Transitive Mechanics and Cost Curves

Applying Cost Curves in Kirby: The Crystal Shards

Kirby has a unique power, he can take others` powers by consuming them. The abilities Kirby can receive in this game revolve around this. I will attempt to establish what I believe the cost curve is in this game. Every power can be used to damage enemies that aren`t immune to it, so I will be avoiding this aspect of their benefits.

Power	Benefit	Cost	Total
Burn	Breaks metal blocks	N/A	+1
Ice	Freezes water and lava	N/A	+1
Spark	Current travels through water	N/A	+1
Cutter	Cut rope	N/A	+1
Bomb	Lights fuses	N/A	+1
Needle	Kirby sticks to surfaces	N/A	+1
Stone	Invincible Breaks Metal Blocks	Slower Rolls down hills	0,-1

I have listed Stone as a cost of 0 or -1, since rolling down hills is a situational cost.

The interesting thing about Kirby comes from combining the powers. There are 49 possibilities, any power can be combined with any other power. 49 combinations is too much for the scope of this blog. I will analyze some of the combinations, and their benefits and costs

Power	Benefit	Cost	Total
Burn - Burn	Travel through air as fireball	N/A	+1
Burn - Ice	Attack Upwards and Downwards	Can’t move	0
Spark - Cutter	Guards against attacks from behind while stationary Wide attack range	Only one jump	+1
Cutter - Bomb	Throw a ninja star in a straight line	N/A	+1
Bomb - Ice	Explode to kill enemies, will happen on contact, after time runs out, or B is pressed	Can’t jump	0
Needle - Burn	Fire a flaming arrow	Must be aimed, difficult	0
Ice - Spark	Food is a weapon and a health source	Can’t Move	0
Cutter - Ice	Increased Speed Jump Attack	Only one jump	+1

 
These are just some of the available combinations. An ability centric game like Kirby doesn`t have huge costs associated with the abilities available. Nonetheless, this information is paramount to the player`s success in the game. As the Kirby franchise progressed since this game, they have continued to add in new powers.

Game Design vs Level Design

Designing a game involves creating the mechanics, game play, environment, and setting. Anything involving the player's abilities, actions, or movement is part of designing a game. Designing a level involves creating locales, stages or missions. Anything involving obstacles, NPCs or enemies location is part of designing a level. The functionality and player interaction of NPCs and enemies is a game design element, but the use and placement of NPCs and enemies is a level design element. A good way to distinguish between these two types of design whether or not the given design element could be tested in a blank "sandbox" environment. Game Design elements can be displayed in a sandbox. A level needs to be played to be tested, and obviously is a richer environment than the aforementioned sandbox test. The tester needs to walk around the level, checking how it looks while playing it, and testing the placement of traps and puzzles. It follows then, that level testing will take exponentially longer than testing of game mechanics.

A game will contain multiple levels.

Applying Design concepts
Ocarina of Time

Game Design

• Health system
• Lose a fixed amount of health every time Link is damaged
• Gain extra health from progress through Dungeons
• Lots of extra health hidden throughout game, A thorough player will be much better off
• Special end game increase in health
• Fighting system
• Ranged

• Slingshot as Kid Link
• Boomerang as Kid Link
• Bow as Adult Link
• Bombs
• Bombchus
• Deku Nuts
• Melee


• Sword
• Biggorron Sword
• Megaton Hammer
• Deku Shield as Kid Link
• Hyrulean Shield as Adult Link
• Mirror Shield as Adult Link
• Magic

• Magic Spells
• Magic Arrows

• Special Items

• Ocarina for storing old and learning new music throughout game
• Deku Stick for lighting torches from other torches. Will burn out and use up sticks
• Hook/Longshot for getting to hard to reach places
• Magic Bean for special location unlocks
• Lens of Truth for seeing invisible enemies and fake walls
• Epona
• Mount used for getting around quicker
• Some Levels are inaccessible without mount
• Clothing
• Tunics

• Kokiri Tunic, no effect
• Goron Tunic, heat resistance
• Zora Tunic, breathe under water
• Boots
• Kokiri Boots, no effect
• Iron Boots, sink in water, hold player against strong winds
• Hover Boots, walk on air for a set amount of seconds
• Two Ages

• Young Link
• Enemies are easier, less plentiful
• Less equipment, Simpler mechanics
• Adult Link
• More difficult enemies, more plentiful
• More equipment, Complex mechanics 

Level Design

• Dungeons as Kid Link

• Simple, one main puzzle
• After the puzzle, boss
• Gradual Learning curve for general gameplay mechanics

• Dungeons as Adult Link

• Complex, multiple puzzles need solving
• After entire Dungeon is solved, boss
• Steep Learning curve for specific items