Mechanically Disinclined

You've got a fantastic game idea, don't you? Listed all the things you want to be in it and put in a little planning, right? Maybe you've planned the maps and resources needed as well? Now you are just sitting there, wondering where to start. Enemies, crafting, inventory, which mechanic should you start upon?

The place to start in any major project is the foundation. In games, that would be the core mechanic. There are several types of mechanics in games, core, supporting, challenge, and extra/other. I'll go over these mechanics so you can better identify them and choose the actual core mechanic.

Core mechanics, although there is usually just one, are used throughout the game; or to beat the game. Minecraft is obviously crafting, since you have to craft tools, weapons, and armor to progress. Mario games have Mario's base moveset (jump, punch, kick) as the core mechanic. Fighting games have character movesets as the core mechanic. Can you guess Pokemon's core mechanic? It's not capturing, but battling. You have to battle to progress or win the game, like any base RPG, but capturing is needed to get more characters to battle with. Capturing is a support mechanic.

Support mechanics are used to support the core gameplay. Minecraft has mining. You have to mine wood to get materials to craft tools for more mining. Mario usually has support pickups (mushroom, fire flower, tanuki) while most fighting games just use the core mechanic. With Pokemon, capturing is the support mechanic to get characters to battle with (no capture nuzlocke anyone). Most challeng mechanics are used to control the games pacing or make it more fun. If you could just beat Bowser without collecting the macguffins and unlocking the worlds, Mario games would be boring.

Challenge mechanics are used to give the player a challenge. For most games, this is usually the enemies you fight. Sometimes the challenge mechanic is a support mechanic as well, like in Pokemon. Minecraft would be even more boring without the mobs to kill, but it would still be nice to explore. Timers, puzzles, goals, and achievements are usually challenge mechanics. Anything that is used to determine/cause a losing scenario is usually a challenge mechanic. Player stats are a great example of a simple challenge mechanic.

Now for the final type of mechanic. Extra/other mechanic usually don't affect gameplay much, but it can add to it. For Pokemon, the trading mechanic is extra. All the Pokemon could be in a single game, but trading was added to expand the game. Similarly, items in Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart are extra (but fun) mechanics. Wile these extra mechanics add to the game, too many can bog down the game or expand development times (going to ludicrous dev time). If it isn't a core or support mechanic, work can usually be delayed upon it.

Some things to consider about mechanics. Some games are just a core mechanic (fighting games). The advertised mechanics are not always the core mechanic (pokemon). Some games can have either two core mechanics, or core/support symbiosis (minecraft) where the core and support mechanics work together to hold up the game. Core mechanics can also support other mechanics. Extra and challenge mechanics should be the last worked on and the first to be cut. Online play is almost always an extra mechanic. Inventories are almost always a support mechanic.

You should almost always work on the core or support mechanic first. As a developer, you can give yourself the macguffins needed to use the core mechanic. Unless the core mechanic really needs a support mechanic, start with the core mechanic. Mechanic don't have to be perfect, just working; polish can come later.

Little One just had two main mechanics when I started, the vacucell collector and farming. Item collection was the core mechanic and farming was actually supposed to support a challenge mechanic. Those were the first two mechanics I started with.

Blue Bloom has several mechanics, more than Little One. I was confused at first what mechanic to start upon, but crafting will be the core mechanic. Resource collection will be a support mechanic with the flora and fauna being challenge mechanics. In fact, Blue Bloom will have several challenge mechanics.

Might as well be walking on the sun.

 Match 3 or more, tap that group of blocks, connect every image of the same color. 

Fendish

Tasty!

Slumageddon

Delicious!

And yet, you lost. You still have more lives/energy/McGuffins so try again. Different parameters, power-ups, or strategy and you could win.

Your hearts are full!

Your fiends are full of energy!

Limited time to complete the challenge.

PLAY NOW!

It's all random, just luck based.

You think so, right?

Welcome to being wrong.

Look close at the fun little games you play. That time you should have been defeated, or the time you should have won. Blocks of the color you need are strangely rare this time, or power-ups are a bit hard to find. This is by design. Some games are programmed to help the player, others to hinder. It's not "Surprise Mechanics" it's programming.

