The Main Loop Model
Here’s my first contribution to the ever growing pile of game design models:
The Main Loop
Applicaple for: digital games, board, card and other turn-based games.
Basic idea of main loop should be familiar to all game programmers out there, but it also provides a good starting point for a variety of different game designs. It describes what is actually happening while you play the game. Basically it lays out all the phases of a single turn and a winning or losing condition.
The main loop of Chess, for instance, looks like this
1. The first player moves a piece
2. The second player moves a piece
REPEAT until the King of either player is captured.
Although it’s a neat example, this description leaves out much of important information. It could be elaborated further, ie:
1. The first player moves one piece [see piece-movement patterns] and if the piece lands on a square occupied by a other player’s piece, the other player’s piece is captured.
The main loop of a MTG-like card game could look like this:
1. The player performs upkeep actions
2. The player plays mana cards
3. The player casts spells using mana drawn from the mana cards.
4. The player refreshes his or her hand.
REPEAT for all players until all but one player have run out of hitpoints.
Information represented by the model can often by self-evident or even reduntant, but it does give a good starting point for any game design.
Pros: Simple and clear, gives a clear picture of what happens in the game.
Cons: Not applicaple to more complex or real-time game designs (ie. roleplaying games), not very useful on digital games based on existent genres (almost everyone has quite a good understanding of what happens in a platformer or first person shooter).