Saturday, November 19, 2016

Day 17: FotLC through the 113 lenses from The Art of Game Design

Day 17 - Lens 45: The Lens of Competition vs. Cooperation
Balancing competition and cooperation can be done in many interesting ways. Use this lens to decide whether they are balanced properly in your game. Ask yourself these questions:

If "1" is Competition and "10" is Cooperation, what number should my game get?
Four I think. The game is mostly competitive but the ally mechanic introduces incentives to be cooperative.

Can I give players a choice whether to play cooperatively or competitively?
In the end the game is competitive. There is no tie condition for winning and the goal is to win. That said cooperation in the early game is common and the point of betrayal is usually what decides the game. The team that stays loyal the longest has an advantage... up to the point where the benefit of the betrayal is the game winning factor.

Does my audience prefer competition, cooperation, or a mix?
I think I get all three kinds of players. The ones that want a mix end up being the happiest. The pure competitive players want the prisoner's dilemma to be removed from the game and the coop players want a way to share a victory with their allies.

Is my team competition something that makes sense for my game? Is my game more fun with team competition, or with solo competition?
I firmly believe that the team competition makes the game better, it gives more choices and more options for how to play the game.

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