Saturday, December 31, 2005

Mechanics (t.a.g.)

This is a term I borrow from Kirby Kid -- aka Richard Terrel.

Mechanics are the player initiated actions from controller inputs as designated by the game designers. These actions have effects on the gamestate in terms of the variables and dynamics of the gameplay system

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In fact, if we consider that gameplay is the part that defines and rules interactions between game elements based on user inputs, mechanics are actually atomical element of the gameplay.

Une mécanique de jeu, ça va être un élément atomique de gameplay. Et le gameplay, c'est l'ensemble des règles déterminant les interactions entre les éléments du jeu sur base des actions de l'utilisateur. Oui, je comprends: ça paraît très formel, mais c'est justement l'idée derrière l'emprunt de ces termes à Richard Terrel: permettre de formaliser le discours sur un jeu. Dans mon cas, je fais principalement des jeux de plate-formes, donc mes mécaniques principales seront 'sauter' et 'courir'. je leur donne des tags dédiés. Je les note en Anglais et en majuscules (JUMP) quand je veux vraiment dire 'la mécanique du saut // le fait que le joueur pousse sur le bouton de saut pour faire sauter le personnage'.

I'm mostly building platformers here, so my primary mechanics are JUMP and RUN. I can modulate them with FLOAT. I don't quite have a shooting or fighting character, but it instead GRAB and THROW things.

As you have noted, I use all-caps when I want to obviously refer to gameplay actions (mechanics) within the text. I promise I won't shout too much.

Readme: KK: Mechanics & Abstractions (p.2)

2 comments:

PypeBros said...

Although a mechanic is bound to user input, it is not *only* user input, but also interplay. So "pushing a block", "breaking jars", etc. may be mechanics too.

PypeBros said...

A mechanic is *not* individual if either:
- its input triggers at least one other mechanic (e.g. mario RUN + SHOOT mapped on B)
- it requires a sequence of inputs (e.g. Ha-Do-Ken)
- it requires simultaneous use of other mechanics' inputs (e.g. double dragon's FIST + KICK = JUMP)
- it is affect by context element that is out of player's control (e.g. rhythm-dependent jump height in Mia's Everlasting Love)