
Three Hundred Mechanics - zephyrfalcon
http://www.squidi.net/three/index.php
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backpropaganda
I wish there was actually a tvtropes.org-type listing of game mechanics
employed in video games. I think the design space isn't that large, and most
games tend to reuse the same mechanics which work well. A lot of games use
rock-paper-scissor either as primitives, or at a meta level. Does anyone know
of any such listing or book which covers important game mechanics? It would be
the equivalent of CLRS but for game mechanics.

This particular site is not that, because it's the author's list of novel game
mechanics. They aren't particularly fundamental, and have a lot of the biases
due to the author's preferences, or trends of the time.

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mntmoss
Rules of Play (Zimmerman, Salen) and Art of Game Design: a Book of
Lenses(Schell) come to mind as resources that cover this sort of
"comprehensive" study.

In my opinion, there isn't a great deal of direct design information that can
be gleaned from compendiums, though, even though they have surface appeal and
can bring you up to speed on surface trends. It's equivalent to trying to do
artistic work by only using "how-to" guides and not other forms of reference:
the magic happens in adapting from one medium to another and developing the
needed technique along the way, not from strenuously studying an existing
technique because it's fashionable to do so.

e.g. if you make a game that has "polished Mario style movement" and "rock
paper scissors combat," you have made something totally familiar and
predictable. It can be reasonably interesting during the game session but
still fail to attract attention or hold anyone for the long term. A great of
the interest is in not knowing for sure that the game will reduce to a
"predictable and fair" design trope like RPS.

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a_t48
[http://www.squidi.net/three/entry.php?id=207](http://www.squidi.net/three/entry.php?id=207)

He's basically described "complete gatcha" which was so addictive/exploitative
that it was banned from Japanese F2P games by the government.

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wetpaws
Ah, squidi. His webcomic is also worth checking for those who missed it -
[http://www.squidi.net/comic/amd/](http://www.squidi.net/comic/amd/)

(A critical mass of tropes guaranteed)

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kosei
Yeah, one of my favorite comics of 10-15 years back. Too bad he seemingly gave
up on his main series. Was always very well written and drawn.

