Re: PBM design: give away the formulas? (*FORMULAE !)

From: ulim@coli.uni-sb.de (Ulrich Mayring)

Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1993 09:01:41 +0000

rob@ccc.govt.nz (Rob McNeur) writes:

>In article <C8y9Ls.8F8@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>, gl8f@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl) writes:
>> In article <1993Jun21.120033.1775@ccc.govt.nz> rob@ccc.govt.nz (Rob McNeur) writes:
>>
>>>In real life, there is always a 'trial and error' learning curve on almost
>>>anything. I prefer the same sort of thing in PB(e)Ms.

Well, just because some things work in a certain way in real life, that
doesn't mean they should work like that in a game. In a game playability
should be the first and foremost concern of the game designer, because
after all there are _realistic_ things in life that simply don't work in
games. (Governing an empire is a full-time job, e.g., but as a gamer you
don't want to be bothered with every little detail)
I grant you though, that games are conceivable that are realistic and
playable and don't even have to give formulas and still are fun. If you
know such a game, tell me :-)

>Agreed, but you can give a strong indication of this in the rules without
>stating formulae.
>A simple comment along the lines of
>"moving troops through mountain hexes can cause you to loose troops.
>Rumour has it that some complete armies have vanished completely this way"

>This doesn't show a formula, does give a strong indicator that its not just
>dangerous, its *bloody* dangerous, and means that the only way to be sure is
>to experiment, but you have been warned !

IMHO this very clearly exposes the formula. What it says is that you
experience losses anywhere from 0-100%. Even though the actual formula may
be 20-80%, this rough approximation has the same effect on game play as
all 'unknown' formulas have:

1. Newcomers won't move thru mountains, because they fear for the 100%.
2. Old-Timers will know better (they have seen someone moving thru with
only 38% losses) and in cases of extreme usefulness they will move thru
the mountains.

I think, no matter what you do and how good your hints are, you will always
have the problem of Old-Timers knowing just a little bit better. If this
is intended then you are doing a good job of game design.

Ulrich

References

Re: PBM design: give away the formulas? (*FORMULAE !)
rob@ccc.govt.nz (Rob McNeur)
Tue, 22 Jun 1993 11:30:11 +0000
PBM design: give away the formulas?
skrenta@rt.com (Rich Skrenta)
Sat, 19 Jun 1993 18:12:59 +0000
Re: PBM design: give away the formulas? (*FORMULAE !)
rob@ccc.govt.nz (Rob McNeur)
Mon, 21 Jun 1993 12:00:33 +0000
Re: PBM design: give away the formulas? (*FORMULAE !)
gl8f@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl)
Mon, 21 Jun 1993 02:29:51 +0000