Gameplay Analysis of Hive and Ricochet Robots by Sefat Chowdhury

Both Hive and Ricochet Robots (R.R.) have a turn-based gameplay. However, Hive does not require any pre board set-up where as, R.R. has a fixed surface area to play on. In Hive, the players place different bug cubes and move them around according to the game rule. On the other hand, the players immerse themselves into loads of spatial thinking and visualization. The robots move in players imagination but not on the board for real except for when the player actively shows the route to the opponents. In R.R., a token is placed in the middle of the board. The graphic icon on the token is similar to one of the icons on the board and the color is same as one of the robots. The robots are randomly placed at different part of the board in the beginning. To win the play session, a player has to find the least number of moves to get the specific robot from its original place to the specific grid. Due to its high cognitive resource consumption a reviewer on boardgamegeek.com quotes-Ricochet Robots makes your brain hurt in the best possible way. The Component Framework defines a game instance is the whole lifetime of the game. Hence, Hive has two game sessions in one instance as two players playing the game. So, the game session clearly coincides with game instance. The play session is confusing in case of Hive as the players are active all the time and hence the play session certainly coincides with game session. On the other hand, Ricochet Robots consists of many play sessions (one play session for one token) that combine a game session. However, this could be confusing as per the definition of a play session. R.R. actually has smaller play session that build a large play session. The smaller play session could be named as sub-play session. R.R. also requires some set-up and set-down as a part of the gameplay. Both Hive and R.R. are not games with many rules. The explicit and operational rule for Hive is that a player cannot place his/her cube so that it touches the edge of an opponents cube. Also, a player must have to place the queen bee from first to fourth move. There are also operational rules on the navigational ability of different insect cubes. Apart from these rules, there are some rules that are evolved by playing. The component framework cannot extract this kind of dynamic rules or behavior. For example, good Hive players keep the grasshoppers to use in the last moment to get into positions that are surrounded. Another dynamic pattern is whenever the opponent places two of their pieces in a line; the player can block both of the opponent s pieces by using one cube. This forces the opponent to place a new cube as the player gets the control of outside edge. These rules can be categorized as constitutive rules. In Ricochet Robots, the explicit and operational rule would be the robots to hit an obstacle and change direction to count it as one move. Robots can only move in straight lines, up, down, left and right. They cannot move diagonally. Few more rules would be- turning over the hourglass timer when someone calls out a number. The other players have until the timer runs out to figure out a shorter route. At the end, the player who calls the lowest number shows how they did it. If it works, they are awarded the circular chip in the center, and the next one is drawn from the pile. R.R. doesnt have well-established constitutive rules. However, some good player claim that having a default strategy to use multiple robots is better than always finding the path using one robot.

What design structures are used to keep players engaged with the game, both regarding interest and regarding actively doing actions? Hive has a gameplay that is somewhat similar to chess. However, less number of simple rules does the initial trick to make the player quickly interested into playing the game. Unlike many board games Hive does not need a fixed surface to play on and hence no extra learning is required for that. The hexagonal shape encourages the player to play around with the cubes and quickly check how the opponent's queen bee would look like when it is surrounded. As soon as the use of different kind of insects and their special abilities are learned, the player enters the initial planning stage with setting up a strategy for using the insects effectively. This creates a sense of ownership in mind for instance owning an army or such. The strategy can be aggressive or defensive that might be influenced by the players personality type. In that case, the game (Hive) acts as a medium of expression, which is one of the aesthetic elements of an engaging game as per MDA framework [1]. Hive is an open board game and hence the players can see each other moves and make assumptions on next possible steps by the opponent. It is a continuous process until the game finishes. Hive involves lite resource management skill in order to efficiently plan for the next moves (for example, which cube to introduce next and place it where and the consequences) and modification of strategy (pruning etc.) as the game proceeds, are the most exciting characteristics of this game to keep the players engaged. On the other hand, Ricochet Robot has puzzle like gaming style that requires quite heavy visualization and spatial thinking ability . However, the simple rules make the game highly accessible to any level of gamers. R.R. offers high level of challenge and discovery [1] as the engaging element within the game. The initial challenge begins from the desire of owning as many tokens as possible, which is also the determinant of the winner of the game. There might be a possibility of becoming familiar with the route patterns after playing a while but after every game session the surface is shuffled. So, every new game session starts with equal surprise. Shuffling is important to keep up the challenge and player engagement. All the tokens won and number of moves called by one player all these information are informed and displayed open. So, there is constant pressure for the player who won fewer tokens and also time constraints to declare the fewer number of moves required and win more tokens and make the experience more tantalizing. Although Ricochet Robot has fairly simple rules but at the same time it takes high cognitive load while playing the game. Because of that some people might loose interest soon after trying it first few times specially those who are looking for lite-weight casual gaming experience. In one online game review page

What design structures are used to make the games typically end near the state time (given players that know the rules)? The game Hive ends as soon as other bugs surround one of the queen bees. That is, if the queen bee runs out of moves, the opponent wins. The ending structure is based on resource management skill. Whoever uses his/her bugs efficiently wins and the game ends. One important rule with the queen bee is that the player has to place it anytime from first to fourth turn. One dynamic can evolve in terms of ending the game is introducing time limitations so that one has to surround the other queen bee within given amount of time. However, there is a high chance that some game sessions would end incomplete. On the other hand, Ricochet Robots ends as soon as the game session runs out of the tokens and the participant who has the highest number of token wins. When a player calls in the number of robot moves to reach the destination, the other players have to find less number of moves within one hourglass of time. This control the time spent with spatial thinking for one token session.

What design structures are used to make players interact with each other, or at least have a feeling that they have been playing a game together? Hive is a turn based game and the players can use their turn to place or move the cubes. As every player waits for their turn and takes decisions on next moves based on what the opponent just played-this turn based phenomena create great sensation of playing a games together. Moreover, as per the affinity rule, one cannot place their new cube that touches the opponent cubes. This is a continuous reminder of being in a social set-up while playing games. Because of the gameplay, the players keep an eye on each others remaining cubes that also evokes the feeling of playing a game together. On the other hand, the gameplay of Ricochet Robots requires participants to talk to each other. For example, calling in the number of moves and then asking others for theirs. If the other players fail to find a shorter path, the caller has to show them the magic route. One of the most fantastic structures of the game is that it does not require a fix number of players for a game session. Anyone can join, play for a while and leave and the game still continues with the tokens left by the time someone leaves. The players actually play it in their head without the need of touching anything on the board except when the winner needs to show the solved route. The interaction in this game is more direct compare to Hive, which is rather expressed through the placement of cubes. What design structures exist to make players feel that they are achieving something while they are playing? In the game Hive, the sense of achievement (soa) starts to build when a player feels confident about the strategy taken as the game proceeds. The aim is to surround the opponents queen bee and the soa sets in as the player sees it happening as per the plan. They gather estimation about where the game is heading towards based on each others remaining cubes and the placed ones. In the game Ricochet Robot the sense of achievement is clearer as the players earn the tokens as a result of winning a route. The games ends when there is no token left. So, depending on the number of players, one can calculate who is going to win after a certain number of tokens have been consumed. Sense of achievement also occurs amongst the weak players even if they dont win many tokens. Winning one or two tokens motivate them a lot and they start to think they are slowly getting the hold of the game. In Ricochet Robot, the sense of achievement can be measured where as its more elusive in Hive.

References
1. Hunicke, R., LeBlanc, M. & Zubek, R., 2005. MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research. 2. Holopainen, J., Bjrk S., 2005. Game Design Patterns: The component Framework.