Construction

Mechanism · I – Resource & Value Creation delayed / aggregated · irreversible / conditional · open · solo / competitive

Construction builds increasingly powerful systems from individual parts: components are combined by rules into a complex whole from which emergent strength arises.

Design question – How does your game build complex, more powerful systems from individual parts? How does emergent strength arise from combining components?

Reference example – Carcassonne: tile by tile, cities and roads grow and only score once completed. Minecraft: single blocks become houses and redstone circuits. 7 Wonders: buildings build on one another; early cards make later ones free. Terraforming Mars (Engine Building) · Dominion (Deck Building) · Wingspan (Tableau Building)

Structural pattern

Input -> transformation -> output: individual parts (cards, buildings, pieces) become a complex whole (engine, tableau, network) through rule-based assembly.

Regulated in permitting mode (which parts can be combined), constraining mode (build limits, prerequisite chains, space limits) and conditioning mode (how combined parts interact; synergies; a new effect from a number of parts onward). In a game, limits and thresholds become specifications.

Design parameters

• Synergy – additive (sum of parts) ↔ multiplicative (emergent combination)
• Vulnerability – robust ↔ fragile (parts removable)
• Predictability – deterministic ↔ chance-dependent
• Specialization – broad (a bit of everything) ↔ focused (one strategy deep)
• Pacing – steady ↔ exponentially accelerating
• Visibility – fully open ↔ partly hidden

Related Mechanisms

• Production (MEC-01) – Frequently combined: the built thing produces.
• Selection (MEC-07) – Frequently combined: select parts.
• Conversion (MEC-03) – Frequently combined: convert resources into parts.
• Progression (MEC-15) – Frequently combined: unlocking higher tiers.

Ludic Organisational Structures

Network / Infrastructure · Technology / Research System · Production Chain (core) · Survival System (dynamic)