I'll share some things I've noticed about Best Fiends. Mainly because I play it at times, and it's generous (except with the gold). You start with a single fiend and have to connect items of the same color to "attack" and defeat slugs. You can unlock\buy other fiends and their styles and level them up. If you lose a level, just ten gold for five moves (terrible deal). Playing over 500 levels I've noticed some things.

Fiends power up differently on different levels. One one level it would take twelve matches to power up a fiend; the next takes two or three times that. Understandable when some levels give you more moves.

Fiends power up differently in general. Depending on the power they have, the color they collect, or even the goals of the level; fiends power up differently.

Some levels start with the same items in the same places. It's not just the bombs or the item volcanoes, I've seen the same "block" patterns at the start of several levels. This shows that not everything is random and things can be controlled.

Items fall behind other items. Items should fall down when you remove stuff below them, right? All nice and orderly? Most people might not notice it, but I've seen an item fall behind another item, breaking a possible grand combo or last-move win. I'm not talking about items falling down a slope of other items; falling directly behind another item. This could be a glitch, but it doesn't seem frequent enough.

Some levels don't have items of a certain color. This happens mostly on smaller levels, making large combos easier. The color is not needed, and neither is the fiend. If a color can be omitted, then the amount dropped might also be controlled.

Needed colors seem rare. Sure, matching small groups of colors to make large combos with other colors is a strategy. But when only three of a particular color have dropped in the last five moves, something's fishy. I'm not talking about the levels where you have to "free" the color from slime and match an amount of it to "unlock" it. Juts regular levels with irregular scarcity.

You have to "unlock" the color before it starts dropping it. Now I'm talking about those levels. There are blocks of the color hidden under slime. Remove the slime and match\blast enough and they'll start dropping. Now you can collect enough to complete a challenge, maybe.

Needed colors seem numerous.They are letting you win, don't you feel special. Sometimes you'll start a level and there are more than enough of the color you need to collect. So many you don't need a converter power-up. Just make sure you complete the other goals for the level.

Some power-ups have exact placements. Usually, on any chain that completes a power up, the power-up drops at the column you started the chain. Sometimes an obstruction will change that, but it's a nice trick to place power-ups (Ru's bomb) at opportune spots.

Facts:
Color drops can be turned off/on even during a level.
Fiends power up at different rates for different reasons.
Some levels start with the same pattern every time.

Rumors:
The amount of a color can be controlled.
Items can arrange themselves when falling.
An entire level's drops could be arranged from start to finish.
The placement of "block" and item drops could be controlled.

Like with any game, the player doesn't know the extent of control the game has. From keeping the player alive, to arranging drops, anything could be controlled. Far more than people realize, and some games are less friendly than others. Some seem innocent, but watch the patterns.

An extra bit of control can make the game more/less challenging, or it can control the player.

AE :: multitexture shuffle

Upon waking up my bare feet hit the 35 degree floor. After quickly using the bathroom and washing my hands (with hot water), I go back to a warm bed. A few minutes later I have enough warmth to finally get up. I feed my cat and turn on my PC. Last night I had tried opening my game in the blenderplayer to discover that most of the object will not show up. After adding a clock to the game I record a gameplay vid and re-encode it to flv. I also try to recreate my problem without success. Going outside, I find a sunny spot to warm up. The sky becomes cloudy; check the weather to find five cold days with plenty of clouds. Fopping dopplars. The vid is borked, so I record another one and start it encoding. My mom has a cold and I AM cold, so I do the dishes for her. The hot water warms me, but I have to sign for a neighbor's package. After doing most of the dishes, my stepdad gets up to make his breakfast and lights the gas heater in the living room. I don't like to light the heat for myself, but I will soak it up. Neighbor comes by for his mail; since he is going to town I ride with him to  use the internet at a local coffee shop.I get a cheeseburger in town; my first meal of the day. I awoke at 7:30, after being up past midnight, and it is now noon. After getting to the coffee shop, I get a coffee and connect to the internet to upload all of my updates. I'll probably be awake until two in the morning, being awesome.

AE :: By the power of two, the object state shall be gotten.

The NPCs can move, but they have nowhere to move to. There are various errors I need to address before I can add other elements, but I hope to have a working HUD soon. I really should finish building that house.

AE :: I can has gameplay?