Games are built from formal elements that shape how players interact with systems and with each other. Two of the most important are resources and conflict. Resources give players the means to act, while conflict provides the opposition that makes those actions meaningful. Together, they create tension, strategy, and engagement.
Resources
Resources are game assets that help players achieve their goals. They are marked by two key traits: utility and scarcity.
- Utility: Resources provide players with tools or advantages needed to overcome challenges and progress toward objectives. For example, currency can be used to buy items, while health represents a player’s ability to continue playing.
- Scarcity: The limited availability of resources creates tension and strategic decision-making. Players must manage and allocate their resources wisely to maximize their effectiveness and progress in the game.
Common resources include:
- Lives
- Units
- Health
- Currency
- Actions
- Power-ups
- Inventory
- Special terrain
- Time
Managing resources effectively can determine success or failure. Games often hinge on how well players allocate what they have, whether it’s rationing limited moves in chess, balancing mana in a trading card game, or conserving ammunition in a survival horror title.
Conflict
Conflict refers to the opposing forces or obstacles that players must overcome to achieve their objectives. It provides the tension, drama, and motivation that keep players engaged.
Forms of Conflict
- Obstacles: Barriers, whether physical (e.g., a wall blocking progress) or mental (e.g., a puzzle that must be solved), that players must navigate or overcome.
- Opponents: Other players or AI-controlled entities that create direct competition or interaction.
- Dilemmas: Tough choices that force players to make trade-offs, adding strategic depth and critical decision-making to gameplay.
Conflict ensures that goals are not achieved too easily. If a game presented no challenges or resistance, players would lose interest quickly.
The Interplay of Resources and Conflict
Resources and conflict are deeply interconnected.
- Scarcity Creates Conflict: Conflict often emerges from the competition for limited resources. In Settlers of Catan, players compete for scarce building materials. In Monopoly, the limited number of properties drives negotiation, rivalry, and eventual conflict. Even single-player games, like Resident Evil, use scarce ammunition and healing items to heighten the tension of battling enemies.
- Conflict Creates Value in Resources: Without conflict, resources lose meaning. Health only matters when threats can deplete it. Time only matters when a clock is ticking down. Currency only matters when opponents are also striving to acquire and spend it.
Together, resources and conflict form a cycle: resources gain value because conflict puts them at risk, and conflict gains weight because resources are the means to overcome it.
Layered Interaction of Resources and Conflict
Resources and conflict shape more than just strategy; they influence how every other formal element of a game functions. By looking at their layered interactions, we can see how they weave into the broader structure of gameplay.
- Players: The number of players and their interaction patterns determine how resources and conflict manifest. In single-player games, resources often serve as the primary source of conflict (e.g., limited time or health). In multiplayer games, resource scarcity fuels competition between opponents or cooperation among allies. In multiplayer games, resource scarcity fuels competition between opponents or cooperation among allies.
- Goals: The objectives of a game are often tied directly to resources and conflict. Victory might depend on accumulating resources (Monopoly’s money, Settlers of Catan’s development points) or overcoming conflicts (Chess’s checkmate condition). Goals gain meaning when conflict makes achieving them difficult.
- Rules: Rules define how resources can be obtained, spent, or lost, and how conflicts are resolved. For example, in Go Fish, rules dictate how players request and transfer cards (resources), creating structured conflict through interaction. Without rules, resources lose structure, and conflict lacks fairness.
- Procedures: The actions available to players, trading, attacking, and building, are often centered on managing resources or engaging in conflict. In Risk, the procedure of moving armies both redistributes resources (units) and generates conflict on the board.
- Boundaries: The space of play shapes how resources and conflict operate. In a physical board game, the board itself may limit access to resources and define zones of conflict. In digital games, boundaries can be expanded or dynamically altered, creating shifting contexts for scarcity and opposition.
- Outcomes: Winning and losing are usually determined by how well players manage resources and handle conflict. Running out of health, currency, or time often results in loss; successfully outmaneuvering opponents in conflict leads to victory.
- Technology*: The medium of play amplifies how resources and conflict are expressed. Analog games rely on physical scarcity (tokens, cards, or spaces on a board) and direct interaction for conflict. Digital games can automate resource tracking, scale conflict dynamically, and even generate new forms of scarcity (like virtual currencies or cooldown timers).
Wrap-Up
Resources and conflict are central to how games create tension, strategy, and engagement. Resources provide players with the means to act, while conflict ensures those means are constantly tested. Scarcity of resources generates meaningful opposition, and conflict gives value to the assets players manage. Together, they ripple through every other formal element, shaping goals, rules, procedures, and outcomes, making them fundamental tools for designers who want to craft compelling play experiences.