This week's lecture is a review of last week's homework (to reach Chapter 11 in The Game Maker's Apprentice) on Balancing in Multiplayer Games, but it is presented in different manner with expansions, illustrations, sidebars and quotations to help illuminate key points.
Our lab assignment this week will be to do Game Maker Tutorial 12 (Tic-Tac-Toe) and learn how to build an array and some basic artificial intelligence (AI).
Quiz #4 is next week:
Next week features the fourth quiz. It is worth 10 points and covers the material from this week’s reading on programming (vitally important!) and the required reading section for this week on the course web site.
The link below is the homework assignment due at the beginning of the next class session.
These links feature the supplemental material that you are responsible for knowing before the first exam (that takes place at the beginning of Week 4). Be sure to click on every link in this section!
Article: Rock Paper Scissors - A Method for Competitive Game Play Design by Victor Chelaru
Designer and programmer Victor Chelaru discusses how the classic schoolyard game of Rock Paper Scissors can be a key element in multiplayer and one-on-one game design, in this in-depth feature.
These supplemental links are worth pursuing only if you wish to really learn the subject matter of game design in the broadest possible sense. This material will not be directly included in the exams, but if you're serious about being a game designer and delving deeply into the subject of game design art, craft, and science, here's some more lessons from others who have also "been there."
Article: Techniques for Achieving Play Balance by Tom Cadwell
While information on play balance does exist, there isn't a terribly large volume of good information available. This very deep article attempts to convey a process with which play balance can be attained.
Article: Game Balance from Unreal Wiki
Although written in a very in-your-face style, the lessons here are real. The Facts of Life section alone is worth reading in particular.
Bibliography: General Course References
