Implementing Machinations Diagrams

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The online Machinations tool does not only allow users to draw Machinations diagrams, it can also run diagrams. While running, the resources in a diagram flow from node to node and flow rates change according to their distribution. The digital version of the diagrams introduces an extra activation mode, two different modes the nodes can use to push or pull resources, three new types of nodes (End Conditions, Charts, and Artificial Players), and the concept of color-coded resources. All of these are discussed in this section.

New Node Modes
The new activation mode digital Machinations diagrams introduce is the 'starting action' mode. Nodes in this mode fire once when the diagram is started and are marked with an 's' instead of the star used to mark automatic nodes

These modes also apply to pushing modes. This means that nodes in push mode might be marked with both a 'p' and a '&'.

Collecting Data
Digital Machinations diagrams offer the opportunity to collect data on the behavior of a game system before the game is built. It allows designers to test typical playing strategies. The artificial players do not have very advanced artificial intelligence, but they can still easily be programmed to follow certain strategies, and will happily do so over thousands of runs. As will become clear in the discussion of SimWar, this can be a valuable tool in identifying dominant strategies and testing the balance in a game. Artifical players can be activated and deactivated individually, allowing the user to define different artificial players set up to represent and experiment with different strategies within a single diagram.

Previous: Feedback Analysis and Recurrent Patterns, next: Randomness and Nondeterministic Behavior