tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75536060587630534992012-02-16T11:39:52.651-08:00EvilPuppetMasternoreply@blogger.comBlogger11100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553606058763053499.post-25638291556279704492007-08-24T17:26:00.001-07:002007-09-03T00:53:52.759-07:00In sport the coach is responsible for the strategy, while the players carry it out. In most strategy games, rather than playing the role of the coach, you play the role of every individual player.<br /><br />Of course you can still play with a strategy in mind, but it's hardly necessary. Much of the time your strategy is dictated for you by the game, in the form of mission goals, game rules, unit abilities, terrain properties, map design, and in single player the opposing AI. And once you've discovered the optimum way to work within the given rules, a game can become an exercise in dot-connecting. (Not to say that can't be fun, millions of people addicted to Sudoku can attest to that.) But I'd like to see something more.<br /><br />It might help to backup a little and investigate what I mean when I say 'strategy'. Everyone no doubt has their own definition. My simple definition is that strategy involves choosing objectives, planning how to achieve those objectives (using resources, maneuver and tactics), and adapting your plans as situations change.<br /><br />Before you post that [insert favourite Dune clone] includes all of that plus the ability to train sharks with frickin lasers on their heads, are those elements fundamental to the game mechanic? Or does the game simply provide a context in which those things can be done?<br /><br />Europa Universalis, Civilization or the campaign map in Total War games are possibly the closest thing to what I'm thinking of that currently exist. But even those games can get bogged down in the specifics. I think a certain level of abstraction is necessary to avoid the rock-paper-scissors effect, where a certain solution is always the 'right' solution, and strategy becomes moot. Also, when I'm making high level strategic decisions, I don't want to have to worry about the nitty gritty details of how it's going to be carried out.<br /><br />Maybe I'm focusing too hard on semantics, and ultimately, being a master strategist is just about figuring out the optimum solution to whatever rules apply, whether that's the rules of war in 500BC or the rules of football in Madden 2080. Sun Tzu figured out some wicked exploitz, and Napoleon used them to clock Europe.<br /><br />Or maybe I'm just pining for chess.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7553606058763053499-2563829155627970449?l=wannabegamedesigner.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>EvilPuppetMasternoreply@blogger.com0