Process
Action resolution
You might say: the rules answering an input
The game applies rules, timing and interactions to turn an input into a state change.
- What it does
- Makes the player's decision causally matter in the system.
- Ask
- Which rules fire, in which order, with what information?
What to look for
- Input turning into a state change
- An interaction producing a result
Parts
- Rules evaluation: The resolver checks conditions, calculates effects and records the new state.
Sources
- Jesper Juul, Design (MIT CMS.608 lecture, 2008), MIT OCW lecture slide 8: relation between player action and game outcome
Meaningful play: When relation between action and outcome is discernable and integrated
- Daniel Cook, What are game mechanics?, game mechanics definition and feedback loops
The action causes an effect within the simulated game world
- Steve Swink, Game Feel: The Secret Ingredient, Response; Context; Rules
Response -- How the system processes, modifies, and responds to player input in real time.
- Ian Schreiber, Game Design Concepts, Level 5: Mechanics and Dynamics, Mechanics, Dynamics and Complexity; Feedback Loops; Emergence
When does the game end, and how is a resolution determined?
- Tynan Sylvester, Decision-Based Gameplay Design, Tangible and Obvious Results; Decision Recognition, Evaluation, and Design
The ace that gaming has up its sleeve is that it gives the player opportunities to make decisions and then observe the results of those choices in a consequence-free zone.
Use it on your project
teardown-apply: hold "Action resolution" (action-resolution) from the teardown at https://teardownatlas.com/game-design/ against my project
Paste it into a coding agent that has the teardown skills.
An AI agent wrote this map with the teardown skill. It can contain errors: check the sources before you rely on a part. About and legal