Week Twelve - Resource Management

Well my two games are perfect examples of resource management, as it plays a huge role in the games and they both have economic systems implemented into the game.

Counter Strike:

Counter Strike's economic system is extremely popular among gamers, and is well known. In pop culture, gamers are familiar with the keyboard buy buttons most commonly used to purchase equipment and guns in the game (for example: B, 4, 3 will purchase the player an M4A1, a very popular weapon in the game).

The economic system in Counter Strike is set up as follows: Players start off with a predetermined amount of money once they begin a game. By default, this amount is $800, but can be edited by the server's administrator. Everyone at the beginning of the round starts off with this much, so it keeps the round balanced. However, if a player were to joint a server halfway through a match, then everyone else would have earned more money and the player would start off at a disadvantage. So they would need to obtain guns and equipment either by picking up guns from fallen players, or by slowly saving money by not purchasing anything for a few rounds.

in the game, $800 is not enough to purchase very powerful guns, so players are limited to either purchasing cheaper equipment such as body armour, grenades and flashbangs, or cheaper guns such as weaker submachine guns and pistols.

each round, players earn a certain amount of money based on several factors such as how many players they killed, whether they planted the bomb or not (for terrorists), and whether their team won the round or not.

Below is a chart depicting the monetary system in CS, and the various amounts awarded for their respective actions.

Once players begin earning money, they are able to purchase better guns and equipment, which gives them competitive advantage over other players who are less fortunate. For the most part, players are able to afford generally the same amount of equipment or guns, unless one team or player is being totally dominated. In this case, one team may be at a constant disadvantage, as they are unable to afford armor or good equipment, and a vicious cycle may begin, as the team loses due to lack of money for guns and equipment, and lacks money for guns and equipment because they are losing. In cases like this, it is very difficult for the losing team to "come back" and turn the tables. Oftentimes, skilled players with some money on the winning team will need to switch over to the losing team to make things fair again.

The method of trade in CS is like a black market of sorts. At the beginning of every round, players spawn in their respective team's spawn points, which are also called "buy zones". these buy zones are the only areas where players are allowed to make purchases, and are signified when the player sees a green shopping cart logo on their screen. when they see this shopping cart logo, they know they are able to buy things. By default, there is usually a buy timelimit, which prevents players from buying items too much later into the round. otherwise, players with lots of money can simply stick around the buy zone and purchase and throw unlimited grenades until they run out of money (also known as "nade spam"). Again, this can be adjusted or eliminated by the administrator.

To open the purchasing system or "buy menu", the player presses the key that they assigned to bring up the menu (by default this key is "b"). This brings up the following menu:

from here, players shop through the menu and purchase whatever they need. They can use their mouse to click on the menu items, but skilled players prefer to use the number keys as they allow for much faster buying (which allows them to advance quicker and gain valuable time and ground on their enemies). Most players eventually come to memorize their favorite or preferred buy selections. This is quite a phenominon to witness as players can be seen hitting keys like a code extremely quickly on their keyboards. For example. My preference , funds allowing, is to purchase an M4, ammunition, body armor, a grenade and 2 flashbangs, and a USP pistol and ammo. This is a full loadout and give me everything i could possibly need on the battlefield. The sequence of buttons I would use to accomplish this is:

b,4,3,(buys M4) b,6,(buys M4 ammo) b,2,1,(buys USP pistol) b,7 (buys usp ammo), b,8,4 (buys grenade), b,8,3, (buys flashbangs), b,8,2 (buys full body armor).

so in total the keys i would hit are: b43b6b21b7b84b83b82

That sounds complicated, but players quickly come to learn this system, and it becomes very convenient and fast to purchase things. me and any other skilled player can enter a sequence like that and buy all their items within 2 or 3 seconds! thats lighting fast!

Personally, I have my buy menu keys re-set to custom preferences on the number pad on my keyboard as i find i can buy faster like this.

Some players, however, may have pre-set buy combinations binded to single keys so all they have to do is hit the buy menu and press a single button on their keyboard to purchase the full loadout. this is the ultimate in fast buying, however players need to have enough money for this to work.

If players do not have enough money for an item, a message will appear that says "not enough funds!" and the player will have to choose something else they can afford.

Most players do not actually look at prices and spend anytime shopping around, but rather just try buying their desired equipment. If they do not have enough funds, they will simply try buying other equipment until they are able to get something. Most skilled players, however, will always have enough money for what they want, and will not need to worry about budgeting or resource management. The only time in CS that a player needs to worry about their funds is when they are playing quite badly. At this point, players will begin to budget their funds in various ways, in an attempt to save money for equipment they want. some will just by cheaper guns, and some will just save money for a couple of rounds by not buying anything, then purchase their desired loadout.

