The buildable mechanic is when you provide a mechanism for your users to combine existing items into a better item. Or put differently, the users are building upon their existing items to get better items.
This mechanic is also referred to as crafting, expanding, etc. Underneath the hood it is the same basic mechanic.
This mechanic is very common in invest and express games. This is because these games generally focus on providing a lot of items and tasks for their users to do in game to build up their game board or game world. As a reward for them investing their time, their game board gets better and better. The buildable mechanic fits right into this genre of games as it helps to provide higher quality game items to users.
Buildable Game Mechanic Explained
The easiest way to understand the buildable mechanic is to imagine that you are building a cake. In order to do so you need ingredients such as flour, milk, eggs, etc. You can’t make the cake until you have all of the ingredients. If you are missing one, then you need to go to the store to buy it. Once you have all the ingredients, you add them together and bake the cake before you can eat it.
The buildable mechanic works exactly the same way. You collect items inside the game that are required for a certain recipe. If you don’t have all the items your users can buy them from an in game storefront. Once they have all the items they can redeem them for a more powerful item. Many games choose to add a baking period which means that the item will not be ready until a future time.
Benefits of the Buildable Game Mechanic
From a design perspective there are many reasons that you may want to launch a buildable mechanic in your game. Let’s take a look at some of the most common and beneficial reasons.
Game Depth. One of the most practical reasons to introduce the buildable mechanic is that it offers opportunities to expand your game with additional aspects of play. In addition to your core gaming loop, you now have this new area of your game that you users can enjoy. As they need certain pieces or ingredients to make an item, they will redo certain game levels or routines, specifically to get items that they now need.
Revenue stream. The buildable mechanic adds a new revenue stream potential into your game. Let’s assume that there is an ingredient that a user needs to build a premium item. That user can either go to the effort of obtaining it within game, or you can provide an instant purchase option for the user to buy it and get the item instantly.
An Economy Sink. An economy sink is a feature that allows you to get rid of in game items that users may have a large amount of. For example an item that is very common and easily accessible, is a good item to have as ingredient to get to another item that is considered more rare or valuable.
Return Hook. A return hook is a reason for the player to return within a certain amount of time. While the game is new users will want to return simply to explore more of the game. As the games excitement wears off, game designers need to add hooks to keep them coming back. If a buildable requires a baking period before the item can be used again, this adds a valuable return hook into your game.
CS / PR Outlet. This one might sound odd, but the buildable mechanic offers a good customer service or public relations outlet. If your buildable mechanic offers a good sink opportunity for users to get rid of common items, then you can also offer those common items away for free from time to time as a way to boost interest in your buildables. You users will feel special as they got free items and yet your economy will not be in grave danger since your economy sink is already in place.
Pitfalls of the Buildable Game Mechanic
When designing the buildable game mechanic there are several pitfalls that need to be avoided in order for the mechanic to be a success. Here are several of the most common pitfalls.
Bad reward ratio. Keep in mind that your users will go to extra efforts to collect and acquire the necessary ingredients. As such their extra time spent needs to be rewarded with the item they receive. Let’s assume that we have a buildable that requires 4 items, valued at 5, 10, 20 and 30 coins respectively. If the reward item is valued at 65 coins or less, then users may be frustrated with the result. This is because it was a straight or potentially unfair trade to them. Their time that they spent to collect the needed items is not being rewarded. If you value the reward item higher than cost, let’s say 70 or 75 coins, then users will see the additional value for their time spent.
Bad introduction. Be cautious about when to introduce the game mechanic. It’s generally a good idea to wait several levels or play sessions before introducing the feature. This is because you need to have several ingredient style items already available to the user for them to use towards their first buildable. Once the feature is introduced, you want the user to be able to redeem their first buildable very quickly. You also want to have several buildables that offer challenge to the user, but getting the first buildable is critical to the features success.
Undesired rewards. Another way this feature can fail is if the rewards are simply not enticing to the users. In this case we are not talking about the reward ratio. Maybe they are getting a good valued item but if the user cannot use or benefit from the item, then there is no point to them having it. Ensure that the rewards that you are giving out to your users do actually offer them an advance in game play.
