chang, 2018)
Libertalia (Mori, 2012)
Magic: The Gathering (Garfield, 1993)
Titan (McAllister and Trampier, 1980)
RES-21 Rerolling and Locking
Description
Dice may be rerolled or may be locked, preventing rerolling.
Discussion
Many people are first exposed to the idea of Rerolling through the classic game Yabtzee. After rolling, the player may choose to reroll any number of dice and may do this twice, for a total of three throws. Yabtzee illustrates some typical characteristics of reroll systems: 很多人都是通过经典游戏 "Yabtzee "第一次接触到 "重掷 "这一概念的。在掷骰子后,玩家可以选择重掷任意数量的骰子,并且可以重掷两次,总共掷三次。Yabtzee 说明了重掷系统的一些典型特征:
When dice are rerolled you must take the result (you can't go back to the first result)
You can reroll dice regardless of whether they were rerolled or not
There are variations on this, of course, but this is typical.
From a straightforward perspective, where you are interested only in how high the number rolled is, assuming the player rerolls anything that is less than a " 4, " the reroll will add, on average, 0.75 to the final number. While it is similar in result to a +1 modifier, rerolls are experienced differently by the player. First, the player is choosing whether to reroll or not. This gives them finer-grained control and gives more tactical nuance to the act of rolling than just gaining a set modifier. Also, rolling dice can be 从直观的角度来看,你只关心掷出的数字有多高,假设玩家重掷的数字小于 "4",那么重掷平均会给最终数字增加 0.75。虽然重卷的结果与 +1修改器相似,但玩家对重卷的体验却不同。首先,玩家可以选择是否重卷。这给了他们更精细的控制权,也给了掷骰子行为更多战术上的细微差别,而不仅仅是获得一个固定的修正值。此外,掷骰子可以
inherently exciting, and rerolls make that happen more frequently. Finally, modifiers (as discussed in RES-02), even +1 modifiers, add to player cognitive load. Just looking at the die result is simpler. However, unlike modifiers, rerolls can result in the final result being worse than the initial roll. Whether this is desirable for the experience is a decision that needs to be determined by the designer. 本来就令人兴奋,而重翻则会使这种情况更频繁地发生。最后,修改器(如 RES-02 所述),甚至是+1 修改器,都会增加玩家的认知负担。只看骰子结果更简单。然而,与修改器不同的是,重掷可能会导致最终结果比最初的掷骰结果更糟。这对游戏体验来说是否可取,需要由设计者来决定。
The opposite mechanism to rerolling is Locking. In a Locking mechanism, certain die faces cannot be rerolled. They are stuck on that face for the remainder of the turn. Having a combination of rerolls and locks brings a Push-Your-Luck mechanism (UNC-02) to the table, as players need to risk improving their results by locking more dice. Zombie Dice is one of many games to implement this combination, as shotgun blast results are locked, and getting three shotgun blasts in total ends your turn with a bust. 与重掷相反的机制是锁定。在锁定机制中,某些骰面不能重掷。在该回合的剩余时间里,它们会被卡在该面上。重掷和锁定的结合给游戏带来了一种 "运气推动机制"(UNC-02),因为玩家需要冒险通过锁定更多骰子来提高自己的结果。僵尸骰子》是许多采用这种组合的游戏之一,因为霰弹枪爆炸的结果是锁定的,总共获得三次霰弹枪爆炸的结果会以失败告终。
Escape: The Curse of the Temple uses locked dice in a real-time dice rolling game to force players to interact with each other (to help unlock the dice of other players) and, in general, to disrupt the players' flow and force them to make some tough decisions. 《逃离:神庙的诅咒》在实时掷骰子游戏中使用锁定的骰子,迫使玩家相互交流(帮助解锁其他玩家的骰子),总的来说,就是扰乱玩家的游戏流程,迫使他们做出一些艰难的决定。
Sample Games
Cosmic Wimpout (Swilling, 1975)
Escape: The Curse of the Temple (Ostby, 2012)
King of Tokyo (Garfield, 2011)
Yabtzee (Lowe, 1956)
Zombie Dice (Jackson, 2010)
RES-22 Kill Steal
Description
Players contribute toward completing a task, but only the player who finally completes it gets a benefit.
Discussion
This Kill Steal mechanism originated in video games, which is where the term came from. In tabletop games, it is most frequently seen in combat games, where the player scoring the last hit to kill a creature gains the experience, treasure, or another reward. 这种 "偷杀 "机制起源于电子游戏,这也是该术语的由来。在桌面游戏中,它最常出现在战斗游戏中,即玩家最后一击杀死生物后会获得经验、宝藏或其他奖励。
In Cutthroat Caverns, players are trying to defeat creatures to reach and defeat the final boss and win the game. If all players are killed, they all lose, but if at least one survives, the player with the most points wins. See SemiCo-Op (STR-05) for more details about this type of game structure. But while all players collectively battle creatures, only the player that lands the final hit that kills it gains the points. This adds a lot of interesting dynamics as players maneuver to land that final blow. 在 "割喉洞穴 "中,玩家要设法击败各种生物,到达并打败最终老板,赢得游戏。如果所有玩家都被杀死,他们就都输了,但如果至少有一个玩家存活下来,积分最高的玩家就赢了。有关这种游戏结构的更多详情,请参阅 SemiCo-Op (STR-05)。虽然所有玩家都在与生物作战,但只有最后一击杀死生物的玩家才能获得积分。这就增加了许多有趣的动态效果,因为玩家要通过操作来完成最后一击。
Similarly, in the purely competitive games Dungeon Run, Wildlands, and Space Freaks, as players attack, if monsters or other players are not defeated, the damage they suffer carries over. Whichever player actually reduces the target's health to zero gains the reward. 同样,在纯竞技游戏《地牢快跑》(Dungeon Run)、《荒野大镖客》(Wildlands)和《太空怪客》(Space Freaks)中,当玩家发动攻击时,如果怪物或其他玩家没有被击败,他们所受的伤害会延续。哪位玩家真正将目标的健康值降至零,哪位玩家就能获得奖励。
