Games Design: Research into different game mechanics

 Within a Mesh Blocking project, mechanics are key, as there is no art, there is nothing for the player to look at, so you can't swap aesthetics for gameplay. 

There are many different mechanics that are used within games, some used with each other and some used alone, some mechanics to consider are; Capture/Eliminate, Catch-up, movement and Risk and Reward.

The main mechanics that I am most interested in are Capture/Eliminate, Movement and Risk and Reward.

Capture/ Eliminate is when the player, or another entity within the game is set to be captured, this is either a winning move (The player capturing a target) or a losing move (the player being captured). Some games that are an example of this mechanic are games such as chess, or even super Mario. In chess the aim is to wipe your opponent's pieces off the board in order to win. In super Mario, your aim is to bypass as many obstacles and enemies before getting caught. Both of these games are at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to this mechanic.

             

                            

^ https://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-set-up-a-chess-game      ^ https://www.taminggaming.com/game/Super+Mario+Run               

Movement is pretty self explanatory, Movement just depicts how the player or other entities move around within the game, most every game has this and it differs in most every game.

Finally, Risk and Reward is all about having the player decide whether the risk they are going to take, either by getting within eye sight of an enemy or taking a risky jump is worth the reward they are going to get. For example in Super Mario you have to collect stars, these stars can be in really easy places, or in more tricky places, to get to the tricky stars the player might have to decide whether they have the lives to die a few times before being able to get the star or if they will die attempting to get it.

Mechanics are incredibly important in any game, but especially a game that has been Mesh Blocked, and isn't able to tell a story through art and aesthetics.

Source: https://www.gamedesigning.org/learn/basic-game-mechanics/