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How to win any game. Play to win: how to win games and what you need to know about professional players in GameDev

Content:

Crane is a game of skill where you launch a mechanical claw into a glass box in hopes of pulling out a prize. This seems like a simple task, but most people rarely win. It is possible to win, but you will need patience and the ability to retreat.

Steps

Part 1 “Psychology” of the machine

1 Understand how claws are programmed to clench. Most machines have a setting that can be set by the operator that will cause the claws to tighten after X number of attempts, with some degree of randomness. In practice, this means that the claws will be "relaxed" most of the time, but tighten every X number of times (on average - not necessarily every N number of times), so people will only get a chance to win every X number of times.
- If there is an alternative, tricky way of programming some machines. They have a dual strength setting so that they initially squeeze the actuator with full force, and after a while they “loose their grip”, eventually making it feel like the toy was caught but slipped out. This turns the car into something like slot machine, and not a game in which victory depends on skill!
2 Be aware of the features of older cars. Some older machines are equipped with claws that have a fixed clamping force on each attempt. This happens because in such machines the clamping force is adjusted with a screwdriver; to do this, you need to open the machine. With such old machines, skill plays a huge role.

Part 2 Using skills, or How to defeat a machine

1 Choose your car. Don't play on a machine that only has the right and forward buttons; when you press and release each once, the claws will drop, leaving you no chance to adjust. Look for a machine with a joystick and a drop button.
2 Choose a target toy. When choosing a toy that you think you can get, forget about the one you really want that is lying around. There are ways to increase your chances of getting something from a machine:
- Get to the toy on top of the pile. If she has a hand or tail that is caught in other toys, you won't be able to get her, so avoid those toys. The claws are strong enough to lift the toy, but not strong enough to release it.
- Consider the shape of the toy. Avoid choosing round toys; claws are more likely to slip off. Choose toys with features that allow claws to grip better, such as a doll with long tails.
- Pay attention to how far the holder reaches - you won’t be able to get toys near the glass.
3 Place your claws over your chosen toy. Stand in front of the car to move left and right, but stand to the side of the car to move back and forth. The mirror in most cars distorts the depth of perspective.
4 Release your claws when you think you have caught the toy.
5 Concentrate 100 percent of your attention on your claws. Some claws swing left and right, some rotate and change the position of the teeth.
6 Adapt based on the results of the “catch”. You most likely didn't catch the toy.
- If the teeth do not close, or release the toy without picking it up, stop immediately, as the machine is broken or rigged for foul play.
- If the claws grab the toy and then release, try again.
- If you miss, readjust and don't forget to adjust for swaying and turning.
7 If you don't win, repeat the process and try again. But know when it's time to stop. If you like a toy, you can likely buy a similar but better made one for $5-$10 at a store or mall. If you spent two dollars, seriously evaluate whether it's worth it and whether the machine works. If you enjoy the process and the thirst for victory beckons, consider downloading a skill app and playing online without losing significant money.

Choose a toy close to the chute; if it falls, let it fall straight into the chute. If the toy in the farthest corner falls out of the claws, it will fall onto the playing field.
Decide what animal or item you want before putting money in the machine.
Don't put it in the car more money What does one game cost? The machine does not give back, and sometimes after just one game it is clear that it is not working.
Consider watching and waiting. Watch other people play until someone wins. Count all your losses before someone else wins. Wait for more people to play until you figure there will be another win soon. Then play and claim your prize. (Of course, there is no need to jump in line and cause a scandal just because someone did not finish their attempts!)
Know when not to give up. Yes, the claws released the toy and it's disgusting, but maybe it will be easier to get it now.
Look for special cars. Sometimes the machines stop only after you win, which is why the fees for playing them are higher.
Don't even start if you only have money for one game. You will most likely only get upset.
Yes, you can win in these jewelry machines. Bend over to receive best review and more accurately understand whether the claws are positioned correctly. The claws usually grip more tightly, but you have to be more precise.
When choosing a toy, give preference to the one that is on the surface. Don't choose a toy hidden under two others, no matter what the price. The claws have a weak clamp, they will not be able to grip the toy well, and you most likely will not be able to get it out.
Choose a toy with a large top and a small bottom. The claws will grip better on the top.
When you're ready to put your claws down but still have plenty of time left, think about it! In addition to changing position if necessary, allow the claws to stop swinging from side to side. Then the “landing” will be more accurate and softer, and you will have more chances to win.

Cautions

Try not to knock on the machine - some have a tilt mechanism and will lock after impact. This behavior is not condoned and you may be asked to leave.
Once you've caught the toy (if you've chosen a toy), don't move too quickly or forcefully when you pull it out, you might hurt yourself.