This mechanism is easy for players to understand and work with, but it does make things more contentious and raises the stakes, as if you are performing an attack that should defeat an enemy, but you get unlucky and it doesn't, other players can swoop in for the kill and your efforts are for naught. Some conflict games, like Adrenaline, avoid Kill Stealing by giving points to all players who contributed to defeating that opponent but at the expense of additional bookkeeping to track who caused what damage. 这种机制对玩家来说很容易理解和操作,但它确实会让事情变得更有争议,也会提高赌注,因为如果你正在进行一次本应打败敌人的攻击,但你运气不好,攻击没有成功,其他玩家就会扑上来杀死你,你的努力就白费了。一些冲突游戏(如《肾上腺素》)通过给所有为击败对手做出贡献的玩家积分来避免 "偷杀 "行为,但代价是需要额外记账来追踪谁造成了哪些损失。
This mechanism is not limited to combat. It has been used in an economic game like Valparaiso, where players construct buildings in districts, but the player who constructs the final house gets a bonus, or in an abstract like 6 Nimmt, where players place cards into rows based on their number, and the person who plays the sixth card takes the whole row (although taking rows is a bad thing, so perhaps this is better classified as a Reverse Kill Steal). 这种机制并不局限于战斗。它曾被用于瓦尔帕莱索(Valparaiso)等经济游戏中,玩家在各区建造建筑,但建造最后一栋房子的玩家可获得奖励;也曾被用于 6 Nimmt(6 Nimmt)等抽象游戏中,玩家根据牌的数量将牌摆成一排,打出第六张牌的人拿走整排牌(不过拿走整排牌是件坏事,所以也许把它归类为反向杀人偷牌更合适)。
There are echoes of this mechanism in Gating and Unlocking (ACT-15), as many games have tracks that players advance on, but the first player to reach a certain space gets a one-time bonus.
Sample Games
6 Nimmt (Kramer, 1994)
Cutthroat Caverns (Covert, 2007)
Dungeon Run (Bistro, 2011)
Space Freaks (Jantunen and Wikström, 2017)
Valparaiso (Malz and Malz, 2018)
Wildlands (Wallace, 2018)
RES-23 Hot Potato
Description
Players strive to rid themselves of an item that will incur a massive penalty when it is triggered but can only dispose of the item by passing it to other players.
Discussion
Most gamers are introduced to this mechanism through the namesake childhood game Hot Potato or the card game Old Maid. Hot Potato involves the players sitting in a circle with an object (the "hot potato") being passed around as music plays. When the music stops, the player holding the object is eliminated. In Old Maid, players try to avoid being left with the Old Maid card at the end of the game. The Old Maid is the only card without a pair in the deck. 大多数玩家都是通过儿时的同名游戏 "烫手山芋 "或纸牌游戏 "老处女 "接触到这种机制的。热土豆 "游戏中,玩家围坐一圈,随着音乐的响起,一个物体("热土豆")在玩家之间传递。当音乐停止时,拿着物品的玩家就会被淘汰。在 "老处女 "游戏中,玩家要尽量避免在游戏结束时只剩下 "老处女 "这张牌。老处女是牌组中唯一一张没有对子的牌。
These two games illustrate the two main types of implementation of the mechanism. Hot Potato is a Player Elimination game (VIC-08), where the trigger is used to eliminate players one at a time until one remains. Old Maid is a Single Loser game (STR-07), where all players except the Old Maid holder win the game. Game loss is not a required feature of this mechanism so long as the penalty is comparatively quite large. 这两个游戏说明了该机制的两种主要实施方式。Hot Potato 是一个玩家淘汰游戏 (VIC-08),利用触发器逐个淘汰玩家,直到剩下一个为止。老处女是一种单败游戏(STR-07),即除老处女持有者之外的所有玩家都会赢得游戏。只要惩罚相对较大,游戏输掉并不是该机制的必要特征。
This mechanism gives a very clear focus to the players, although the means of achieving that goal may not necessarily be clear. For example, in Exploding Kittens, at the end of each turn, players must draw a card, and if they draw an
Exploding Kitten, they are eliminated unless they hold a Defuse. This gives the players a clear loss condition and basic tactics-try to avoid drawing cards if you can or get a defuse card—but it is vague enough to allow players to determine combos and timing within that framework. 如果玩家使用 "爆炸小猫",除非他们持有一张 "化解 "牌,否则就会被淘汰。这就给了玩家一个明确的失败条件和基本战术--尽量避免抽牌或获得一张化解牌--但它又足够模糊,允许玩家在此框架内决定组合和时机。
Traditional Hot Potato-style games like Exploding Kittens and Electronic Catch Phrase focus the action on a single player and perhaps the player after them (see Neighbor Scope, RES-26)—but usually for a brief moment. Electronic Catch Phrase (now just "Catch Phrase") takes advantage of this feature for an easy-to-play part game. In this game, there is an electronic "puck" that passes around a circle. The player holding it must give clues to their team to guess the phrase shown on the screen. If they guess it correctly, the puck is passed to a player on the other team. The team that is holding the puck when the built-in timer goes off is penalized. 传统的 "火锅 "式游戏,如 "爆炸的小猫 "和 "电子接龙",都是将动作集中在一个玩家身上,或许还有后面的玩家(见 "邻居范围",RES-26)--但通常都是短暂的。Electronic Catch Phrase(现在只是 "Catch Phrase")利用了这一特点,是一款简单易玩的部分游戏。在这个游戏中,有一个电子 "冰球 "在一个圆圈内传递。手持 "冰球 "的玩家必须向自己的团队提供线索,让他们猜出屏幕上显示的短语。如果他们猜对了,冰球就会传给另一队的队员。当内置计时器熄灭时,持有冰球的一方将被罚下。
Unlike Charades and similar team party games, in Catch Phrase, the teams rapidly switch turns as the puck moves around the circle and players avoid being stuck with it. Preserving this sense of momentum and looming disaster is a key feature of the "round the circle" version of this mechanism. 与猜字谜和类似的团队聚会游戏不同,在 "接龙 "游戏中,当冰球在圆圈内移动时,各队会迅速轮换,避免被冰球卡住。保持这种动力感和迫在眉睫的灾难感是 "绕圈 "版这一机制的主要特点。
