4X Game Design Review Part 1

Probably one of the most complicated game genres in existence by its means of definition is the 4X genre: eXpand, eXplore, eXterminate, eXploit.

This is the first part of a series of examinations of the mechanics that go into a 4X game. It will be used to design a 4X game that takes you from the stone age of your country, to dominating the planet, eventually taking your species in the stars, wherein you test your mettle at conquering the galaxy through expanding, exploring, exploiting and exterminating.

There are several issues that arise in making an enjoyable 4X game, such as pacing, learning curve and difficulty. Oddly, after looking into the mechanics and design features, these are not the key design elements that I think a 4X should concentrate on, but should be taken into account by proxy. The two design elements that I think are of equal importance are the balance between Marco Management, Micromanagement, Information Absorption, and Abstraction.

There is a very subtle balance with Mirco and Marco management of the game environment, that is very hard to design correctly, and must be played to feel correct. Ideally the balance should allow the player to get his hand as dirty as he wants, and focus on what the player finds interesting while letting the computer handle other aspects.

If there is too much marcro, then it starts to feel like a spectator game, as you tap on the plastic wall of the ant farm, removing the player's connection with the game and preventing the player from really add his own thumbprint to great effect.

If there is too much micro, then the game pacing will start to suffer as tedium sets in. This also allows for greater chance of information overload, preventing the player from having a sense of a 'bigger picture', requiring an outside means to keep track of objectives and progress. It will also prevent the player from knowing what is happening within her own empire.

Information absorption plays key into these two above concepts. The information has to be provided with just enough detail, and context to be understood. Ideally, a player should get all the information she needs for an action from a single screen and know what it is in relation to other aspects.

To allow for ease of information absorption, the game's simulation of events will need to be abstracted during macro and micro management. Abstraction is a tool that should be handled differently for the player then from the non-controllable characters. A human player has an easier ability to understand when certain things are done behind the curtain for the sake of game play, whereas the computer can do rather odd things when this done for it, as seen in other games such as MOO3, Galactic Civ. Arguably this has more to do with how the non-controllable characters are programmed, then the actual abstraction to make them easier to handle. Ideally the abstraction level for the human player should be for the elements of the game that are tedious and have no game play impact.

The next post will define the academic experiment game with all this in mind.

Adaptive Role-Playing System

The Adaptive RolePlaying System is a universal engine designed to be fully adaptable to any genre and setting with minimal adjustment. Naturally, any specific world will require some fine tuning to its own laws of physics and the like, but the core of the system remains versatile enough to handle such changes elegantly.

This version of the system, Lite, is a much simplified version of the full game, designed to be easy to learn and allow for near-instant character creation. Stats and skills can fit on a standard 3"x5" index card, and the rules themselves are quick and intuitive. The full version of the game involves more crunch and allow considerably more precision to character creation, at the expense of a small sheet and immediate play.

ARPS Lite uses a Stat+(Skill*d6) mechanic for task resolution, and experience point spending for character advancement.

-Characteristics-

Starting characters have 10 points to spread among the four Characteristics. The ratings range from 1-10, with 1 being inept, 10 being the absolute peak of human potential, and 2 being adult human average.

Strength - A measure of physical prowess, including muscle strength and overall endurance.

Mind - A measure of mental prowess, including logical ability and force of will.

Dexterity - A measure of coordination and mechanical aptitude.

Speed - A measure of sheer speed, in 1 meter increments.

Hit Points - Represents a character's physical condition, how much damage they can take before being rendered incapacitated. When the amount of damage a character has taken reaches the Hit Point total, that character is out of the action, whether because they've been rendered unconscious or simply weakened to the point where they can no longer act. At HP + Strength damage, the character is dead. Damage heals at a rate of Strength per day of rest, though certain injuries can take longer to heal and there are some outside forces that can allow a character to heal faster.

Calculated as Str x10

Guard - Represents a character's innate ability to resist damage. Incoming damage is reduced by this amount before being applied to HP, unless stated otherwise.

Calculated as Str x2

Energy Points - Represents a character's mental condition, overall stamina and spiritual resources. Special abilities and powers use EP. When the character has spent as many EP as his EP total, he's exhausted and can't use any more abilities. EP is healed at a rate of Mind per day of rest. Some game worlds may calculate EP differently and adjust the rate of regeneration.

Calculated as Mind x10

-Skills-

As characters learn and grow, they become better at what they train to do. Skills represent effort and training to become better in certain areas, and are represented by levels. Each level in a skill adds a die to the amount rolled when that skill is used. Each skill begins at level 1, and characters have ten points to raise these levels with.

Awareness - The skill in observation and perception. Roll Awareness + Mind to actively search, or use the value itself for passive detection.

Body - The skill in physical feats of agility or endurance. Most sports fall under this category.

Control - The skill in concentration and using special powers. For each level of Control, you can know another ability. In a single turn,you can spend up to Mind + (Control x 3) EP.

Fighting - The skill in both attack and defense in melee combat, this skill improves basic combat ability. Roll Fighting + Dexterity when attacking and when being attacked in melee combat. Defending with Fighting is called parrying.

Evasion - The skill in effective dodging, this allows a character to evade ranged attacks, whether from guns, thrown objects, or energy blasts. Roll Evasion + Speed to defend against ranged attacks or to hide from others. Defending with Evasion is called dodging, hiding with Evasion is called stealth.

Mind - The skill in general knowledge, including history, geography, math, and the basic sciences.