You will need

Many quarters or tokens
Quality game

January 12, 2015 at 09:53

Play to win: how to win games and what you need to know about professional players in GameDev [part 1]

A long time ago, my friends and I played Starcraft using a dial-up modem. I lost often until I read a phrase on one of the BBSes that changed everything. The principle is very simple: in real-time strategies, the one who constantly attacks wins. It was necessary to learn to think in terms of constantly creating threats.

Why am I saying this? There is such a guy - David Sirlin. Esports athlete, Street Fighter champion, game designer, board player, esports coach. He has a whole theory on how to train and play to win. Universal, applicable to all games. Below are the main points of the first part and my comments. It will be interesting to read about the main things from the book both from the GameDev point of view (especially balancing), and just in life.

Why play to win?
David answers this question very simply. Victory is the only measurable outcome of the game. Like running - you can run for fun, you can run for training, you can run from someone. But only the result shows whether it is good or bad. If the distance time is reduced, you win every day. If you win the 100-meter dash, you have achieved a result. If you ran away from the evil Vasya, this is a 100% victory. So, competitive games are good because they provide instant feedback. Your position in comparison with other players is feedback.

David believes that anything that doesn't bring you closer to victory is counterproductive. In our board games oh this is probably one of the most important points. The fact is that when a company sits down at the table, it simply cannot enter the game as independent players. There will definitely be Anya sleeping with Boris (and they will most likely play as allies). There will be Zinovy, whom no one in the company knows, and that’s why he’s being bullied.

We have a simple rule: “Whoever brings relationships from life into the game is a fool. Whoever transfers relationships from the game to life is doubly a fool.” That is, only measurable indicators of victory are evaluated within the game. But, naturally, this approach is not very realistic in ordinary “kitchen” companies.

What is a game anyway?
A game is a set of rules. Since the main conflict is between you and other players, it is important that if not all players agree on the rules, they cannot be said to be playing the same game. The rules indicate the boundaries of game reality. They say what actions are allowed and what are prohibited. Then David talks about lamers as they are. They create their own rules and live by them. For example, they simply go into a wild frenzy when David wins a fighting game only with a chain of identical throws in a row. Works? Yes. Effective? Yes. It's a shame? Yes, yes. Is there a rule that prohibits using the same movement indefinitely? No. Victory.

By the way, this means that it is necessary to provide for this in development - if suddenly a very effective strategy is not spectacular and easy to reproduce, this can cause resentment.

When does the pleasure of competitive gaming begin?
When a worthy opponent appears. If you find a new guy and beat him down, it's not a game. When a master finds you and washes you casually, this is not a game. But when the opportunity arises to compete on equal terms, and the result is unknown in advance, it’s like a dialogue on equal terms. At this moment the most interesting thing happens.

How to choose a game?
David believes that a game must meet three important criteria:

Players must be equal before the start. He means the secrecy of information, but since then the problem of donation has arisen brightly - and I would add that good game- this is one where your out-of-game resources like money do not provide an advantage. Chess with the ability to buy a couple more pieces or upgrade pawns would be a bit strange.
The game should not be casual - the learning curve should be such that the interest is maintained as it progresses. If you play Russian roulette, preparation does not change the result. The advantage of players should be the ability to play stronger with the ability to reveal mechanics or with pure intellectual superiority (or dexterity, for example). When a number of board games were made into tournaments, the DCI League (by a major gaming magazine) was formed. So, the rules had to be redone to avoid strong randomness and actions of dexterity - the rules of the league implied only an intellectual duel.
You must have access to good opponents. First weak, then average - and then to masters. There’s no such problem online, but in David’s time it could have been difficult in an arcade. Having learned to defeat everyone in the area, one could easily snatch it in the first round of a normal tournament. By the way, at first he advises playing with beginners in order to feel the taste of victories and progress, but to train seriously - only on masters. The main principle is that you should not wait for your opponent to make a stupid mistake, but you should act aggressively, putting him at a disadvantage.

About bugs
The main question is whether to use bugs to win. David's answer is yes, if the bugs affect two players equally. The same is when, for example, due to a certain feature of the fighting game engine, a fighter is invulnerable at a specific moment in the execution of a technique. Uneven is when you can do something and the second player's screen will go dark.

There are two types of games in terms of preparation. The old ones required a very deep study of the platform, since there were simply no patches for them (it’s hard to patch a cartridge on Sega). They went through lengthy tests, and everything that was released into stores is no longer a bug, but a feature. On the other hand, the Internet has made it possible to release raw products with sequentially released patches and constant rebalancing.

The most interesting type of patch is the establishment of certain tournament rules. For example, for “Startup” tournaments we took out one of the most strong card project is just a subtype of such a patch.