In Old Maid-style implementations of Hot Potato, one of the players has the losing item, but nobody except that player knows who has it. This allows the game to incorporate bluffing and feelings of paranoia as players know when the card moves to other players. Dread Curse is a modern game that incorporates this idea, as a player that ends the game with the "black spot" coin cannot win, but stealing from and trading with other players is a key mechanism, which makes stealing have a Push-Your-Luck edge (UNC-02). 在 "老处女 "风格的 "热土豆 "游戏中,其中一名玩家拥有输掉的物品,但除了这名玩家之外,没有人知道谁拥有它。这让游戏融入了虚张声势和偏执狂的感觉,因为玩家知道这张牌何时会转移到其他玩家手中。可怕的诅咒》(Dread Curse)是一款融入了这一理念的现代游戏,因为游戏结束时持有 "黑点 "硬币的玩家无法获胜,但从其他玩家处偷窃和与其他玩家交易是一个关键机制,这使得偷窃具有 "推运 "优势(UNC-02)。
This highlights a potential weakness of the Old Maid style, since if the Old Maid is drawn from you, you are traditionally not supposed to show emotion or gloat, as the other players will not draw from that player for fear of gaining that card. This makes it more challenging for children to play but also opens the door for bluffing as players may pretend that the Old Maid was drawn from them when it has not. 这凸显了 "老处女 "玩法的一个潜在弱点,因为如果 "老处女 "从你手中抽出,传统上你是不应该表现出情绪或幸灾乐祸的,因为其他玩家不会从该玩家手中抽牌,因为他们害怕获得这张牌。这让孩子们玩起来更有挑战性,但也为虚张声势打开了大门,因为玩家可能会假装老女仆是从他们那里抽到的,而实际上并没有。
Hot Potato can be used as a submechanism. In Civilization, there are disaster cards mixed in with trade goods. Players may trade these to other players during the trade phase, who may then trade them on. Whoever is left with the disasters at the end of the trade phase suffers their effect. As in Old Maid, most groups adopt an unwritten rule that you keep it secret when you trade a disaster away to another player, so they have the opportunity to pass it on. 烫手山芋可以作为一种子机制。在《文明》中,灾难卡与贸易物品混杂在一起。在贸易阶段,玩家可以将这些卡牌交易给其他玩家,而其他玩家也可以继续交易。在交易阶段结束时,谁拥有灾难牌,谁就会受到灾难牌的影响。和《老佣人》中一样,大多数游戏组都有一条不成文的规定:当你把灾难卡交易给其他玩家时,你要保守秘密,这样他们就有机会把灾难卡传给你。
A more subtle implementation of Hot Potato is an End Game Elimination condition, where a player is eliminated from contention not because of a specific element they have (like the Black Spot Coin in Dread Curse) but due to some characteristic of their position. For example, in High Society, players spend money to earn prizes that ultimately determine victory. However, the player with the least money cannot win the game, regardless of the value of their prizes. Cleopatra and the Society of Architects does a similar thing with corruption, which players may earn by doing more powerful actions. The state of having the least money or most corruption in these games is a form of Hot Potato in that it is something that may change players and causes the loss of the game. 烫手山芋的一个更微妙的实现方式是终局淘汰条件,即玩家被淘汰出局不是因为他们拥有的特定元素(如《恐惧诅咒》中的黑点硬币),而是因为他们所处位置的某些特征。例如,在 "上流社会 "游戏中,玩家花钱赚取奖品,最终决定胜负。然而,无论奖品价值多少,金钱最少的玩家都无法赢得游戏。埃及艳后与建筑师协会》中也有类似的腐败玩法,玩家可以通过做出更强大的行为来获得腐败。在这些游戏中,拥有最少金钱或最多腐败的状态是热土豆的一种形式,因为它可能会改变玩家并导致游戏失败。
Sample Games
Catch Phrase! (Williamson, 1994)
Civilization (Tresham, 1980)
Cleopatra and the Society of Architects (Cathala and Maublanc, 2006)
Exploding Kittens (Inman, Lee, Small, 2015)
Falling (Ernest, 1998)
High Society (Knizia, 1995)
Hot Potato (public domain)
Old Maid (unknown, 1874)
RES-24 Flicking
Description
Players use a finger or cue to strike a token and propel it toward a target.
Discussion
Flicking games sit on the line between toys, games, and sports. Flicking is an essential technique with no single or settled definition of what constitutes a flick. Crokinole is among the oldest flicking games that remains popular today. It can be played with either fingers or cues, with cues winning out over fingers in high-level play. It is a specific example of RES-10, Physical Action. 弹球游戏介于玩具、游戏和体育运动之间。弹击是一种基本技术,但对于什么是弹击却没有一个统一或固定的定义。克罗基诺尔(Crokinole)是最古老的弹击游戏之一,至今仍很流行。它既可以用手指,也可以用球杆,在高水平比赛中,球杆比手指更胜一筹。它是 "RES-10"(物理动作)的一个具体例子。
Flicking games test a player's accuracy, power, and control in various ways. In PitchCar, players flick a round disk representing a race car. Players seek to traverse the course as quickly as possible, which calls for powerful flicks. On the other hand, players must also keep their disks on the board, which requires control. In many instances, players must navigate their disks through small openings, or carom their disk at a specific angle off of a barrier, or even another player, which requires excellent accuracy. 弹拨游戏通过各种方式考验玩家的准确性、力量和控制能力。在 PitchCar 中,玩家要弹动一个代表赛车的圆盘。玩家要以最快的速度通过赛道,这就要求玩家有强大的弹拨能力。另一方面,玩家还必须将圆盘留在棋盘上,这就需要控制。在许多情况下,玩家必须将圆盘穿过小缺口,或将圆盘以特定角度撞向障碍物,甚至撞向其他玩家,这就需要极高的准确性。
Flicking introduces dynamism to the game that is unusual compared to most board games. In many flicking games, players stand and move around the play surface to find the right angle from which to take their shots. The
drama of flicking makes games more suitable to spectators, and the atmosphere of flicking games is more social and celebratory than is typical for tabletop games outside of the party genre.
