Nick和Max在Board Game Designers Forum为一月的Game Design Showdown首次呈现了他们的设计主张。这个月的主题是关于“化石燃料和可持续资源。”Nick和Max基于能够永久使用的资源设计了一款“遗产游戏”，以此呈现给玩家“石油峰值”的理论，并强调了可持续资源在我们的未来所扮演的重要角色。

《Peak Oil》是一款面向4，5名玩家的经济资源管理游戏，在此玩家所做出的选择将永久地影响到之后游戏的资源利用。玩家投入基础设施，为了资源而竞争，并尝试着预测一个不断改变的自然资源共有去尝试着实现不可预测的能量需求。在10个回合最后，带有最多钱的玩家获胜，但他所做出的选择可能会导致他在下一次游戏时受困。

Peak Oil(from makingsenseofthings)

《Peak Oil》使用了“车轮”机制：在每一轮游戏中，玩家有三次机会去号召一组角色，资源和技术。一开始，每个玩家将选择一个角色，资源或技术卡。在最后一个玩家选好后，顺序将被颠倒过来，每个人将再次进行挑选。最后，这种情况将发生第三次。角色会影响玩家在之后回合中的顺序，但更早选择意味着放弃了其它选择。技术卡是能够提供能量的能量厂。资源是提供带有燃料的工厂去创造能量。

游戏使用了遗产机制去确保玩家的选择能够显著地改变未来游戏的景象。通过消费资源提供能量的玩家必须能够永久地撕碎他们使用的卡片。在游戏最后，每个玩家签下了他们自己的能量厂—-并将开始下一次游戏。最后，当能量厂创造能量的能力得到提升，这一提升也将永久适用于之后的游戏。

盒子里有什么？

资源桥牌只有5种类型的卡片——太阳，风，媒，油和核材料。

能量厂

技术桥牌是由同样5种类型的能量厂所构成。每个工厂都是独特的，带有4个升级级别。在游戏过程中，玩家通过标记删除他们当前的升级级别而升级工厂，从而永久地改变卡片。早期的升级关卡要求少量的能源去创造能量，而更高的级别要求更多能源去创造更多的能量。高级别工厂将不能够提供最少需求的能源。每个级别同样也会呈现使用时被摧毁的消费能源数量。

角色卡片

5个角色卡片是玩家能够制定（而不是技术或资源）的特殊行动。它们是：“电池——为下一轮游戏保存你未使用的风和太阳资源”，“剩余——为你接下来的行动拿走3种资源”，“效能——提供给蓝色骰子更少的能量去满足这一轮的需求”，以及两份“升级——在你的任何工厂中删除当前的级别。”

骰子

通过结合而使用骰子去决定每一轮最后的能量需求。每个骰子都是不同的，从而提供完全不可预测的概率。红色骰子带有0和1。蓝色骰子带有2和3，绿色骰子带有4，5，6。每一轮游戏都有特定的骰子组合，并伴随着游戏的发展不断提升数值（游戏邦注：第1轮的需求：蓝色骰子–红色骰子。第7轮的需求：绿色骰子+绿色骰子）。

通过分发钱从而能够提供能量去满足需求。满足一轮游戏需求的玩家将获得每个能量所提供的标记。

《Peak Oil》中的一个回合

Rachel，Helena，Kristine和Martin在游戏中的第7轮。Rachel的钱最少，所以她先开始了。她翻了10张资源卡片（碰巧是每种类型2张），3个工厂（2个太阳能一个核能），并添加了4个角色卡片。Rachel挑选了“剩余”角色卡片，并希望在下一轮为自己的工厂获得2张煤和1张油。Helena获得了1张煤。Kristine拿走了另一张煤。Martin选了一张核材料，然后在第2次选择时选了核工厂。Kristine知道她不能满足这一轮的需求（即8–12），所以她为了保存某些可再利用的资源而选择了“电池”。Helena选择了”升级“，为她的煤工厂提升一个级别从而能通过3个煤创造出9个能源。Rachel使用她的”剩余“卡片获得1张油和2张太阳资源。Rachel将太阳能工厂作为自己第三个也是最后的选择。Helena选择了“效能”。Kristine选择了风。最后，Martin打出了最后的核材料。

这一回合所滚动的骰子组合是（根据追踪）：绿色骰子+绿色骰子。第一次滚动呈现的是6，第二次是5。玩家通过挑战创造了11能量。Rachel并未拥有足够的能源创造出11，所以她丢掉了2张太阳卡片（作为不能保存的可再生资源），她的回合便结束了。Helena使用她的“效能”卡片去滚动蓝色骰子（创造了2），然后为她的工厂交易换来3张煤从而创造了必要的9能量（11需求减去2效能），如此她换回了9个钱。Kristine使用“电池”去保存她的风资源，加上她在上一轮所保存的2个—-下一轮对她来说很重要。Martin用他那2个核材料换取了6个总能量。然后他将自己囤积的3张油交给了一个低级别的油工厂换取了6个能量。他满足了11的需求并获得了11张钱标记。他的一个能量被浪费了。Rachel仍然拥有最少的钱，所以她从第8轮开始。

价值

《Peak Oil》是因为支持我们的文明收获了大量地球的石油储量，但却在2000年创造了石油峰值这一理论而命名。因为可用自然资源的减少，我们每年看到的成品油筒的数量也在减少。通过永久减少可消耗燃料卡的储备，《Peak Oil》传达了化石燃料的消耗不管是从经济还是社会角度来看都是不可行的理念；但是解决方法并非立即做出转变：我们必须创造出可持续能源技术去担负起这个责任。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

PEAK OIL – A LEGACY DESIGN ABOUT ENERGY

Nick and Max showcase their design pitch for January’s Game Design Showdown over at the Board Game Designers Forum.  This month’s theme was “fossil fuels and sustainable energy.”  Nick and Max designed a ‘Legacy game’ in which resources, when used, are permanently consumed, to demonstrate the theory of peak oil to players and underline the role of sustainable energy in our future.