David talks about the difference between good and bad prohibitions. For example, there is a shooter, and everyone in it camps (because it is close to the optimal strategy). It's easy to ban camping automatically - just dump players who don't move more than 15 meters within 3 minutes. Since it was optimal before, now the strategy that is as close as possible to the forbidden one will become optimal. That is, camping for 2 minutes 59 seconds, and then running to a new position. There will always be players who will use tactics close to those that are prohibited, so it is very important not to introduce bans on such “fuzzy” concepts, but to create conditions for the optimal tactic to be elsewhere. On the other hand, there are games that involve clear prohibitions. For example, in MTG you can ban a specific card. It's easy to check, it's very specific. A hasty ban is a lame method; first you need to understand whether there is a countertactic for using not the most obvious moments of the game. Many “ultimate tactics” turn out to be unviable after the tournament.

In Japan there are very interesting story with fighting games. There is such a character in Street Fighter Super Turbo - Akuma. The fact is that one of his techniques was not intended by the developers, but the engine allows you to do it. In practice, this means that tactics emerge that give a clear advantage to the professional. With proper training, this fighter cannot be beaten. Not “hard”, but impossible. This character was banned from US tournaments without question. But in Japan official ban no on him. Here's what David writes: "All the best players know that Akuma is a powerful character, so it is better not to use him, as he destroys beautiful game, so there is an unspoken rule not to use this character in tournaments. There are no large number people who still choose Akuma to play in tournaments, but the best players never do. Usually weak players try their hand at playing this powerful character and lose, which is humiliating and shameful.”

In this regard, the history of the development of chess is interesting. Chess is generally a good game to learn - it is very discrete, players in close conditions at the initial stage (only someone goes first), a good long learning curve. So, besides the particularly well-known patch for the bishop so that it could move diagonally any number of squares, rather than exactly three, there were many small changes. It is especially worth noting the prohibition of vertical castling and the prohibition of turning a pawn into an opponent’s piece. Try to appreciate the tenacity of those who used it.

Translation
We've posted a few chapters so far.

The game 2048 became a definite hit among its competitors; when it was released, it caused a huge stir around itself, many people posted on social networks hundreds of messages about their records in this game. Why did she get everyone so involved? Simplicity of gameplay, beautiful and pleasing to the eye design - this is a game in which you have to think a lot in order to win, but how could it be otherwise?

History of the game

This game, as sometimes happens, was not created for the purpose of enrichment; for the author it was only entertaining and educational. An Italian 19-year-old guy decided one evening to test his knowledge and write a game. The idea is not entirely his, he modified a game very similar to this one. Then it began to gain wild popularity, literally within a week the whole world learned about it, and all thanks to its simplicity and addictive gameplay. This game has an open source code, which anyone can watch, including for training. But we don't need training in anything other than this game. After all, we are here and want to win. So what is the secret of 2048, how to win it?

The essence of the game

How to win? First you need to understand the game itself and its rules. Everything is extremely simple. A field measuring 4 by 4 cubes. At the beginning of the game and at each turn, cubes with the numbers 2 or 4 inside appear in random places (2 appears more often). There are 4 actions in the game, up-down-left-right. With each of them, the player moves all the cubes on the playing field in a certain direction, if there is room for them to move. If, when moving between each other, two cubes with the same number are encountered, they combine, and a cell twice as large appears in their place. For example, by moving two twos together we get fours, from two fours we get an eight, and from two eights we get 16. Mathematicians immediately noticed that all these numbers are powers of twos. And considering that 2048 is 2 to the 11th power, you will have to work hard.

How to win in 2048: scheme

There are many schemes and strategies to win this game. Read carefully and choose the one that suits you. Or you can try everything and find for yourself the most effective one and the one that will allow you to find out the answer to the question of if there is a game 2048, how to win. You can see that the strategies increase in complexity, from the simplest to the most complex and effective. So go in order and you will definitely win.

List of strategies for winning in 2048

In conclusion

This is where we can finish this article about the game 2048. How to win it, you can now
you know, and it's time to put your knowledge into practice. Download this game on your phone so that it is always at hand. Or play it right now on your computer, because when it gained popularity, many developers remade it in their own way. And now it can be played on hundreds of sites, with different variations, ranging from pizza slices that turn into other food, ending with various actors.

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that you are discovering this beauty. Thanks for the inspiration and goosebumps.
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If you keep losing at tic-tac-toe or rock-paper-scissors, it may be because you don't know. winning strategy. Or your opponent knows it.

website will tell you about ways that will help you win in the 5 most popular games and gain the upper hand in disputes.

1. Tic-tac-toe

When making your first move, place your "X" in the corner. If your opponent responds by placing an “O” anywhere except the center square, then you can say that you have won. Place a cross in any of the free corners. The opponent, without thinking, will block your winning combination and stand between your crosses.

If after your first move the enemy occupied the center, then you can win in this case too.

