Chapter ThirteenTurns, Ticks, & Time
Introduction
One of the common stumbling blocks for novice video game designers is understanding how to design real-time games. This chapter aims to demystify “realtime” and show how the use of flowcharts can help a designer specify a design as a rigorous series of concrete steps.
The learning objectives for this chapter are:
- Be able to describe how turn-based and real-time games are similar and how they differ.
- Understand how a game’s mechanics can be structured into a main game loop.
- Become familiar with flowcharting as a game design tool.
Turns and Real-time
Most tabletop games are structured into turns and rounds, with players’ actions unfolding one at a time. Much more unusual are tabletop ...
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