Re: PBM design and formulae - a summary

From: gym@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Graham Matthews)

Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1993 11:55:07 +0000

desj@ccr-p.ida.org (David desJardins) writes:
>But the point in either case is that what I enjoy doing is finding good
>strategies.  And that process is simply more enjoyable, for me, when
>conducted with the knowledge of the formulas which comprise the game
>system.

My personal opinion is that if a player needs to "know the formulas"
to play well then one of two things is happening :-

a) he/she is a bad player
b) the formulas are bad.

The latter case is the one that always seems to come up - a game
designer has some game component (eg: the food growth rate) depend
on some completely non-obvious thing (eg: the colour of the king's
hair). A well designed game has obvious relationships between
game components (or rather it is obvious what relationships do not
exist!), and in this case there is no need for published formulas.
In fact in this case having published formulas turns the game away
from one of judgement and thought into a numbers game.

desj@ccr-p.ida.org (David desJardins) writes:
>(Further, if you make the formula increasingly complicated, it is
>increasingly likely that I will be able to discover "bugs" in the
>formula---ways in which its behavior is counterintuitive, and which I
>can use to my advantage.  I don't want the formula to have those, but if
>they do exist I generally do feel it necessary to use them.)

Arghh - this may sound old-fashioned but personally I prefer to
play to the "intent" of the rule/formula and not exploit the little
bugs. Moreover, why is it "necessary to use them [these little
bugs in the formulae]"? Is it to win?

Just one person's opinions ...

graham
--
Graham Matthews                   Go west, go west
Dept Comp Sci, Univ Edinburgh     Where there's work so I'm told
gym@dcs.ed.ac.uk                  California's never cold

References

PBM design and formulae - a summary
rob@ccc.govt.nz (Rob McNeur)
Mon, 28 Jun 1993 09:53:02 +0000
Re: PBM design and formulae - a summary
desj@ccr-p.ida.org (David desJardins)
Mon, 28 Jun 1993 20:30:42 +0000

Referenced By

PBM design and formulae - a summary
rob@ccc.govt.nz (Rob McNeur)
Mon, 28 Jun 1993 09:53:02 +0000
Re: PBM design and formulae - a summary
desj@ccr-p.ida.org (David desJardins)
Mon, 28 Jun 1993 20:30:42 +0000