Just place a cross in the corner diagonally from the one already occupied. Now, if the enemy occupies one of the free corners, then you win. Otherwise, it can be easily reduced to a draw.

2. "Monopoly"

"Monopoly"- a game in which a lot depends on your luck at the beginning and on your ability to negotiate in the middle of the game. But in order to significantly increase your chances of winning, it is important to adhere to certain rules.

Buy railways and don't buy utilities (electricity and water). Utility companies bring in little income already in the middle of the game, and transport will make you rich at the very beginning.

Don't worry about hotels. After you have collected one of the color territories, build 3 houses as soon as possible. The 3rd house is the point where you find the best use for your money. They are easy to build and generate high income.
Best territories- these are orange, light blue and red. They have a good location, they will bring you high income and help you win.

3. Arm wrestling

Even if you are facing an opponent who is superior in strength and weight, it is possible to defeat him if you use the correct technique for positioning your arms and body.

Lean towards the table, move your right leg forward and place your right elbow on the table. If you are using your left hand, then advance your left leg.

Make sure that the distance between the forearm and the body is as small as possible. This way you can use not only your arm strength, but also your own body weight, this will give you an advantage.

Lift your wrist up a little. This will cause your hand to drop down and your opponent's wrist to bend. This will make him uncomfortable and will help you strengthen your grip. If you can’t bend your wrist, just hold it straight.

Now, when applying pressure, pull your opponent’s hand towards you, and move closer and apply it with your shoulder. The important thing here is to keep your body and forearm close to each other.

For a decisive blow, turn your body a little and lean with your shoulder in the desired direction. Now all that remains is to drag the opponent towards you and press down. You have won!

4. Billiards

Billiards- a game that requires skill, training and high concentration. Therefore, if an experienced opponent is playing against you, it will be very difficult to win. To increase your chances, stick to the basic rules.

Don't let your opponent successfully break the pyramid. This is one of the basic rules. If you have an experienced opponent in front of you, then, having broken the pyramid, he can pocket all the balls at once, without allowing you to hit once. So try to hit first.

Take your time. It sounds cliché, but most people lose because they are in a hurry to hit the ball. Practice, aim, take a closer look. Don't mind if you are being rushed. Patience is important in this game.
Hit it right. If your ball deviates from the intended trajectory, then you are hitting the ball off center. Place the cue so that it coincides with the line of the future blow. If you are right-handed, then place your right foot perpendicular to this line, left leg put forward. The shoulder, hip, elbow and chin should be in the same plane.

5. Rock, Paper, Scissors

Many people believe that the game of rock, paper, scissors consists of randomness. In fact, it will be easy for you to win if you know some psychological tricks.

Researchers from Zhejiang University conducted a huge number of experiments, the results of which showed some patterns.

Most people always start with a rock. Moreover, men are many times more likely than women. However, many people do not throw the same sign 3 times in a row. So throw away the “paper” 3 times in a row and you win.

People don't like to be predictable. If your opponent throws a “stone” 2 times in a row, then in most cases the next sign will be “scissors”.
Watch your opponent's fingers- they will tell you what move the enemy is going to make. All fingers are tense - “stone”. All fingers are relaxed - “paper”. Only two fingers are tense - “scissors”.

We've finally finished publishing the book. "Play to win" famous e-sportsman and game designer David Sirlin. Below is a summary of the most interesting things and links to full chapters (a lot of letters).

There is such a guy - David Sirlin. Esports athlete, Street Fighter champion, game designer, board player, esports coach. He has a whole theory on how to train and play to win. Universal, applicable to all games. Below are the main points of the first part and my comments. It will be interesting to read about the main things from the book both from the GameDev point of view (especially balancing), and just in life.

Why play to win?
David answers this question very simply. Victory is the only measurable outcome of the game. Like running - you can run for fun, you can run for training, you can run from someone. But only the result shows whether it is good or bad. If the distance time is reduced, you win every day. If you win the 100-meter dash, you have achieved a result. If you ran away from the evil Vasya, this is a 100% victory. So, competitive games are good because they provide instant feedback. Your position in comparison with other players is feedback.

David believes that anything that doesn't bring you closer to victory is counterproductive. In our board games, this is perhaps one of the most important points. The fact is that when a company sits down at the table, it simply cannot enter the game as independent players. There will definitely be Anya sleeping with Boris (and they will most likely play as allies). There will be Zinovy, whom no one in the company knows, and therefore they all kill him.

We have a simple rule: “Whoever brings relationships from life into the game is a fool. Whoever brings relationships from the game to life is doubly a fool.” That is, only measurable indicators of victory are evaluated within the game. But, naturally, this approach is not very realistic in ordinary “kitchen” companies.

By the way, this means that it is necessary to provide for this in development - if suddenly a very effective strategy is not spectacular and easy to reproduce, this can cause resentment.

