Time Goes By
Another question that needs addressing is time. In practically any game (or anything in life, for that matter), time is the most valuable resource. In real life, time “allotment” is not a problem – it just goes by. In any real-time game (RTS/FPS games, or MMORPG’s like WoW and such) it’s just as simple. In browser-based games, however, it’s a bit different. Or at least it can be. Due to their different character, browser-based games don’t actually have to be real-time, so this is another decision that needs to be made.So how do we do this? There are three popular ways of going about it, so let’s discuss each in turn:
1. Time-based: This is, in a nutshell, real-time. Every second that passes in real life, passes in the game. An example of this in a web-based game is Travian, or Ikariam. Time-based games are sometimes resource-based, too. This puts another degree of limitation on the actions the player can perform in any given amount of time.
2. Tick-based. This is similar to time-based. In a tick-based environment, the player uses action points to perform actions. A new action point is received every set amount of time (e.g., 5 minutes, 1 hour), and the player can either use it or “save” it for later. Some actions will be simple and require only a single or a few action points, while other, more complicated and lucrative actions require several action points to use. This adds a certain degree of planning, as the player has to think how he’s going to spend his action points: Should he spend them all as soon as he gains them? Should he let them build up and use them for complex actions? Should he save some for emergencies? And if so, how many?
This system also opens up more questions on the development side, such as: How often is an action point gained? What are the AP costs of various actions (obviously, some system must be created where there are advantages and disadvantages to both stocking up and spending AP’s)? Is there a limit to how many AP’s a player can have?
Urban Dead is an example of a tick-based game.
3. Turn-based. As the name “suggests”, this system is based on turns. Each day, the player will get a set amount of turns to spend, and he can do with them as he pleases. My favorite example here would be Kingdom of Loathing. Here I think a very large majority of the actions would only cost 1 turn to perform, with very few exceptions. There could also be ways to extend the quota – items or effects that result in more turns awarded per-day. Obviously we’d have to decide on some basic things, like how many turns will the player receive per day, and some slightly more complicated things like how will a player be able to gain extra turns (if at all), and what is the maximum number of turns that we allow to be hoarded (i.e., saved between days).
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Hey, my favourite type of game is Time based, like Travian. I like the idea of recourses being built up in real time and i enjoy the strategy element of calculating when things need to happen and such.
i dont think i have tried a Tick based game before, but from your description of it, its not my thing..
i occasionally play Turn based games, like Attack (facebooks Risk like game) and i often enjoy playing these, but sometimes, my patience doesnt co operate with me
but then again, patience is a major factor of all 3 types..
all 3 have advantages and disadvantages, but in my opinion, real time games, are by far the best.
As you say, all systems have their pros and cons. Personally, for the RPG part of the game (which will be the main theme of it) I’m actually leaning away from time-based play, mostly because, well, time-based play doesn’t seem to be the right thing for it. For the strategy based games it makes a sort of sense – troops should take some time to move from point A to point B, etc., but for an RPG, it doesn’t sit well, in my opinion. You want instant gratification there. When you go out adventuring, you don’t want to wait X minutes before you can start, well, adventuring.
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In this sense, computerized RPG’s are similar to pen-and-paper RPG’s. In the old days of D&D (yes, I know it’s still around, but I haven’t played it since the old days…), when you went on an adventure in a nearby land, you didn’t go home and reconvene in a week, to signify the travel time. No, you just had the DM describe the way a little, have a random/scripted encounter or two, and then you got to the dungeon.
But we know that many people like the time-based games, too, so as I mentioned in the post So what’s there to do in these here parts?, we’re looking to include a strategy element, for all your clock-tickin’ needs