Ranged - The skill in ranged combat either with thrown objects, ranged weapons, or special ki powers at range.

Social - The skill in understanding how to influence people, including empathy.

Technology - The skill in mechanical engineering, electronics, and figuring out new gadgets and vehicles. This also includes driving and piloting.

-Powers-

Some games won't use powers, and so this section won't apply to them. Neither will the Control skill. Make sure powers exist before trying to use any, or you might get confused looks from other players and a disapproving frown from your GM.

Powers are the abilities beyond normal that allow supers to be considered super. Characters may know as many powers as the Control skill, and characters begin with the maximum amount of powers they can learn.

Strike Effects - Normal attack rolls use Fighting + Dexterity, and normal damage rolls use Strength in dice. Strike powers allow the character to trade attack dice for damage dice on a 1:1 basis, as well as performing Knockback and Stun strikes. Knockback strikes deal no damage, but push an opponent away a number of meters equal to what damage would have been. Stun strikes deal no damage, but cancel one action in your opponent's next turn for every multiplier by which your damage roll exceeds their Guard number.

Special effects use energy points, and require power slots to learn.

Attack - 5 EP per +1 die to hit

Damage - 5 EP per +1 die damage

Knockback - 5 EP per 1 meter knockback per damage (can stack with normal damage)

Stun - 5 EP per +1 dice stun damage (can stack with normal damage)

Special Powers - These powers either improve the existing abilities of a character or grant entirely new ones. Their use should generally be limited to super heroes, magicians, aliens, or people with very impressive technology.

Blast - Ranged attack, uses 1 EP per 1 die damage and extra EP for special effects. Attacks use Ranged + Dexterity and are defended using Evasion + Speed

Accurate - 5 EP per +1 bonus to hit; can represent homing attacks, control over the attack, or a volley of smaller blasts

Area - 5 EP per 1 meter per damage die

Deadly - 2 EP per damage dice to completely ignore all Deflections and Guard

Knockback - 5 EP per 1 meter knockback per damage

Stun - 1 EP per damage dice to add stun effect

Boost Speed - 1 EP per +1 Speed per round; +1 Evasion per +10 Speed

Boost Strength - 1 EP per +1 Strength per round; applies to lifting and damage only

Deflection - 1 EP per 1 damage die negated from energy blasts, ignored by physical and Deadly attacks

Extra Actions - 5 EP per extra action, up to Speed /2

Flight - 1 EP per round, fly at Speed rate

Healing - 1 EP per 1 HP restored; takes 1 full turn per 1 HP restored

Hide Energy - Suppress maximum EP, hides from Sense EP and detecting technology. Unable to use suppressed EP.

Sense Energy - Passively detect Energy out to Awareness + Control x 30 meters. EP in meters is the radius of a character's 'energy bubble', and can be detected within range. If a character is directly within range, a round of active detection (Awareness + Mind vs Evasion + Mind) pinpoints location.

Telekinesis - 1 EP per Strength, +1 EP per Speed

Teleport - 10 EP per person teleported (including self), +1 EP per 10 meter distance

-Training-

Forms of training grant experience points, which are immediately spent on the characteristic or skill being trained. Spent XP are recorded by the stat they apply to, until the stat levels up.

For purposes of training, a teacher is a character with a skill higher than the character being trained, a student is a character with lower skill, and a peer is a character with equal skill.

Any traits can be trained, though some require different teachers. Martial arts instructors most commonly train Strength, Dexterity, Fighting, Evasion and Awareness. Gyms often train Strength and Body, sometimes Speed. Universities train Mind, Education, and Technology.

Combat Experience

Outside of normal training, characters will often be fighting for their very lives. This field training is the quickest way to gain experience, and is also the most dangerous. Healing from fights takes days, sometimes weeks of recuperation. Still, it's often well worth the trouble. Combat trains Strength, Dexterity, Fighting, Evasion, and Ranged.

After a fight, the two combatants divide their opponent's Fighting skill by his own, and multiply the result by ten. That number is the number of experience points gained. Combats mostly at range will use the opponent's Ranged and the character's Evasion, instead. A good fight against an equal opponent nets 10 XP. Fighting weaker opponents doesn't often amount to much. In fact, any increase below one point is ignored: fighting someone that much weaker just doesn't count as practice at all. Fighting stronger opponents is a good way to grow fast, assuming you survive the fight. To be counted as a proper fight for your life, you must take damage equal to at least %50 of your maximum. Anything less than that is simply considered sparring, and can be considered group training.

Mentors and Peers

Group training under a teacher, the type of training one might find in a city dojo, allows steady improvement up to the teacher's level. Each day of practice grants 1 xp.

Private training with a teacher provides the same bonuses faster, at 2 xp per day.

Group training without a teacher, peer training, is slower, at 1 xp every two days. This includes one-on-one training with a peer.

Solo training is the slowest, at 1 xp every four days.

This method of training does have a limit. A teacher can't improve a student's skills beyond his own, and teaching a student grants no bonus. Once a student reaches the level of his teacher, the two become peers and training then changes to peer training.

-Experience Costs-

The experience points gained through training are spent on stats to improve them. Points are spread to all stats being trained at once, though the character can focus training to improve in some areas faster.

Characteristics - 20 * Current Level XP

HP - Improves with Strength

Guard - Improves with Strength

EP - Improves with Mind or 10 XP per 10 EP

Skills - 10 * Current Level XP

Powers - Require Control skill improved enough to gain another power slot, plus XP payed to learn the power. All techs cost 25 XP.