How to choose a game?
David believes that a game must meet three important criteria:

Players must be equal before the start. He means that information is closed, but since then the problem of donation has come up brightly - and I would add that a good game is one where your out-of-game resources like money do not give an advantage. Chess with the ability to buy a couple more pieces or upgrade pawns would be a bit strange.

The game should not be casual - the learning curve should be such that the interest is maintained as it progresses. If you play Russian roulette, preparation does not change the result. The advantage of players should be the ability to play stronger with the ability to reveal mechanics or with pure intellectual superiority (or dexterity, for example). When a number of board games were made into tournaments, the DCI League (by a major gaming magazine) was formed. So, the rules had to be redone to avoid strong randomness and actions of dexterity - the rules of the league implied only an intellectual duel.

You must have access to good opponents. First weak, then average - and then to masters. There’s no such problem online, but in David’s time it could have been difficult in an arcade. Having learned to defeat everyone in the area, one could easily snatch it in the first round of a normal tournament. By the way, at first he advises playing with beginners in order to feel the taste of victories and progress, but to train seriously - only on masters. The main principle is that you should not wait for your opponent to make a stupid mistake, but you should act aggressively, putting him at a disadvantage.

The most interesting type of patch is the establishment of certain tournament rules. For example, for Startup tournaments we took one of the strongest cards of the project from the deck - this is just a subtype of such a patch.

Japan has a very interesting history with fighting games. There is such a character in Street Fighter Super Turbo - Akuma. The fact is that one of his techniques was not intended by the developers, but the engine allows you to do it. In practice, this means that tactics emerge that give a clear advantage to the professional. With proper training, this fighter cannot be beaten. Not “hard”, but impossible. This character was banned from US tournaments without question. But in Japan there is no official ban on it. Here's what David writes: “All the best players know that Akuma is a powerful character, so it is better not to use him, as he ruins the beautiful game, so there is an unspoken rule not to use this character in tournaments. There are a small number of people who do choose Akuma to play in tournaments, but the top players never do. Usually weak players try their hand at playing this powerful character and lose, which is humiliating and shameful.”

Part 5

A short chapter about fraud and intimidation of the enemy (which was UPD in the previous post). David thinks this is generally not practical and explains why. David is polite and sporty.

Part 6

In the huge chapter “The Art of War: Deception,” David writes about different types bluff. Actions during the game both inside and outside the game provide information to opponents. A classic example is body language in poker: technically, it is not game mechanics, but is one of the most important elements of the game.

MTG has this type of deck - “Control”. A strategy to defend against threats until there are not enough resources for one powerful finishing blow, most often to summon a strong protected creature. The emasculated essence of control is to counter one or two powerful threats with counterspells to buy enough time. Any time a control deck player leaves free mana sources for someone else's turn, it could mean they have a counterspell. Now the question is: do you have it or not? If there is, the enemy plays a threat, and you disrupt his plan. If not, but the opponent thinks there is, he postpones playing a strong threat until a better position, thereby losing momentum. I saw a game at a national where one of the "bisons" received 14 lands in a row (these are "empty" resource cards, he had no spells) - and survived this period because the enemy thought for the first 6 turns that so many unused resources were a sure trap for him.

Masking also applies to the object for which there is a struggle. Here's a great example:

In all five versions of Street Fighter 2, when Ken and Ryu fight, a section of the active zone is just outside the range of the opponent's low roundhouse kick. If Ryu is at this distance without blocking (so he becomes lower than if he is crouched), Ken's low roundhouse kick will not reach him. If Ken's punch misses him, Ryu can easily hit him back or even throw him. Also from this distance, Ryu can easily block Ken's projectiles, and can easily counter a jump attack with an uppercut. In short, a wide range of Ken's most common techniques lose effectiveness specifically in this area. The exact location of this active zone, of course, depends on the characters in the battle and on the game.
The best players are well aware of this nuance of positioning, and they fight tooth and nail to get into the right position. The weaker player is also, in a sense, "fighting hard", but may not even know that he should be fighting for that particular place, so the professional player can easily take it. And from this advantageous position, an experienced player controls the situation. As a rule, a skilled player will hide the very fact of the existence of this active zone. He will quickly perform various harmless techniques. He will maneuver back and forth through the core in an intricate dance designed to hide the true advantage he has. Mysteriously, whenever a weak player tries to attack, he always ends up just outside the area and gets hit back for his attempt. Frustrated, he makes even more serious mistakes and soon loses his head completely.

The next type of intent masking is a trap. In short, this is a subtype of tactic that allows you to lure the enemy into counterattacking, thinking that he has successfully avoided your actions. Actually, it is precisely the counterattacks that you expect from him in order to deliver a crushing blow.