Because flicking is a learnable skill, there can be a sharp skill gap between players, similar to the skill gap in classic abstract games. When novice players play, flicking introduces randomness in the game's outputs, because players don't typically succeed in flicking as precisely as they intended. However, when experts play, there is very little randomness, and thus, it is near-certain that a skilled player will convincingly defeat beginners. 由于弹击是一种可学习的技能,玩家之间可能会存在明显的技能差距,这与经典抽象游戏中的技能差距类似。当新手玩游戏时,由于玩家通常不会按照自己的意图准确地弹奏,因此弹奏会给游戏的输出带来随机性。然而,当专家进行游戏时,随机性就很小了,因此,几乎可以肯定,一个熟练的玩家会令人信服地击败初学者。
The most important aspect of flicking design is the physicality of the game. The object being flicked, the method of flicking, and the surface being flicked on must be carefully selected and manufactured. Ascending Empires, a 4X game, had players flicking ships across a puzzle-cut board to travel through space. Unfortunately, the production was marred by a warped board. The jigs of the puzzle would sometimes ride up in their pockets and create seams that interfered with the smooth travel of the ships in unintended ways. 《弹击设计最重要的方面是游戏的物理性。被弹动的物体、弹动的方法以及被弹动的表面都必须经过精心挑选和制造。Ascending Empires》是一款 4X 游戏,让玩家在拼图切割的棋盘上弹动飞船,在太空中旅行。遗憾的是,该游戏的制作因拼板变形而受到影响。拼图的夹具有时会翘起,形成接缝,以意想不到的方式影响了飞船的顺利航行。
Cosmic Kaboom took this lesson and had players flicking across their own tables or any other surface of their choice. ICECOOL went in the other direction, creating several nested cardboard boxes that are laid edge-to-edge and clipped together to create a large and consistently smooth surface. Mars Open: Tabletop Golf uses a novel approach by creating a folded chipboard component that is flicked into the air. Flip Ships has players flicking ships through the air from an elevated platform. Players can create courses on their tables or throughout their homes simply by placing the tee box in one place and the green somewhere else, and letting players navigate their way to the hole. Sorry Sliders provides chipboard ramps with plastic rails that create a level surface and help keep players from making invalid flicks. Cosmic Kaboom 借鉴了这一经验,让玩家在自己的桌子或其他任意表面上弹跳。ICECOOL 则从另一个方向出发,创造了几个嵌套的纸板箱,这些纸板箱边对边铺设并剪接在一起,形成了一个大而稳定的光滑表面。火星公开赛:桌面高尔夫》采用了一种新颖的方法,将折叠的硬纸板组件弹向空中。翻转船让玩家从一个高台上在空中翻转船只。玩家只需在一个地方放置发球台,在另一个地方放置果岭,就可以在自己的桌子上或家中创建球场,让玩家通过导航到达球洞。Sorry Sliders 提供带有塑料栏杆的刨花板斜坡,可以形成一个水平面,帮助玩家避免无效的弹跳。
The characteristics of the flicked object are another opportunity for creativity. ICECOOL's ball-bearing-mounted penguins can be flicked to consistently make them curve and jump, allowing for impressive shots and hilarious goofs. The Mars Open folded chipboard golf "ball" can similarly be manipulated to hook or draw shots, as in real golf. In Flick 'Em Up, players flick a larger disk to move their cowboys around and a smaller disk to simulate shooting. In Tumblin' Dice, players flick the eponymous dice down a tiered set of platforms. The dice bounce in surprising ways as they tumble, making for an unpredictable and thrilling experience. 被弹动物体的特性是另一个发挥创意的机会。可以轻弹安装在 ICECOOL 球轴承上的企鹅,使其不断弯曲和跳跃,从而实现令人印象深刻的击球和令人捧腹的滑稽动作。火星公开赛》中的折叠硬纸板高尔夫 "球 "也可以像真正的高尔夫球一样,通过摆弄来勾球或引球。在 "Flick 'Em Up "游戏中,玩家可以弹动一个较大的圆盘来移动他们的牛仔,弹动一个较小的圆盘来模拟射击。在 "翻滚骰子"(Tumblin' Dice)游戏中,玩家将同名的骰子从层层平台上弹下。骰子在翻滚过程中会以令人惊讶的方式弹起,带来不可预知的惊险体验。
Some games use flicking for its destructive capacity rather than to traverse a distance accurately. Crossbows & Catapults asks players to launch disks to
knock over their opponents and their fortifications. Flicking and knocking over opponents as an abstraction of shooting or striking enemies is common to several games including the aforementioned Flick 'Em Up, Catacombs, and SEAL Team Flix. 击倒对手和防御工事。弹射和击倒对手是射击或打击敌人的一种抽象方法,在许多游戏中都很常见,包括上述的《弹弹堂》、《地下墓穴》和《海豹突击队》。
Sample Games
Ascending Empires (Cooper, 2011)
Catacombs (Amos, Kelsey, West, 2010)
Cosmic Kaboom (Loomis, 2016)
Crokinole (Unknown, 1867)
Crossbows & Catapults (Frigard & Sala, 1983)
Flick 'Em Up (Beaujannot & Monpertuis, 2015)
Flip Ships (Klenko, 2017)
Furnace (Lashin, 2021)
ICECOOL (Gomez, 2016)
Mars Open: Tabletop Golf (Hoyle, 2018)
PitchCar (du Poël, 1995)
SEAL Team Flix (Ruth & Thomas, 2018)
Tumblin' Dice (Grayson, Nash & Soued, 2004)
RES-25 Stacking and Balancing
Description
Players must add, remove, or rearrange objects from a stack, a balancing contraption, or a playing surface.
