Welcome to the Game Mechanics Wiki by AstralMyst Creations.
What is this?
Well, it is a wiki where we research, inspect, play with, and analyze different game mechanics. The goal is to have a comprehensive list of mechanics, how to use them, design considerations, examples by other games, and different implementation methods
What is a "Game Mechanic"?
A game mechanic is anything that allows the player to interact with the game and game environment. They are the rules that the game follows and they define the experience that the player has. Mechanics can be implemented differently and are different from game to game. For example, crafting in Minecraft and Far Cry Primal are different but they both outline the experience the player has.
The Pillars of Game Mechanics
So far, I have mechanics organized into 5 pillars.
- Environment - How the player can interact and experience the world that has been created for them.
- Player Character - The players "interface" with interacting with the world. This is how the player is able to do different things within the world
- Non-playable Characters - Other characters the player can interact with that isn't able to be controlled by the character and how they behave with the environment
- Combat - The way the player can attack NPCs
- Meta-mechanics - Mechanics that aren't directly related to how the player can interact with the world, but affect how the player might play the game.
As July 16th, 2024, this is the current planned layout, with crafting being the only one completed. You can click the image to view a higher quality version.
How do I use the wiki?
Just search for a mechanic, and read up on it. This is still in early alpha and a lot of work needs to be done, however we plan on making it easy to use.
As of right now, I haven't been able to get Elastic search working, so in the meantime, here's a Meta Table of Contents
If you are curious about what format I use to cite my sources, I have a metawiki page here: Game Mechanics:Citations
If you are curious about the slahes "/" in some page names, that is because I am building this wiki utilizing subpages. One page might contain an overview of a topic, but the subpage will go in depth. If a page has subpages, that information will be stated at the top of the page
How can I help?
Currently, we are not allowing outside sources to help with this project. If you are interested in helping, have an idea for a page, or want to submit research (and credit will be given), contact us at wiki@astralmyst.com, or visit www.astralmyst.com and fill out our Contact Us form; and we will get back to you.
Can I use this as a scholarly source?
Yes, you can. We try to keep all information up-to-date, and currently is maintained by a small team of researchers. Some professors don't allow anthological sources, and I would urge you to have them reconsider this wiki; emailing us, if necessary. We also have the Cite This Page plugin enabled, so if you click on the 3 dots in the top right, you will see a Cite This Page option, which will give you the proper citations for different formats, as well as a direct link to that specific revision of that page.