Part 7

About decision making: several examples from StarCraft and fighting games are analyzed. They are all specific, so I’ll just give a quote:

I put my heart and soul into the low kicks. I think over 90% of my moves consisted of them. I had endless patience and performed the low kick without stopping, pushing Tao to overcome this trick. If he could cope with it, we would have to play for real, and then, of course, he would win. But, fortunately, he did not succeed: he fought head-on. From time to time he decided to stop the attack and not fight with brick wall. I used this opportunity to move to the most advantageous area (just one pixel further from the opponent than the range of my low long shot). While in this area, I continued to strike without stopping. By performing this technique, I did not win, but I did not lose either. Even the robotic Tao would eventually tire and attack, sometimes at the wrong time out of irritation or desperation. Spectators said that I made 18 blows in a row, at that moment neither I nor Tao used other techniques.

In this game, Tao was waiting for the logical continuation of this chain - a roundhouse kick, which, logically, became more and more likely after each “blocking” low blow. But David did not hit with a roundhouse, but continued to block the action with his blow. At that moment, when Tao could not stand it and stopped waiting for the blow, David finally hit him with a roundhouse.

Part 8

Discipline. Here is an example of a psychological trap:

When you miss a certain move, you become overwhelmed with the desire to “prove” (to yourself? to the audience? God knows...) that you CAN perform it (as if anyone really doubted it), and you rush forward at the first opportunities to do this. As if you have some kind of ridiculous “reputation” that needs to be “protected.” So, you throw a fireball, get an immediate pushback, or something like that - and you'll be AMAZED at how many otherwise smart, competent players will IMMEDIATELY throw ANOTHER fireball. It's like they strayed from the mental script of what the match should look like and can't continue until they get that part right.
It may sound silly to the casual player, but not thinking about playing flawlessly during a tournament will prove to be a big advantage as you move forward.

In Kasparov's "Unlimited Duel", by the way, the situation is precisely described - there Karpov thought that he had to win with a certain score, and therefore made a serious mistake when, instead of reducing the game to a draw and thereby strengthening his position, he tried to take aim at Fischer's record . This became a stepping stone to losing.

Part 9

Fire attack. According to Chinese military doctrine, when you have one army and the enemy has a camp, you are supposed to use the weather and natural conditions to create a “second” army. For example, if you set fire to a camp on the other side, the enemy will simultaneously fight the fire and you. In games, this means the ability to separate you and one of the active objects. For example, in Mortal Kombat you can fire a homing missile with a robot fighter and attack the moment it hits. If the enemy puts up a block, he will protect himself from the rocket, but you can make a throw. If the enemy decides to keep you at a distance with a blow, he will receive a missile. The chapter contains examples from chess and Counter Strike.

Part 10

Analysis of game resources at micro and macro levels. The soloist is a guy named Zileas, who at one time turned StarCraft upside down, offering a new vision. Here is its basic formula:

If the ratio of your opponent's losses to your losses multiplied by the ratio of your productivity to your opponent's productivity is less than 1, you lose. If your opponent's economy is gaining momentum and yours is staying the same, and their ratio is almost equal to one, but slightly higher than it, you are still likely to lose. When I talk about loss ratio, I don't mean destroyed or lost units, but destroyed or lost resources related to unit creation, various operating costs (scarabs), and building construction.

One more thing important note in this chapter - the ability to stretch the enemy's attention. The resource of attention in strategies can be exhausted by creating incidents in different places on the map - the enemy will not be able to react to them at the same time.

Part 11

About poker, using the experience of Mike Caro. Nothing too cool, just an interesting set of quotes. By the way, Mike Caro’s complete book “Sign Language” is very easy to find as a free PDF on the RuNet.

Choice Branches and Flash Prediction

A player's skill is the ability to predict his opponent's moves. For example, distinguish between bluff and truth as in poker; represent the direction of development of the enemy's strategy in StarCraft; sense situations when an enemy is about to use a specific technique in a fighting game. From a game designer's point of view, this seems like a need to build into the game the possibility of "development directions" so that players bring their own styles into the game. And sometimes predicting the enemy’s actions gives an advantage to a beginner against a professional.

Why? Because a professional gets used to the fact that all players of his level make a certain counterattack to some situation - and a beginner will not do it simply out of ignorance, which can give him an unexpected advantage. In the excellent book "The Diary of a Hitman" main character carried with him three live grenades and one dummy. He threw the dummy last and simply walked into the room while everyone was huddled in the closets. But one gangster was so untrained that instead of rushing for cover, he began to shoot back...

This is how the game has critical points - moments when the outcome of the game is determined. For example, in Starcraft - a well-aimed psi storm against a large army when the enemy’s attention is diverted to an incident in another part of the map. Or the choice point in MTG when the main combination is played. Or chess move, which gives a good advantage for further implementation. In general, I think you yourself feel such moments very well.