Discussion
Dexterity mechanisms generally test both physical skill and the ability to evaluate the consequences of the physical act. Flicking games (see [flicking reference]) test both the flicking itself and the judgment of accuracy, angles, and ricochets. Stacking and balancing games test the steadiness of a player's hands, as well as their judgment about fulcrums, levers, weights, and densities. Somewhere between balancing and flicking lies pushing and sliding, which we will also discuss in this section. Note that while most games in this section are properly dexterity games (and a subset of RES-10 Physical Action), there are some notable exceptions. 灵巧机制通常既测试身体技能,也测试评估身体行为后果的能力。弹击游戏(见[弹击参考资料])既测试弹击本身,也测试对准确性、角度和跳弹的判断。堆叠和平衡游戏考验的是玩家双手的稳定性,以及他们对支点、杠杆、重量和密度的判断力。介于平衡和弹跳之间的是推和滑,我们也将在本节中讨论。请注意,虽然本节中的大多数游戏都是适当的灵巧游戏(也是 RES-10 Physical Action 的一个子集),但也有一些明显的例外。
While stacking and balancing games have existed in an oral culture for thousands of years, two of the most well-known modern stacking games
are Jenga and Blockhead! Each is an example of two primary approaches to creating stacking games. Jenga uses uniform (though not perfectly identical) pieces, while Blockhead!' uses pieces in a variety of odd shapes and sizes, with unusual angles and non-level planes. 是 Jenga 和 Blockhead!这两款游戏分别体现了创造堆叠游戏的两种主要方法。简加 "使用统一的(尽管不是完全相同的)棋子,而 "Blockhead!"则使用各种奇特形状和大小的棋子,并带有不寻常的角度和不平整的平面。
The advantage of using more uniform pieces is that the tower can typically reach much higher heights than can be achieved with non-uniform pieces. Non-uniform stackers, like Animal Upon Animal, offer up interest in how odd shapes, angles, and even curves can support and counterbalance one another. Catch The Moon tries to capture the best of both worlds by asking players to stack ladders in a jumble. The ladders are similar but not identical, and players roll a die to determine whether the new ladder must touch one or two ladders or if it must be the highest ladder in the jumble after it is placed. These simple instructions, and the varied opportunities for how ladders can hook and support one another, create structures that are both tall and compelling to behold. 使用更多均匀堆叠体的好处是,塔的高度通常比使用非均匀堆叠体高得多。非均匀堆叠游戏,如 "动物叠动物"(Animal Upon Animal),让玩家对奇异形状、角度甚至曲线如何相互支撑和平衡产生兴趣。Catch The Moon》要求玩家把梯子堆成杂乱无章的样子,试图捕捉这两个世界的精华。这些梯子相似但不完全相同,玩家通过掷骰子来决定新梯子是否必须接触到一个或两个梯子,或者是否必须是堆放后最高的梯子。这些简单的指令,以及梯子如何相互挂钩和支撑的各种机会,创造出了既高大又引人注目的结构。
Jenga and its many spiritual successors, like Rhino Hero, have players perform both a removal and an addition to the tower. In Jenga, players must remove a block from the tower before adding it to the top of the tower. In Rhino Hero, the tower is built out of two kinds of cards: folded cards played as walls and flat cards played as roofs. The flat cards show an action that is triggered when the roof is played onto the tower, and one such action requires the next player to remove the eponymous wooden rhino meeple from wherever it is in the tower and to place it on top. The physics of removing this dense, heavy object-relative to the cards themselves, anyway-to place it at the top of a wobbly, swaying structure are tricky, to say the least! Yura Yura Penguin takes this concept even further by offering more objects to stack, including ice crystals, penguins of different shapes and sizes, and even a polar bear. Jenga 及其许多精神继承者,如《犀牛英雄》(Rhino Hero),都让玩家在塔上进行移除和添加操作。在 Jenga 游戏中,玩家必须先从塔中移走一个积木块,然后再把它加到塔顶。在《犀牛英雄》中,塔由两种卡牌搭建而成:折叠卡牌用作墙壁,平面卡牌用作屋顶。其中一个动作要求下一位玩家将同名的木制犀牛小精灵从塔中的任何地方移走,并放到塔顶。无论如何,相对于纸牌本身而言,要把这个又密又重的物体移到一个摇摇晃晃的结构顶端,其物理原理可以说是非常棘手的!尤拉尤拉企鹅》在此基础上更进一步,提供了更多可堆叠的物体,包括冰晶、不同形状和大小的企鹅,甚至还有北极熊。
Stacking and balancing typically take center stage in a design, but hybridizing the mechanism is also possible. Kapitän Wackelpudding has players stacking wooden shapes onto a small ship, and then pushing it around the board, pick-up-and-deliver-style, to various ports. Goods that fall off of the ship are negative points, and at the end of the game, the player who knocked off the fewest goods wins. MegaCity Oceania has players constructing futuristic skyscrapers out of opaque and translucent plastic pieces that are piled on top of cardboard tiles and then sliding the tiles to join the rest of the skyscrapers already on the board. Players build and place skyscrapers to score points based on specifications in building contracts, adjacency to other tiles, and overall building height. If a building loses pieces during its journey to the central area, the player is penalized with a loss of their turn. 堆叠和平衡通常是设计的核心,但也有可能将机制混合起来。Kapitän Wackelpudding》让玩家将木制物品堆叠到一艘小船上,然后在棋盘上将其推到各个港口。从船上掉落的货物会得到负分,游戏结束时,掉落货物最少的玩家获胜。MegaCity Oceania 让玩家用堆放在纸牌上的不透明和半透明塑料片建造未来派摩天大楼,然后滑动纸牌与棋盘上的其他摩天大楼相接。玩家建造并放置摩天大楼,根据建筑合同中的规格、与其他瓷砖的相邻关系以及建筑物的整体高度来得分。如果一座建筑在前往中心区域的过程中丢失了棋子,玩家就会受到惩罚,失去自己的回合。