Peak Oil is an economic resource management game for 4-5 players where the choices that players make permanently impact the availability of resources in later games. Players invest in infrastructure, compete for resources, and attempt to predict an ever-changing supply of natural resources to try to fulfill unpredictable power demand. At the end of the ten rounds, the player with the most money wins, but the choices she made might leave her stuck the next time she plays!

Peak Oil employs a ‘wheel’ drafting mechanic: each round, players have three chances to draft from a single pool of roles, resources, and technology. Starting with the first, player, each player picks one role, resource or technology card. After the last player picks, order is reversed and everyone picks again. Finally, this happens a third time. Roles affect the choices players make later in the round, but selecting them early means giving up other choices. Technology cards are power plants that provide power. Resources provide plants with fuel to make power.

The game uses legacy mechanics to ensure that the players’ choices dramatically change the landscape of future games. Players who provide power via consumable resources must permanently rip up the cards they use. At the end of the game each player signs one of her power plants – she’ll start with it next game. Finally, when power plants’ capacity to produce power is increased, they are increased permanently for future games.

What’s in the Box?

The resource deck has only 5 types of cards — sun, wind, coal, oil, and nuclear material.

The Power Plants

The tech deck is composed of power plants of the same 5 types. Each plant is unique, and has 4 levels of upgrade. During the game, players upgrade plants they own by crossing off the current upgrade level with a marker, permanently changing the card. Early upgrade levels require small amounts of fuel to produce power, and higher levels require more fuel to produce larger amounts of power. High-level plants can result in not being able to provide the minimum required fuel. Each level also displays the number of consumed fuel resources that are destroyed when used.

The Role Cards

The five role cards are special actions that the players can draft instead of tech or resources. They are: “Batteries – save your unused wind and sun resources for next round,” (which cannot otherwise be saved) “Surplus – take 3 resources for your next action,” “Efficiency – provide Blue Die fewer power to meet demand this round,” and two copies of “Upgrade – cross off the current level on any of your plants.”

The Dice

The dice are used in combination to determine the power demand at the end of each round. Each die is different to provide excitingly unpredictable probabilities. The Red Die has 0 and 1 on its sides. The Blue Die has 2 and 3, and the Green Die has 4, 5, 6. Each round has a specified combination of dice to roll, with increasing values throughout the game (Round 1’s demand: Blue Die – Red Die. Round 7’s demand: Green Die + Green Die).

Money is given out for being able to provide power that meets the demand. Players who meet the round’s demand receive one token for each power supplied.

A Turn in Peak Oil

Rachel, Helena, Kristine, and Martin are on the 7th round of play. Rachel has the least money, so she begins. She flips over 10 resource cards (which happen to be 2 of each type), 3 plants (two solar and a nuclear), and adds the 4 role cards. Rachel drafts the “Surplus” role card, hoping to get 2 coal and 1 oil next turn for her plants. Helena takes 1 coal. Kristine takes the other coal. Martin takes a nuclear material, and then a nuclear plant for his second pick. Kristine knows that she won’t be able to fulfill this round’s demand (which is 8-12), so she picks “Batteries” in order to save some renewable resources for next turn. Helena takes “Upgrade,” and upgrades her coal plant one level to be able to produce 9 energy from 3 coal (which she has saved from last turn). Rachel, foiled, uses her “Surplus” card to take 1 oil and 2 sun resources. Rachel takes the the solar plant as her third and final draft. Helena takes “Efficiency.” Kristine takes a wind resource. Finally, Martin swipes the final nuclear material.

The dice combination rolled for this turn is (according to the track): Green Die + Green Die. The first roll shows 6, the second shows 5. Players are challenged to produce 11 power. Rachel does not have enough resources to make 11 so she discards her 2 sun cards (as renewable resources cannot be saved), and her turn is over. Helena uses her “Efficiency” card to roll the Blue Die (resulting in a 2), and then trades in 3 coal to her plant to make the requisite 9 power (11 demand minus 2 efficiency), which she redeems for 9 money. Kristine uses “Batteries” to save her wind resource, plus the two she saved from last round – next round will be big for her. Martin turns in his 2 nuclear material for 6 total power. He then turns in 3 oil he has been stockpiling to a low level oil plant for 6 more power. He meets the demand of 11 and gets 11 money tokens. One of his power is wasted. Rachel still has the least money, so she begins the 8th round.

Values

Peak Oil is named for the widely supported theory that civilization has already harvested the majority of the Earth’s oil reserves, and that the year of peak oil production already occurred in 2000. Each year sees fewer barrels of produced oil, due to decreased natural availability. Through its permanently decreasing reserves of consumable fuel cards, Peak Oil conveys the value that consumption of fossil fuels is economically and socially unsustainable; but the solution isn’t an immediate switch: sustainable energy technologies must be developed to shoulder the burden.(source:mostdangerousgamedesign)