Introduction to Game Systems Design

Chapter 9

Attributes: Creating and Quantifying Life

One of the most common early tasks system designers perform is to create attributes for game objects. We can define game object as any individual object in a game that does something. It could be something as simple as a block of ground that has a texture and collision, all the way up to a character that has a vast array of attributes, animations, 3D meshes, and more.

Mechanics Versus Attributes

Game objects can be defined using attributes and mechanics. Simply put, mechanics are rules that govern usage, and attributes are values that influence those rules. In a practical sense for video games, mechanics require some amount of encoding, whereas attributes are represented as values (data). ...