In Tokyo Highway, players use wooden cylinders and popsicle sticks to create roadways that pivot and loop over and under one another. They then add cars to these roadways-a privilege granted by successfully accomplishing the feat of crossing over another roadway as the highest crosser or crossing under it as the lowest crosser. The winner is the player who places all their cars, but even placing cars is fraught with peril. At any point, knocking over anything will cause a player to take penalties. Tokyo Highway differs from most balancing games in that the challenge is less about balance and more about positioning. The wooden roads balance reasonably solidly on the flat sides of the cylinders, and building roadways is not particularly challenging. However, maneuvering your fingers and wooden pieces through the thicket of roadways that quickly springs up and positioning your body to maintain stability in order to place roadways in scoring configurations are quite challenging. In some ways, the game is the inverse of Jonchets or its modern successor, Pick-Up Sticks, in which players remove narrow wooden sticks from a jumble, without causing any other sticks to move. Both games require intense concentration and fine motor skills but are less about finding balance and equilibrium in a structure. 在《东京公路》中,玩家使用木制圆柱体和冰棒棍创建可相互旋转和环绕的道路。然后,他们在这些道路上添加汽车--成功跨越另一条道路成为最高跨越者,或跨越另一条道路成为最低跨越者,就能获得这种特权。将所有汽车都放置好的玩家就是赢家,但即使是放置汽车也充满了危险。在任何时候,撞倒任何东西都会导致玩家受到惩罚。东京公路》与大多数平衡游戏的不同之处在于,它的挑战不在于平衡,而在于定位。木制道路在圆柱体的平面上平衡得相当稳固,建造道路并不特别具有挑战性。不过,要在迅速涌出的道路丛中操控手指和木块,并保持身体的稳定,以便将道路摆放到得分的位置,这就相当具有挑战性了。在某种程度上,该游戏与 Jonchets 或其现代继承者 "拾木棍"(Pick-Up Sticks)的玩法正好相反,在后者中,玩家要将狭窄的木棍从杂乱无章的地方移开,但不能引起其他木棍移动。这两种游戏都需要高度集中的注意力和精细动作技能,但却不那么注重在结构上寻找平衡和均衡。
There is a danger in creating hybrid games. Players may be frustrated by strategizing properly but losing because of failures of dexterity. Or, players may find the physical aspects of the game more compelling and fun than the strategy. In some cases, the dexterity aspects of the game simply may not work well and consistently enough to work as a game, rather than as an activity. Coaster Park, a game about assembling cardboard roller coasters and running a steel ball bearing through them, suffered greatly from this. Players assumed that the game was signifying, for example, that the largest starting hill would generate sufficient momentum through gravity alone to climb the next-highest hill or to complete the loop-the-loop but, in fact, it took quite a bit of skill in flicking the marble-to say nothing of carefully assembling and angling the joints between sections-to make the roller coasters work at all. For many players, the difficulty of the physical mechanism made the game as a whole unplayable as intended, but for many players, the issue was not simply the difficulty, but their expectation that the game was not a dexterity challenge at all and that the roller coaster was a novelty and a gimmick, not a gameplay mechanism. 创建混合游戏存在危险。玩家可能会因为制定了正确的战略却因手脚不灵活而输掉游戏而感到沮丧。或者,玩家可能会觉得游戏中的体能方面比策略更有吸引力,更有趣。在某些情况下,游戏的灵巧性可能根本无法很好地持续发挥作用,因此只能作为游戏而非活动。过山车公园》(Coaster Park)是一款关于组装硬纸板过山车并用钢球轴承穿过过山车的游戏,这款游戏就深受其害。例如,玩家以为游戏中最大的起点山丘仅靠重力就能产生足够的动力,从而爬上下一个最高的山丘或完成环环相扣的游戏,但事实上,要使过山车正常运行,需要相当高的弹弹珠技巧,更不用说精心组装和调整各部分之间的连接角度了。对许多玩家来说,物理机制的难度使得整个游戏无法按照预期进行,但对许多玩家来说,问题并不仅仅在于难度,而是他们认为游戏根本不是对灵巧性的挑战,过山车只是一个新奇的噱头,而不是游戏机制。
Another hybrid, Terror in Meeple City (nee Rampage), has players as kaiju monsters who seek to destroy buildings made of meeples that hold up tiers of cardboard tiles. Players can use one of several techniques, including flicking, dropping, and even blowing air from their mouths, to try and dislodge the meeples and destroy the tower. Scoring is relatively complex and includes variable scoring cards that define how sets of different colored meeples score, 另一款混合游戏 "恐怖喵星人之城"(Terror in Meeple City,又名 "横冲直撞")让玩家扮演凯诸怪兽,试图摧毁由喵星人组成的建筑,这些喵星人支撑着层层叠叠的纸牌。玩家可以使用多种技巧之一,包括轻弹、投掷,甚至从嘴里吹气,试图移开meeples,摧毁塔楼。计分方式相对复杂,包括可变计分牌,规定不同颜色的喵星人如何得分、
penalties for allowing meeples to escape the city, and penalties for being struck by other monsters.
