Turn (turn-based gameplay)

About this model

This diagram models a turn-based system, such as that found in a game of chess, where two players alternate actions within a gameplay environment. The mechanism ensures that "Player 1" and "Player 2" take turns in a sequential and exclusive manner. Actions within a turn are represented by two possibilities: moving a piece and capturing an opponent's piece. Each player has sources labeled "Player 1" and "Player 2", which feed into gates controlling the flow of actions based on dice rolls, thereby introducing a probabilistic element to the turn outcomes or actions taken. These gates distribute resources to pools representing the actions "Move piece" and "Capture piece," simulating the decision-making process within each player's turn. Automatic transitions between "Player 1 turn" and "Player 2 turn" pools reflect the end of one player's turn and the commencement of the other's, maintained by resource connections that signal turn completion and trigger the next player's turn. State connections between these turns and their respective players indicate that only after a turn has been used (i.e., an action has occurred), can the turn switch to the other player, ensuring a controlled, alternating turn sequence. This system elegantly captures the strategy and alternating gameplay dynamics, emphasizing the procedural and rule-based nature of turn-based games.

“Turn (turn-based gameplay)” is a diagram in the Machinations Community by Cezar Cocias.

You can open the original diagram in the Machinations app, press Play to watch how resources move through it, and change its values to see how the system responds. Machinations is a visual tool for designing, simulating and balancing game economies and other systems, where resources flow through sources, pools, drains, converters and gates.