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-:Fat Chance:- Risk and Reward. Paul Taylor 2010. What is chance?. Why do we need chance?. We balance risk / rewards in everyday life What is the danger of a building collapsing? A train being delayed? Showing up to class vs Failing the Exam?.
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-:Fat Chance:-Risk and Reward Paul Taylor 2010
Why do we need chance? • We balance risk / rewards in everyday life • What is the danger of a building collapsing? • A train being delayed? • Showing up to class vs Failing the Exam?
http://www.edcollins.com/backgammon/diceprob.htm http://www.extrabit.com/dice/d6-06.jpg Roll of the Die... • What are the odds?
What are the odds? http://www.extrabit.com/dice/d12-12.jpg
What do you do if you don’t have a 12 face die? • Roll 2x 6 face die? • Roll 1x 6 face die and double the answer? • Roll 1x 6 face die and flip 1x coin? http://www.serenapowers.com/img/dice.jpg
http://www.edcollins.com/backgammon/diceposs.gif Rolling 2x 6 face die
http://www.upscale.utoronto.ca/cgi-bin/ErrorAnalysis/HistogramExample.cgihttp://www.upscale.utoronto.ca/cgi-bin/ErrorAnalysis/HistogramExample.cgi
1x Die = 1-6 • 1x Coin = H / T = +0 / +6
C# / XNA Randomness Random randNumber; randNumber = new Random(); intdiceRoll = randNumber.Next(1, 7); int dice12face = randNumber.Next(1, 7) + randNumber.Next(1, 7);
Complex Chance • Suppose we have 184 different enemies for the player to face • We want to be able to estimate the difficulty of the game without knowing the exact enemies chosen
A hierarchy of chance • We have 184 different enemies • All must be easy, difficult, or normal • (We categorise the enemies) • Now we can set probabilities for each category
Now what is the probability: • That your game is fun? • That your game is too difficult? • That your game is too easy? • Now to add some balance....
Adding some Balance • We can’t just throw risk around without considering how it affects the balance of the game http://blog.wineenthusiast.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/balance.jpg
Balancing Asymmetrical games • Commonly achieved via Resource and Power balance • Vampire Guinea Pig Apocalypse • Three main character classes: • Normal Guinea Pig • Vampire Guinea Pig • Exorcist Guinea Pig
Rock Paper Scissors This is the circle of life version of fairness Used extensively by games such as Pokémon • There is no most powerful piece • For every power there is a weakness
When is probability a good choice? • For small frequent challenges • Item Dropping • ?? • ?? • When the player can estimate the risk
When is probability a bad choice? • When the risk is high • When the player has no control over the amount of risk • Irreversible actions
References • Fundamentals of Game Design