A player's money is displayed at all times on their HUD, along with their health and armor meters.

Revision: The monetary system and buy system in CS is ever changing, and players progressively experience increases and decreases in their money every single round, as their wealth slowly increases (assuming that they are doing well). This environment creates a very Dynamic equilibrium for the game, as player wealth is in a state of constant change throughout the game. The player's resources are rarely fully depleted, and they seldom remain static. The ability for players to accumulate wealth, and deplete it in real time makes the equilibrium dynamic. Only when a player's funds reach zero, and they have absolutely no funds left, are they for a moment in Static equilibrium (having to wait until they earn some money before they can start up again). For this time, they must resort to their default weaponry.




Forza Motorsport 2:

Forza Motorsport 2 also uses a monetary system for the purchase of cars. Players start off their racing careers with a small amount of money, set by default to be enough to purchase one car necessary for the first race series (usually a front wheel drive series).

As players win races, they earn more and more money. The amount of money earned is proportionate to the difficulty and level of the race.

One interesting factor in the money earning system, is that players can earn bonuses and percentage increases in their winnings if they turn off things like Stability management and traction control. This makes the game much more realistic and simulated, and as a result, much more difficult. But the reward is more money.

As players earn more money, they can purchase more cars, or purchase upgrades for their existing vehicles.

To purchase more cars, the player selects the option to buy a car, at which point they are taken to a list of car manufacturers, sorted by country. They can then select each car manufacturer and browse through the cars available. Not all cars are available for purchase, even if the player has enough money. Some cars must be unlocked by winning certain races, and this gives them the ability to buy the cars. After a player buys their desired car, the car is added to their garage and they can begin to upgrade if they have enough money remaining.

It is important for players to purchase cars that are appropriate to the races they must win next. For example, if the next race series requires front wheel drive cars, it would be foolish for a player to waste all their money on a rear wheel drive car thats fully upgraded. If a player accidentally does this, then they may be forced to re-do previous races to earn more money, or risk losing by using an inferior car in their garage.

In addition to the in game converter that allows players to purchase vehicles, X box Live has given players the ability to trade or sell cars online with other real players anywhere in the world. This feature is very cool, and acts as an online marketplace which brings a totally new trader to the game. Players can not only purchase vehicles and download them onto their own games, but they can also use their vehicles to trade with other gamers.

In addition to purchasing new vehicles, players can purchase upgrades for their cars. Upgrades range anywhere from suspension upgrades to full engine swaps, and are categorized according to the type of upgrade they are (suspension, brakes, engine, etc.)

To purchase upgrades, players select a vehicle they wish to upgrade, and proceed to the upgrade garage where they may purchase and install various parts.

Upgrades play a crucial role in the game and are necessary to win races, where stock cars would be uncompetitive. The prices for upgrades depend on the level of upgrade part. Each category of upgrade has three or four different levels of upgrades. The higher the level, the higher the price, and higher performance increase.

It is up to players to properly manage their resources and customize their vehicles wisely. For example, if players have limited funds, but decide to spend all their money on engine upgrades and power, without touching suspension and brakes, they will most likely end up with a car that is fast in a straight line, but terrible around the corners, and as a result they will not be competitive, despite the increased power.

The wide variety and granularity of the upgrades and car customization allow for endless combinations, and it is almost entirely up to the player how they allocate and manage their resources. As players become better at the game and learn more about vehicles and performance enhancements, they will use their in game funds more wisely.

Revision: Forza 2's money system is rather dynamic, in that players are always earning or spending their money to purchase and upgrade parts. However, this is largely up to the user's purchasing habits, and if they so choose, the equilibrium resource management in Forza can be quite static. Since players are awarded their winnings after a race, they are in static equilibrium for the duration of the race, and are only able to spend their winnings afterwards. Also, the player can choose not to spend any money at all until they desperately need to, creating a very static resource management equilibrium. However, some players prefer to upgrade their vehicles in very short intervals, along the way during a single race series. If the player chooses to do this, then the equilibrium can suddenly become Dynamic, as the player's resources increase and decrease rapidly. This style of spending may be necessary to progress further in the game, however.

Pictures:

ARGH!!!! I dont know what it is about this game, but I'm finding it IMPOSSIBLE to find pictures of the in game menus and buy system. This is really frustrating.

If i find any pictures I will post them up