Level 3.1.4: Resources and Resource Management

Resources and Resource Management

“Resources” is a broad category, and I use it to mean everything that is under control of a single player. Obviously this includes explicit resources (Wood and Wheat in Settlers of Catan, health and mana and currency in World of Warcraft), but this can also include other things under player control:

• Territory in RISK
• Number of questions remaining in Twenty Questions
• Objects that can be picked up in video games (weapons, powerups)
• Time (either game time, or real time, or both)
• Known information (as the suspects that you have eliminated in Clue)

What kinds of resources do the players control? How are these resources manipulated during play? This is something the game designer must define explicitly.

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