4000 Week3

Resource name: HP 

Resource Description: HP or Health Points are a metric to represent a character's “life” in a game. Generally a HP value below 0 is a lose condition in many games.

Mechanic name: Health Wager

Mechanic description: For this mechanic you wager the amount of health you are going to “bet” for the round. The amount you bet will be depleted from your health no matter what. If the enemy places a higher bet than you, they damage you *on top* of the amount of health you already risked. You want to bet the least amount of your own health that puts you over the top to kill the enemy and avoid the punishment of their damage.

Implementation description: We have an enemy that generates a number between a lowbound and a highbound range: that number is the enemy’s bet. The player slides to a value on their health slider that they want to risk for this round (their bet). They want to pick a number in the range that is hopefully higher than the enemies, while still preserving their health. Rounds repeat until the player kills 5 enemies, upon that condition they win. The player loses if their health depletes below zero. Each new enemy has a slightly different damage range.

Description of how your pattern(s) relate to the prototype. (Include link to pattern): Our pattern solves the issue of defensive play. The solution is to offer a counterbalanced incentive to the inherent “risk” of HP when employing a more “risky”/brash playstyle by awarding the player health benefits. We did that in this prototype by incentivizing the player to overshoot the opponent’s damage range to ensure they beat their enemy. The reward for this “riskier” behavior is the absence of the punishment they would receive if they were to make a safe bet and take double jeopardy damage to their HP (their own bet on top of the enemy’s damage based upon the same decision). 

https://patternlanguageforgamedesign.com/PatternLibraryApp/PatternLibrary/2348 

Analysis describing the implications of the resource and mechanic explored in your playable prototype: The resource and mechanic are very tightly/directly coupled. The decision you make on the mechanic is a direct representation of what will happen to your health, there is some slight unknown as well considering how much the enemy will bet. The gameplay decisions that resulted from this aren’t the most engaging, but exist to serve a point in rewarding riskier gameplay. Upon balancing certain values, the gameplay decisions could have higher stakes and be more challenging - this is a game that would require fine tuned numbers since so much of the implications from your decision are exposed.