Good news is that even in fast fighting games, reaction is not the main thing. The main thing is the ability to recognize such moments and make decisions in advance. And system registration, when you are looking for some kind of pattern in the enemy’s actions. For example, in poker, someone may characteristically look away from the cards for a second when making a strong hand.

Again, for example, in real fencing, system registration is very important. The crudest example is that a beginner, after a combination of two horizontal blows, can almost always thrust with a step. Knowing this fact allows you not to “react” to the moment of a thrust followed by a counterattack, but to “cache” a block with a counterattack even at the moment the enemy’s second horizontal strike begins. The essence of fencing training is the development of basic movement patterns to the point of automatism, and at the same time attempts to get rid of any side patterns that arise with such automation.

Here's what David writes about the 1/60 reaction to a series of shots after a player's training:

These are the only two cases where I can do an overhead strike at all... If I attack you and make several strikes, you don't really need to look at them. But you know that I usually do a fire strike after that. You are fully prepared for it, and it is clear to you in advance that you will soon have to make a decision about blocking the upper or lower blow. Yep, here comes the fiery strike, right on schedule. Now you know that now I have my first chance to perform an overhead kick. To achieve all my goals, there are only two possibilities. Your thoughts do not wander among the thousands of options that you will have to face. You are completely focused on the single moment that is approaching. You are waiting for him. You filter out all unnecessary information from the screen. ... The only thing you need to see is how the overhead kick starts. ... This is exactly how an experienced player sees that sixtieth of a second when he is completely focused on the moment and is able to discard everything except the only necessary clue.

And one more thing. If you do not do what would be best in the current situation, and the enemy sees it, he begins to think. And at that moment, while he is thinking, it is possible to carry out a standard technique, which in a normal situation - if he were not discouraged - would not have worked.

Types of Players

The most “delicious” thing for me in David’s experience is the description of metagame features. The fact is that all meta-communities of players are very similar, and, having learned to win in one, you can safely transfer the experience with minor changes to another. Let's start with the types of players.

First type - turtle, concentration on defense.

While I'm known for my patience and tendency to irritate my opponents during tournament fights, Ortiz took those techniques to a whole new level. He plays a virtually risk-free game, and is content to somehow achieve a slight advantage in hit points over his opponent. Then he, without any embarrassment, “runs away” for the rest of the match. (Which prevents the opponent from hitting him, and when the time runs out, according to the rules of the game, victory is awarded to the one who has more life points). His endless patience infuriates even the most serious opponents, as they become more and more desperate to even the score, time is running out.

"They say my chess games should be more interesting. I could play more interestingly - and still lose.”
Tigran Petrosyan

GameDev must take into account that if defense gives an advantage, then the game will be positional - that is, not very spectacular. At major chess tournaments, both players in the final often do not make risky moves, but wait until the second one makes a mistake - this leads to a huge number of drawn games, which sharply reduces the interest of the audience.

The next type is aggressor. These are fast, impulsive players who play very spectacularly. However, aggression does not mean attack at all. It means a lot of actions that capture the enemy's attention. Most often, aggression is a challenge to a counterattack, which is what the player is waiting for.

Some of Marshall's most brilliant moves looked like typos at first glance.

The aggressor is the most good guy for the entertainment of the game: a lot of action, a lot of results. In my opinion, the younger the audience, the more this style influences the subjective experience of the game. If you play aggressively optimally, you like the game.

Third type - obsessed. These are those who achieve perfection in one style of play and try to stick to it. Here's a great description of this type:

Yanovsky had a penchant for elephants, and his rivals knew about it. He confidently developed numerous directions of play and positions on the board in which he used strengths his favorite figures. The fate of a player obsessed with a certain aspect of the game is to know that aspect better than anyone else, even better than the strongest players in the world, but to lose something else when he finds himself out of his element. Yanovsky's rivals learned to offer him situations that allowed him to keep his precious bishops in exchange for the loss of other important pieces. For many years, American chess players called the two bishops “two Jans.”

It's a good idea to give players the opportunity to develop certain branches in depth, either within the game (RPG) or at the learning curve level. This is used in time trials such as racing - Asian perfectionists show class.

Fourth type - snakes. These are those who use a lot of out-of-game techniques to influence game states. Remember how Ostap Bender in Vasyuki complained that the grandmaster had acquired the bad habit of smoking cheap, foul-smelling tobacco? This is from the same opera.

Snakes are very good for forums around the game, they generate flame and movement.

Fifth style of play - analytical or balanced. This is a lack of attachment in a style where every decision is dictated by a specific situation. From the outside it looks like enough simple game.