While Terror in Meeple City is quite ambitious in directly translating a kaiju attack into a dexterity board game, perhaps the most ambitious hybrid dexterity game is Beasts of Balance, an app-supported game featuring a virtual world. In Beasts of Balance, a central platform, called the Plinth, has an NFC (Near Field Communications) reader that can scan and read the specially shaped, oversized plastic creatures that are stacked atop it. The Plinth also keeps track of the weight of the objects piled on top of it. 虽然《恐怖喵星人之城》(Terror in Meeple City)在将凯诸攻击直接转化为灵巧棋盘游戏方面颇具野心,但最有野心的混合灵巧游戏可能是《平衡之兽》(Beasts of Balance),这是一款以虚拟世界为特色的应用程序支持游戏。在《Beasts of Balance》中,一个名为 "Plinth "的中央平台配有一个 NFC(近场通信)阅读器,可以扫描和读取堆放在上面的形状特殊的超大塑料生物。基座还能记录堆在上面的物体的重量。
When players add a creature to the Plinth, the app displays that creature being added to one of three regions in a virtual world. Adding multiple creatures to a region can lead to the breeding of hybrid creatures, and some creatures prey on others. The dynamic environment and evolving creatures are all virtual, while players interact with that world almost solely through stacking creatures and special objects on the Plinth. When anything comes dislodged from the Plinth, it must be re-stacked within a few moments, as the Plinth recognizes the overall change of weight in the stack. These moments do provide opportunities for rearranging the stack. Note also that Beasts of Balance is a cooperative game (though a competitive variant is included in the rules), and we will return to this point later. 当玩家向基座添加生物时,应用程序会显示该生物被添加到虚拟世界的三个区域之一。在一个区域中添加多种生物会导致杂交生物的繁殖,有些生物还会捕食其他生物。动态环境和不断进化的生物都是虚拟的,而玩家与这个世界的互动几乎完全是通过在基座上堆叠生物和特殊物体来实现的。当任何东西从基座上脱落时,必须在片刻内重新堆叠,因为基座会识别堆叠物的整体重量变化。这些瞬间确实提供了重新排列堆叠的机会。还要注意的是,"平衡之兽 "是一款合作型游戏(尽管规则中包含了竞技型变体),我们稍后会再讨论这一点。
Stacking and balancing games are close cousins to Push-Your-Luck games (see UNC-02) in that players are uncertain about the exact impact of their actions on the physical equilibrium of the game. Causing a collapse is similar to busting and, typically, safe moves evaporate as the game progresses. 堆叠和平衡游戏与 "碰运气 "游戏(见 UNC-02)是近亲,因为棋手无法确定自己的行动对棋局物理平衡的确切影响。造成崩盘与破败类似,而且通常情况下,随着游戏的进行,安全棋步会逐渐消失。
Auctions are one method designers use to give players control over risk, and a series of very similar games offer several approaches to implementing an auction in this context. In Bausack, there are a variety of stacking shapes. The active player chooses one and offers it to another player, who may accept it and add it to their personal structure or discard a bean to avoid it. A player without beans can no longer avoid a block, and players are eliminated when their structures collapse. 拍卖是设计者用来让玩家控制风险的一种方法,一系列非常相似的游戏提供了在这种情况下实施拍卖的几种方法。在 Bausack 游戏中,有多种堆叠形状。主动玩家选择一种形状并将其提供给另一个玩家,后者可以接受并将其添加到个人结构中,或者丢弃一颗豆子来避免它。没有豆子的玩家就无法避开方块,当他们的结构倒塌时,玩家就会被淘汰。
In Bandu, the core gameplay is the same, but the auction element is even stronger. The active player chooses a block and selects to run a "Use" or "Refuse" auction. The winner of a Use auction or the loser of a refuse auction places the piece. This game offers quite a lot of agency to the players, in selecting the piece up for auction, evaluating whether it is relatively easy or difficult to place for each player, given the current state of their tower, and deciding on the auction type to hold. In Sac Noir, there are several additional variations on this same gameplay, including building a shared central tower, a set of more difficult shapes, and additional auction types. 在 Bandu 中,核心玩法是一样的,但拍卖元素更加强大。主动玩家选择一个区块,并选择进行 "使用 "或 "拒绝 "拍卖。使用 "拍卖的获胜者或 "拒绝 "拍卖的失败者将放置棋子。这个游戏为玩家提供了很大的自主权,玩家可以选择要拍卖的棋子,根据自己塔楼的当前状态评估该棋子对每个玩家来说是比较容易下还是比较难下,并决定举行哪种类型的拍卖。在《Sac Noir》中,同样的游戏玩法还有其他几种变体,包括建造一个共享的中心塔、一组难度更高的图形和其他拍卖类型。
Balancing games often include a central contraption whose instability defines the underlying physics of the game. Unlike the level, though small, stage of the Plinth in Beasts of Balance, Topple features a plastic, tiered platter that looks something like a step pyramid that balances on a long plastic pole, or perhaps the skirt of a ballerina's tutu as they stand on pointe. Players play plastic counters onto the "board" and score points for creating rows and stacks of the same color. When a player causes a topple, all the other players are awarded points. Other interesting central contraptions include the wire hanger structure of Suspend, the anthropomorphic and eponymous waiter in Don't Tip the Waiter, and the giant wooden pirate ship featured in Riff Raff. 平衡游戏通常包含一个中心装置,其不稳定性决定了游戏的基本物理原理。与《平衡野兽》中的 "基座"(虽然很小,但很有水平)不同,"翻倒 "的特点是一个塑料的分层拼盘,看起来像一个在长塑料杆上平衡的阶梯式金字塔,也可能像芭蕾舞演员站立时的蓬蓬裙裙摆。玩家在 "棋盘 "上摆放塑料计数器,以相同颜色的计数器排成一排或堆成一堆来得分。当一名玩家造成翻倒时,其他所有玩家都会得到分数。其他有趣的中心装置还包括《悬挂》中的钢丝衣架结构、《别给服务员小费》中的拟人化同名服务员以及《里夫-拉夫》中的巨型木制海盗船。
