The strange flexibility of boundaries: population and other limits in strategy games
The strange flexibility of boundaries: population and other limits in strategy games
The strange flexibility of boundaries: population and other limits in strategy games
By Brandon Casteel
October 02, 2020
Summary
Chess as a Starting Place
Chess is only one example, but to me it's directly illustrative of the idea of a game taking care to ensure a carefully crafted experience for the player.
Limitations
Economic limitations tend to loosen as a match goes on as players ramp up their income, only for players to encounter another limit: the population cap.
Unbounded Experiences
My perception of games with 'unbounded' or freeform systems, such as games with create-your-own-unit systems or limitless population, is that the possibility space in these games tends to end up being a lot smaller than in 'deckbuilding' games or games with pre-defined options for players.
Population limits and army caps
Another issue is unbounded limits on number of game entities. There are some
games which make this work, such as Command and Conquer, but to me it's always a knife's edge of appropriate. Many units in RTS games are balanced specifically, at least in part, around their cost and their population.
Deciding on boundaries
I have another example actually. One that might be more fitting to the genre at large than Chess. Limits, especially the limit of population cap, are vitally important to the experience that WarCraft 3 is designed to deliver.
So what's the point?
Now, on the other side, there's clearly a maximum amount of restrictions past which things aren't fun anymore either.
Reference
Casteel, B. (2020, October 02). The strange flexibility of boundaries: Population and other limits in strategy games. Retrieved October 08, 2020, from https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/BrandonCasteel/20201002/371294/The_strange_flexibility_of_boundaries_population_and_other_limits_in_strategy_games.php?elq_mid=99839&elq_cid=28177740