Monday, April 30, 2007
Risk can be seen as the template for modern real-time strategy games, if not in execution then certainly in ambition. The basic principle, or positioning troops and re-supplying forces works well in videogame form. RTS games almost always use a similar method of gameplay, option the right units in the right place, while building more units to back them up, using resources gained from the map. In Risk these resources are gained from the amount of land you occupy. While it is rare then some games follow almost identical principles, Dawn of War for example.
Risk does differ in terms of its combat simulation. Based on dice roles, a small group of troops can hold out for a long time against a superior force through sheer luck. This is not something that many gamers would look favourably on. Superior numbers of equal strength units are enough to defeat almost any enemies that you will encounter in an RTS game.
Perhaps saying that Risk inspired the RTS genre is incorrect, as I can find no developers who have said it influenced them directly. Both are examples, though, of games that seek to exploit our fascination with war and combat. They are simply at different stages of technological strength. Hnefatafl (a board game played in northen Europe, mentioned in many Viking sagas) would be an earlier example than risk, Chess even earlier than that. This fascination with combat is something that has been prominent over a great many videogame generes, displaying that the desire to re-create war is more ubiquitas than we may wish to imagine.
Risk does differ in terms of its combat simulation. Based on dice roles, a small group of troops can hold out for a long time against a superior force through sheer luck. This is not something that many gamers would look favourably on. Superior numbers of equal strength units are enough to defeat almost any enemies that you will encounter in an RTS game.
Perhaps saying that Risk inspired the RTS genre is incorrect, as I can find no developers who have said it influenced them directly. Both are examples, though, of games that seek to exploit our fascination with war and combat. They are simply at different stages of technological strength. Hnefatafl (a board game played in northen Europe, mentioned in many Viking sagas) would be an earlier example than risk, Chess even earlier than that. This fascination with combat is something that has been prominent over a great many videogame generes, displaying that the desire to re-create war is more ubiquitas than we may wish to imagine.
# posted by Matt @ 4:33 AM 
