|
 Features
Replayability,
Part 2: Game Mechanics
Sources of Variety
Variety
in a game can come from several places:
Varying
initial conditions
Most
simple board games like chess, checkers and backgammon start with the
same initial conditions every time. Both players have the same number
of pieces, placed in symmetric positions on the board. But not all games
require absolute symmetry. In the board game Stratego, for example,
the players start with equal numbers of pieces of equal strength, but
they may set them up in their own areas of the board any way they like.
This freedom in the initial conditions creates variety for the players.
Initial
conditions can also be established randomly; this is of course the basis
of most card games. The deck is randomized by shuffling, and then a certain
number of cards are dealt out to each player. Bridge and hearts are good
examples of card games that depend entirely on varying initial conditions
for its gameplay - all the cards are dealt out, and the players play them
as they best see fit.
Chance
as a part of gameplay
Even
if the initial conditions are identical, a game can include random elements
as part of the rules of the game. Backgammon and Monopoly are good
examples of this. The pieces start in identical positions, but their movement
is determined by throwing dice.
Any card
game in which you draw cards from a shuffled deck in the course of play
(gin rummy and most forms of poker, for example) is using both random
initial conditions and randomness during gameplay to create variety.
Non-deterministic
opponents
In
a game like chess, with identical starting conditions and no random elements,
what provides the variety is the opponent's gameplay. This usually (but
not always) means that a human being is a more interesting opponent than
a computer. Computers tend to be programmed with deterministic, number-crunching
algorithms to find the best move, according to some metric for measuring
the quality of a given move. With a deterministic algorithm, a computer
program will always choose the same move in a given situation. In time,
human players can learn to take advantage of this predictability; they
also tend to find it rather dull.
Human opponents
are more interesting because in addition to having varying strategic and
tactical abilities, they differ in the degree to which they're aggressive
or defensive, devious or forthright, cautious or risk-takers. And of course,
you can talk to them. There's a social aspect of playing against other
people that is completely absent when playing against a computer, and
that tends to make the game replayable even if nothing else does.
A choice
of player roles and strategies
If a player
can play a game in several different roles, the game will feel different
even if its content is the same. The character classes, races, and alignments
in Dungeons & Dragons are a perfect example of this sort of
thing. You might play an entire computer game as a lawful good human fighter,
then decide to replay it again as a chaotic evil elf magic-user. Although
you encounter the same people, creatures, and dangers the second time
around, your approach to dealing with them will be significantly different,
especially if the designers have constructed obstacles that can be overcome
by a variety of methods. (Unfortunately, in far too many role-playing
games the only method available is "whack it until it's dead."
But at least there are a variety of ways of whacking it.)
Sheer
size
You
can play an enormous game like Baldur's Gate from beginning to
end and still not see every location or undertake every quest, particularly
if you concentrate on the main storyline and don't allow yourself to get
sidetracked often the first time through. This gives Baldur's Gate
considerable replayability. It's just so big that it's worth going back
and playing again to follow up on adventuring opportunities that you missed
the first time around.
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