FUNDAMENTALS OF GAME DESIGN, SECOND EDITION

GAMEPLAY IN GOD GAMES

The primary challenge in a god game is to produce population growth, but the player cannot defeat the rival god simply by helping his own population. He must
also do damage to the other god's worshippers, while repairing the damage that the rival god does to the player's people. This damage usually takes the form of harm­ing his opponent's population by bringing down natural disasters upon them: spectacular events such as floods, volcanoes, earthquakes, lightning strikes, torna­does, plagues, rivers of blood, and so on. Because it's more fun to watch natural disasters than it is to watch crops growing bountifully, god games tend to offer more destructive powers the player can use on his enemies than they do construc­tive ones that benefit his own people. The mana cost of these events rises rapidly in proportion to their destructiveness. In fact, a god game is almost a destruction and management simulation.

To design a god game, begin, as always, with the question, What is the player going to do?—in this case, as a god. What kinds of powers would you like her to have? And what will differentiate your god game from those that have gone before? Also ask a lot of questions about the culture of the simulated people. What do they do? How do they spend their time? What circumstances are needed for their popula­tion to grow? How do they react when their world is damaged by a hostile god? A god game needs a lot of interesting animations for the people; it is an artificial life game, after all. Some of the entertainment value of a god game comes (perhaps a little cruelly) from watching the people run around and scream in terror as they respond to the player's wreaking destruction upon them.