com,
The Ancient Art of War by Br??derbund was designed
so that knights had an advantage over barbarians, barbarians
had an advantage over archers, and archers
had an advantage over knights.2
Many games use this technique in one form or
another. In ?¬? ghting games, each unit or character has
his killer moves and Achilles??â„¢ heel. In racing games,
some cars are good at going up hills but handle poorly
on corners. In economic simulations, some products
are more durable but cost more, while others have a
limited shelf life but higher pro?¬? t margins. Assigning
strengths and weakness is one of the fundamental
aspects of game design and should be kept in mind
whenever balancing gameplay.
Let??â„¢s take WarCra II, in which players can play a
human or an orc civilization. The two sides are symmetrical
in many respects but have minor di?¬? erences.
Both civilizations have the same types of units and
buildings that yield the same types of abilities. For
example, the humans have a peasant unit that has the
exact same hit points, cost, build time, and abilities as
the orcs??â„¢ peon unit.
Pages:
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753