Min/Max from a game design lecturer ....

"Joshmayer5555;51386" wrote:
An article written by a childhood friend of mine who is a lecturer on game design in a university. We go waaaaaaaaaay back...

Q: what is min/Max?

A: Actually minimax/maximin/min-max are actual game theory terms, used to describe general strategies that can be used. However in today's modern games, when we speak about min-max it simply means playing the game in a very specific way to get the best results. Normally achieved by minimizing and maximizing certain parameters.

This is especially true because most games depend on numbers, such as critical chances, stat points, damage etc. and these numbers are fixed. If you can figure out the formula, and you can figure out the relationships of one formula with another, then you can figure out the absolute maximum potential achievable. From there, you just need to farm the game to build that particular maximum build.

I don't think it's actually new to you, which is why I mentioned that day, it's LIKE you just discovered it. Maybe because you play games more with gut feel? But some players like me prefer to play with the math haha. Doesn't mean we're better at the game, just different form of enjoyment. I like to do the numbers, then work towards achieving the theoretical maximum. Watching you play Lineage 2 for example, I think you just like to enjoy the game, and do the best with what you can get. Doing the numbers does not translate to success haha. it just translates to theoretical maximums.

However in games where reflex and reaction is not important, hand-eye coordination is not important, like SWGOH, then min-maxing becomes logical, as at the end of the day, it is the numbers that matter, and some random chance which is out of your control. A wrench in such formulas of course, would be spending real money, or having friends who help. that changes the parameters a lot. But for many other games, it's just a matter of calculating out the maximum potential.

Anyway, people who already do the math like to create tools to help you plan out the min-max, such as https://swgoh.gg/squads/build/. Not sure how accurate it is, but the bigger and more popular the game, the crazier the fanbase, the more accurate the data. Like for D3 we have http://www.diabloprogress.com/ which shows a lot more data than can be obtained in the game.