Re: PBM design: advice please

From: tim@leaphome.pelican.org (Tim Franklin)

Date: Thu, 03 Jun 1999 00:00:00 +0000

MindShift Design LLC <jasonm@mindshiftdesign.com> wrote:

[much snippage]

>
>A lot of these decisions you'll have to decide. Giving out to much
>information to players can change the way a game is played as well as
>the balance of play. Players who know some of the game mechanics can
>(but not necessarily will) manipulate the game to their favor because
>they know these rules/mechanics.  This puts new players at a
>disadvntage and returning players at a complete advantage - which can
>cause problems of gameplay.
>
>Game elements can be dropped in on a need to know basis. Godfather is a
>good example of this, where you start out with only a little
>information on the kinds of rackets that you can run. As you get
>further and further into the game, you discover more and this improves
>your position in the game.
>

There is a down-side to the "snippets of information" strategy, whereby
players who have played several games previously will have collected
lots of snippets and consequently will have a huge advantage over those
who are newcommers.  See games like Middle Earth, where exact properties
of each item, answers to every riddle, etc can be downloaded from a number
of websites.

Randomising powers, locations etc with each game is a solution, but if you've
spent time fine craftly a balnced set of armies, spaceships, or whatever,
that can be a bit of a non-starter.

I don't claim to have the answer, of course - just tossing around points I
think are worth considering :)

Regards,
Tim.

References

Re: PBM design: advice please
MindShift Design LLC <jasonm@mindshiftdesign.com>
Tue, 01 Jun 1999 00:00:00 +0000
PBM design: advice please
"Seyed Razavi" <seyed@kmpinternet.com>
Tue, 01 Jun 1999 00:00:00 +0000