Trade-Offs

Gameplay situations where players must choose between several different options and compare values against each other.

This pattern is a still a stub.

Examples

Anti-Examples

optional

Using the pattern

Trade-Offs can be used to add complexity to Challenging Gameplay but also introduce different types of risks in for example Stealth challenges. They can also be added to Committed Goals by having positive effects for succeeding with them and negative ones for failing with them, thereby making players have to choose between actually trying to succeed with the goal or being willing to take the disadvantage to be able to focus upon other goals in the game.

The construction of Trade-Offs follow one of two formats. The first is having to select between several choices which all have positive but different consequences (or all negative and different). The second is having to choose if one wants to take an action with both a negative and a positive consequence, or alternatively having to choose between several different choices with such pairs of consequences.

Can Be Instantiated By

Ability Losses, Area Control, Bidding, Budgeted Action Points, Cameras, Chargers, Choke Points, Consumers, Converters, Combat, Deterioration, Drafting Spreads, Equipment Slots, Extended Actions, Freedom of Choice, Guard, Heterogeneous Game Element Ownership, Internal Conflicts, Interruptibility, No-Use Bonus, One-Way Travel, Player-Decided Distribution of Rewards & Penalties, Producers, Renewable Resources, Resource Management, Resources, Risk/Reward, Selectable Sets of Goals, Sockets, Time Limits, Token Placement, Traces, Units, Upgrades

Ability Losses together with New Abilities

Actions Have Diegetically Social Consequences together with Internal Rivalry

Decreased Abilities together with Ammunition or Armor

Improved Abilities together with Ammunition

Limited Resources together with Parties

Tools together with Resources or Deterioration

Can Be Modulated By

Attention Swapping, Limited Resources, Producers, Supporting Goals

Consequences

Games where players need to make Trade-Offs often lead to them having to engage in Tactical Planning, so the pattern causes Stimulated Planning. This can also can Tension and since Strategic Knowledge regarding the Trade-off can help players make better choice the pattern can also support a type of Gameplay Mastery. In that Trade-Offs require players to select something negative with something positive or choose between two different strategies, it can have a form of Balancing Effect. A potentially negative effect of Trade-Offs is that they can cause Analysis Paralysis in Turn-Based Multiplayer Games. They typically don't support Cognitive Engrossment in themselves but can add depth to it if it already is supported in a game through adding additional choices and effects that need to be considered.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Balancing Effects, Gameplay Mastery, Stimulated Planning, Strategic Knowledge, Tactical Planning, Tension

in Multiplayer Games which are also Turn-Based Games

Analysis Paralysis

Can Modulate

Challenging Gameplay, Cognitive Engrossment, Committed Goals, Stealth

Can Be Instantiated By

Ability Losses, Area Control, Bidding, Budgeted Action Points, Cameras, Chargers, Choke Points, Consumers, Converters, Combat, Deterioration, Drafting Spreads, Equipment Slots, Extended Actions, Freedom of Choice, Guard, Heterogeneous Game Element Ownership, Internal Conflicts, Interruptibility, No-Use Bonus, One-Way Travel, Player-Decided Distribution of Rewards & Penalties, Producers, Renewable Resources, Resource Management, Resources, Risk/Reward, Selectable Sets of Goals, Sockets, Time Limits, Token Placement, Traces, Units, Upgrades

Ability Losses together with New Abilities

Actions Have Diegetically Social Consequences together with Internal Rivalry

Decreased Abilities together with Ammunition or Armor

Improved Abilities together with Ammunition

Limited Resources together with Parties

Tools together with Resources or Deterioration

Can Be Modulated By

Attention Swapping, Limited Resources, Producers, Supporting Goals

Possible Closure Effects

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Potentially Conflicting With

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History

An updated version of the pattern Tradeoffs that was part of the original collection in the book Patterns in Game Design.

Acknowledgements

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