And the last one - beast style. These are very risky moves that always work because the player knows what the enemy will respond to. The basis of the style is the ability to “read” an opponent and predict his actions, that is, appealing to the very deep variability of the directions of the game. Let me remind you that there is a way to balance the game, when the loser has the opportunity to use more risky techniques or strategies (since he is losing anyway) with a chance to achieve a big result. In this case, the player has the opportunity to minimize the “bad” probability, knowing what the opponent will do - which immediately increases the efficiency of his game several times. This is not a bluff or randomness, this is psychology and calculation. Remember the software that trains a neural network to look for patterns in your game of rock-paper-scissors? After 100 games, the software plays noticeably better than you, because it has found patterns that you are not even aware of. You can return the probability back to the classic 1/3 of winning only by introducing true randomness into your actions.

Tournaments

What is important to know:

Opponents play with different strategies and stronger than “in the kitchen”, because they do not want to show their capabilities before the tournament.

In addition to the rules of the game, you need to know the rules of the tournament and take them into account. For example, a number of distributions give pairs of a strong player and a beginner in the first round. This was done so that strong players would not be eliminated when playing with each other, but would remain for sweets until the finals.

It is good to know the customs of tournaments. For example, if it is customary in the community to communicate in a friendly manner before the game, ok. And if not, then it’s time to turn on paranoia, they are probing you.

If winning a series is important, you need to catch the moments when your tactics are being calculated, and change what can be changed during the tournament (a deck in MTG from a sideboard, a character in a fighting game, a race in a strategy, and so on).

Tournaments show your weak points. They will hit them directly.

At the same time, during preparation you need to hone your skills to the limit. best quality. Playing only one side in strategy. Only one fighting game character. Only one style. Roughly speaking, if you are in the top 5% of a tactic, it is better to be in the top 4% for it than to train another where you are in the top 10%.

The metagame is very important. More often than not, correctly predicting the metagame gives you a big advantage - knowledge of the most common tactics and understanding of strong and weaknesses main players.

And one more thing. David advises to stop playing to win in general. You have to have time for research and development - and for this you need to do all sorts of strange (and often crazy-looking) things. Playing to win means minimizing risk and working with your best tactics. A game of exploration - a variety of approaches, but at the same time - very high risks.

Skills of a professional player

Here's what David thinks you need to download:

Perfect knowledge of tournament competitions and their order - general skills in working with the metagame.

As much information as possible about the current game.

Loving this game is very rewarding.

Mental toughness and the right attitude to win, lose, and improve.

Technical skill (usually dexterity).

Adaptability.

Knowledge or ability for other games of this type.

The ability to determine and predict the actions of another player.

Ability to assess the situation, sober analytical thinking.

Please note the latter.

What this means is that there are a large number of players... who share common beliefs about what is good and effective and what is not. They represent "worldly wisdom" in the game. But at the very end of the bell curve there are several players who have different views on what is right. In their minds, some well-known tactics are worthless because they don't work on high-quality players.

In the end, you will win and become a famous player. What's next?
And then the most interesting thing:

You will gain influence in the metagame and even influence over the game's developers. Your experience may form the basis for the next part (or patch, if you're unlucky).

Your opinion becomes significant. David says that for some players this is an excuse to become assholes and badmouth opponents. Which, in general, is not very sporty.

When you teach other weak players, pay attention to a few important points. First, you can develop unnecessary habits by using techniques that don't work against skilled players. Secondly, you will have to take on the role of a weak player - in order for the student to hone his technique, you need to somehow give him such a chance. The choice between step-by-step training and “throwing yourself into the river from the bridge” without reducing the class of your game is yours.

What is David doing?

As you read the book carefully, you will notice David's characteristic modus operandi:

First, he takes a closer look at the game and evaluates whether it has enough variation to allow a trained player to win. David is unlikely to be interested in games that require honing real skill for years to advance by 1%, games where reaction or dexterity remains an important part (that is, the initial properties of the player, and not something that can be “boosted” by strategy and tactics), games that where you have to pay a lot to achieve results.

Then he plays this game “for fun” with average opponents, so as not to have a lot of failures at once with strong players. Masters, feels the taste of victory, sees characteristic tactics.

Go to best players- abandonment of most newbie mistakes, completely different behavior patterns, a different understanding of the pace and what to fight for.

Then he “rocks” the game for a deep understanding of the mechanics, and engages in a kind of debugging. Uses the discovered non-obvious features as an addition to the strategy. This “debug” was especially valuable in the arcade era, when games were released ready-made and did not receive patches.

After that, David works at the metagame level - he scouts out who plays how, what to oppose to whom, what features there are, etc. He gets to know his opponents, learns their styles, learns to read the signs of such players, watches their games and analyzes their behavior patterns.

And, of course, after that he goes to the tournament, trying not to worry too much.