Game Mechanic Explorer – examples for game mechanics, algorithms, and effects

by davidbarker • 12 years ago

404 42 12 years ago

NoPiece2• 12 years ago

Really nice! It would be fun to expose a few fields for each example to adjust the core variables (speed, acceleration, gravity).

albeec13• 12 years ago

This is great! I've been tinkering with simple game mechanics like these, and you've included a few I've never looked it.

ekmartin• 12 years ago

Good job! :)

barbs• 12 years ago

At first I thought the name was a bit misleading. It looked more like a how-to on visual effects than underlying mechanics.

But then I saw the linked page, and it gave a pretty decent definition of Game Mechanics: http://www.lostgarden.com/2006/10/what-are-game-mechanics.ht...

arghbleargh• 12 years ago

Yes, I guess the examples shown are indeed "game mechanics" of a sort, but it seems to be heavily focused on game physics, at least for now. When I saw the title I was thinking of something much broader that would include things like how to use items, how to level up, etc.

TheZenPsycho5• 12 years ago

I was thinking even broader, including mechanics for games like chess and checkers, and maybe a smattering of graph theory for analysing "decision trees". Pretty abstract game theoretical stuff, hopefully brought down to earth and made practical enough for a moron like me to understand in more detail than just those broad buzzwords I was just able to throw around.

jcromartie4• 12 years ago

Game mechanics are the rule systems that give the game goals or meaning.

Asteroids-like spaceship movement is not a game mechanic. Shooting bullets is not a game mechanic.

The system that is the feedback loop of moving to chase/avoid asteroids while shooting them and creating more and faster obstacles and targets is a game mechanic.

vinkelhake• 12 years ago

Nice stuff. I noticed something slightly weird in the "Spaceship motion / With drag" example. Looking at the code it seems that drag is applied individually on the X and Y axis. If you rotate the ship just a little bit, gather some speed and then let go, the ship will have its horizontal speed zero out rather quickly and the ship will glide sideways until it comes to a halt in the vertical direction.

Can't write more now, need to go play with the other examples!

al2o3cr• 12 years ago

"drag" seems like a bit of a misnomer for what that parameter is doing - the effect on x and y velocity is calculated separately, so you're always going to get the little "twist" at the end when velocity on one axis drops below the drag value.

Game Mechanic Explorer – examples for game mechanics, algorithms, and effects

Related Stories