Like hybrids mentioned earlier, Topple is something like Connect Four combined with physics. Leverage features a board balanced on a fulcrum, like a teeter-totter. Play is similar to both Checkers and Chinese Checkers but for two players only. Players move, jump, and capture using pawns of three different weights and sizes. As players advance their pawns, the equilibrium of the board shifts, sometimes causing the board to rest on one player's side. That player must remove one or more special scoring pawns from their back row until the board reaches equilibrium again and is suspended in mid-air again. When a player runs out of scoring pawns to remove, they lose when the board touches down on their side again. A similar, more broadly available game is Rock Me Archimedes, which features this same teetering board and central mechanism. 与前面提到的混合游戏一样,"翻转"(Topple)类似于四连棋与物理学的结合。Leverage 的特点是棋盘在支点上保持平衡,就像跷跷板一样。玩法类似于国际跳棋和中国跳棋,但只有两名玩家。玩家使用三种不同重量和大小的棋子进行移动、跳跃和捕捉。当玩家推进他们的棋子时,棋盘的平衡会发生变化,有时会导致棋盘停在玩家一方。该玩家必须从自己的后排移走一个或多个特殊的得分棋子,直到棋盘再次达到平衡,重新悬浮在半空中。当棋手移除的计分棋子用完时,棋盘再次落在其一方时,该棋手即输。Rock Me Archimedes》也是一款类似的游戏,具有相同的摇摆棋盘和中央机制,适用范围更广。
In both Leverage and Rock Me Archimedes, there is no dexterity element of any kind. Placing and moving pieces is not a challenge of execution, and accidentally toppling pieces lies outside the scope of the rules and is not penalized. The skills being tested, beyond the spatial and tactical skills of maneuvering pawns on the board, are skills of evaluation of weight and equilibrium. 在杠杆游戏和 "摇摆阿基米德 "游戏中,没有任何灵巧元素。摆放和移动棋子并不是对执行力的挑战,不小心弄翻棋子也不在规则范围之内,不会受到惩罚。除了在棋盘上操纵棋子的空间和战术技能外,测试的技能还包括对重量和平衡的评估。
These may be the exceptions to the general rule of balancing games as dexterity games. Indeed, in most games, there are specific rules about how the pieces may be handled: with one or two hands, within some time limit, and more. In Lift It.', players cannot use their hands at all and instead strap a crane to their heads, using a headband, to build structures together. 这些可能是平衡游戏作为灵巧游戏这一一般规则的例外情况。事实上,在大多数游戏中,都有关于如何处理棋子的具体规则:用一只手或两只手、在一定的时间限制内等等。在 "抬起来 "游戏中,玩家根本无法使用双手,只能用头带将起重机绑在头上,共同搭建建筑物。
Rules like this point to a general concern for accessibility in balancing games. Balancing games are particularly difficult to make accessible to players with various physical limitations, be they limited vision, mobility challenges, or unsteady hands that can accompany normal aging. However, balancing games do provide affordances for managing skill differentials among players, such as playing with an off-hand. 诸如此类的规则表明,人们普遍关注平衡游戏的无障碍问题。平衡游戏尤其难以让有各种身体限制的玩家玩得起,无论是视力受限、行动不便,还是伴随正常衰老而出现的手部不稳。然而,平衡游戏确实为玩家之间的技能差异提供了管理能力,例如使用非惯用手进行游戏。
Stacking and balancing games appeal to designers who are designing for younger audiences, precisely because of how easy they are to explain. While
most games abstract complex systems, these games leverage simple physical phenomena that can be understood even by the very young. There are some developmental and psychological realities, however, that designers should consider when creating games for families and younger players. For instance, while many stacking games end with a collapse, which can be a cathartic and hilarious moment, this can be a devastating moment for younger children, a moment of deep frustration and even anguish. 大多数游戏都会抽象出复杂的系统,而这些游戏利用的是简单的物理现象,即使是年幼的孩子也能理解。不过,在为家庭和年轻玩家设计游戏时,设计者应该考虑到一些发展和心理现实。例如,许多堆叠游戏以倒塌结束,这可能是一个宣泄和令人捧腹的时刻,但对于年龄较小的儿童来说,这可能是一个毁灭性的时刻,一个深感沮丧甚至痛苦的时刻。
Adults are not immune to these feelings, which may explain why cooperative stacking and balancing games have emerged in recent years. Menara is a cooperative stacking game in which failures are punished by making players stack to an even higher height to win. This intensification of difficulty is a common trope in cooperative games but is novel in the genre of stacking games. Turning these games into co-ops appears to take some of the stings out of failure and amplifies the aspects of social fun, rather than mastery, in the game. 《成年人也难免会有这种感觉,这或许可以解释为什么近年来出现了合作堆叠和平衡游戏。Menara》是一款合作堆叠游戏,在这款游戏中,失败的惩罚是让玩家堆叠到更高的高度才能获胜。这种加大难度的做法在合作游戏中很常见,但在堆叠游戏中却很新颖。把这些游戏变成合作游戏,似乎可以消除一些失败的痛苦,并增加游戏中的社交乐趣,而不是掌握游戏的技巧。
Creating physical games requires designers to focus sharply on the specifications of the materials of the game pieces. Their weight, shape, the friction of their surfaces, and the ease with which they can be manipulated in hand all play an enormous role in how they work in the game. Manufacturing considerations need to be taken into account quite early in the process, relative to non-physical games. The overall weight and size of these games can be a major limiting factor in terms of the game's marketability and price point (Illustration 4.7). 制作实体游戏要求设计者专注于游戏部件材料的规格。它们的重量、形状、表面的摩擦力以及在手中操作的难易程度,都会对它们在游戏中的效果产生巨大影响。相对于非实体游戏而言,在制作过程中需要尽早考虑到制造方面的因素。这些游戏的总重量和大小可能是限制游戏市场销售和价位的主要因素(插图 4.7)。
Illustration 4.7 The stacking in Junk Art can be both challenging and aesthetically pleasing.
Finally, we will note that many games of this kind feature multiple modes of play and variants. There are many small and simple twists that can give rise to unique play experiences within the same framework of pieces. Junk Art, a highly regarded recent design, features 12 different rules variants on "city cards," representing a kind of world tour that players embark on. The game even contains three blank city cards, inviting players to make up their own variants. This speaks of the essential simplicity and infinite variety of stacking and balancing as a pastime and vehicle for fun. 《最后,我们会注意到,许多此类游戏都有多种玩法和变体。在相同的棋子框架内,有许多细小而简单的变化可以带来独特的游戏体验。垃圾艺术》(Junk Art)是一款备受推崇的最新设计,在 "城市卡 "上有 12 种不同的规则变体,代表着玩家开始的一种世界之旅。游戏中甚至包含三张空白的城市卡,邀请玩家自己制作变体。这说明了堆叠和平衡作为一种消遣和乐趣载体的本质简单性和无限多样性。