Hello, peoples. I post a mechanic of the day during the week for my design group. I'ma start sharing them here and a few other places, as well. Enjoy and get designing!
Lets have a look at movement today. Many games require you to move your avatar around the board. From roll and move to chit-pull,
there's quite a few options out there.
1. Roll and move. Just about the most straigt forward with least
choice. You roll the dice and move the number of spaces it says to
move. Monopoly is a good example of this. Parcheesi and That's Life
offer the standard roll and move, as well; but they add the choice of
which piece would be better to move. For a Euro-styled game, roll
and move is probably best left to the 'A.I.' of the game; a shark
that slowly moves closer to the boat, etc.
2. Action points. Still straight forward, but quite a bit more
choice is available with this option. You have a set number of
points to move and do things with, and each action has a different
cost associated with it. One of the granddaddies of this is Tikal.
Some spaces cost lots of points to move into, while others don't.
Niagra uses a simplified form of action points, as well. The action
point system is typical of Euro-styled games.
3. Set movement. Your piece always moves the same number of
spaces throughout the game. Games with this mechanic usually have a more tactical feel; it's not how you move, but where you move to.
Doom is an example of this type of movement. Abstract strategy games often use set movement. It is usually combined with...
4. Piece-specific movement. Different pieces move in different
ways. Chess is a good traditional example, as is Axis and Allies.
Rooks slide along the board, and armor can blitz an extra space.
Piece-specific movement crosses game type rather well, and can be
seen in abstracts, Euros, Ameritrash... the list goes on.
There ya go for today. See ya tomorrow!
Phil
