Part

Ecology

You might say: parts that constrain one another

This game's ecology is a set of parts whose resource exchanges constrain or counterbalance one another.

What it does
Preserves dynamic tension by preventing one subsystem from making every other choice irrelevant.
Ask
Which parts limit, counter or depend on one another?

What to look for

  1. Parts exchanging resources
  2. One part constraining another

Parts

Pattern

Ecology

Sources

  1. Michael Sellers, Advanced Game Design: A Systems Approach, ch. 7, p. 248Like a braking engine, an ecology system has a predominant balancing loop, or set of loops, rather than a reinforcing one. In this balancing loop, resources are exchanged such that each part ultimately balances rather than reinforces the others.
  2. Ernest Adams and Joris Dormans, Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design, ch. 6, pp. 113–117: feedback structures stabilize or amplify differencesThe losing, rather than the leading, team can field an extra player for every N points of difference.
  3. Ernest Adams and Joris Dormans, Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design, ch. 4, pp. 66–71Feedback systems based on relationships between two players can produce effects that keep games close
  4. Tynan Sylvester, The Simulation Dream, opening ecology example; “Player Model Principle”; “Drowning in Complexity”The ‘virtual ecology’ affects nearly every aspect of the game world, from the very small to the very large.
  5. Tynan Sylvester, The Simulation Dream, opening ecology example; Player Model Principle; Drowning in ComplexityThe ‘virtual ecology’ affects nearly every aspect of the game world, from the very small to the very large.

Use it on your project

teardown-apply: hold "Ecology" (ecology-instance) 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