Games mechanics are rules that dictate how a game behaves. They can be a simple as roll a die to swing your sword at an orc, to as complicated as an AI that stalks you through air vents. Be it a board game, a card game, a Tabletop Game, or a Video Game, these mechanics set games apart from other media, and unite them in their differences. From chess, to Dungeons & Dragons, to Halo, to Cards Against Humanity, these mechanics are what make games games.
See also Videogame Interface Elements, Videogame Effects And Spells, Gaming Stat Tropes, Instructive Level Design, Levels And Experience Tropes, Not the Way It Is Meant to Be Played, Stock Videogame Puzzle, Videogame Items And Inventory, Videogame Physics, Videogame Rewards, Tabletop Game Tropes, Tabletop RPG Tropes.
See also Mechanics, Dynamics, Aesthetics for one of the earliest formal definitions of the term "gameplay mechanic".
Tropes:
- Action Initiative
- Breakable Weapons
- Character Level
- Checkpoint
- Chunky Salsa Rule
- Class Change Level Reset
- Color-Coded Item Tiers
- Combatant Cooldown System
- Comeback Mechanic
- Common Tactical Gameplay Elements
- Context-Sensitive Button
- Creature-Breeding Mechanic
- Critical Failure
- Critical Hit
- Critical Status Buff
- Damage Reduction
- Damage Typing
- Desperation Attack
- Diagonal Speed Boost
- Discard and Draw
- Event Flag
- Experience Points
- Extra Turn
- Extrinsic Go-First Rule
- Finishing Move
- Hit Points
- Item Drop Mechanic
- Game Hunting Mechanic
- Gameplay Randomization
- Karma Meter
- Level Drain
- Limit Break
- Luck Manipulation Mechanic
- Mana
- Maximum HP Reduction
- Meteor Move
- Minigame
- Morale Mechanic
- No Saving Throw
- Point Build System
- Prestige Class
- Random Drops
- Real-Time with Pause
- Respawn Point
- Resting Recovery
- RPG Elements
- Scoring Points
- Scripted Event
- Skill Scores and Perks
- Special Attack
- Spell Crafting
- Spell Levels
- Standard Status Effects
- Stat Meters
- Status Buff
- Time Rewind Mechanic
- Turn-Based Combat
- Video Game Stealing
- Wrap Around
