- Identify the basic elements in a game of your choice (actions, goals, rules, objects, playspace, players).
- Tic Tac Toe
- Actions: Players can place their marks (X or O) on an empty spot on the board.
- Goal: Be the first player to achieve the winning pattern, i.e., get three of their marks (X or O) in a row, either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
- Rules: Players take turns placing their marks on the grid, with Player X starting. Marks can’t be placed on a spot that is already occupied. The game continues until one player achieves the winning pattern, or until the entire grid is filled with no winner (draw). The player who achieves the winning pattern is the winner, and the game ends.
- Objects: Marks (represented as “X” for one player and “O” for the other)
- Playspace: A 3×3 grid
- Players: 2 players, referred to as Player X and Player O
- As a thought experiment, swap one element between two games: a single rule, one action, the goal, or the playspace. For example, what if you applied the playspace of chess to basketball? Imagine how the play experience would change based on this swap.
- Let’s imagine changing the goal of Flappy Bird to the goal of Chess.
- In Flappy Bird, the original goal is to keep the bird flying as far as possible without hitting pipes (obstacles). Players achieve high scores by covering long distances. Now, if we apply the goal of Chess to Flappy Bird, the objective would become navigating a chessboard using Flappy Bird mechanics. The player controls the bird, and instead of avoiding pipes, they navigate a series of chessboard squares with chess pieces on them. The goal becomes to reach the opposing player’s king while avoiding checkmate…
- How might the player experience change? Instead of aiming for a high score, players would aim to checkmate the opposing king as quickly as possible. Players would need to plan their bird’s movement carefully just as they would plan their chess pieces’ moves. This new version of Flappy Bird would require a strategic mindset, as players need to think several moves ahead to avoid falling into a checkmate trap, and to find the best path to the opponent’s king. This swap would transform Flappy Bird from a casual, reflex-based game into a strategy game and add a layer of complexity to the gameplay.
- Pick a simple game you played as a child. Try to map out its space of possibility, taking into account the goals, actions, objects, rules, and playspace as the parameters inside of which you played the game. The map might be a visual flowchart or a drawing trying to show the space of possibility on a single screen or a moment in the game.
- Pick a real-time game and a turn-based game. Observe people playing each. Make a log of all the game states for each game. After you have created the game state logs, review them to see how they show the game’s space of possibility and how the basic elements interact.
- Turn-based game: Snake and Ladders (game state log generated with ChatGPT)
- Game Start
- Players: A and B
- Current Player: A
- Dice Roll: 3
- Game State 1
- Players: A and B
- Current Player: B
- Dice Roll: 6
- Player A’s Position: 3
- Player B’s Position: 6
- Game State 2
- Players: A and B
- Current Player: A
- Dice Roll: 2
- Player A’s Position: 5
- Player B’s Position: 6
- Game State 3
- Players: A and B
- Current Player: B
- Dice Roll: 4
- Player A’s Position: 5
- Player B’s Position: 10
- Game State 4 (Ladder Encounter)
- Players: A and B
- Current Player: A
- Dice Roll: 4
- Player A’s Position: 9 (Climbed a ladder)
- Player B’s Position: 10
- Game State 5
- Players: A and B
- Current Player: B
- Dice Roll: 5
- Player A’s Position: 9
- Player B’s Position: 15
- Game State 6
- Players: A and B
- Current Player: A
- Dice Roll: 6
- Player A’s Position: 15
- Player B’s Position: 15
- Game State 7 (Snake Encounter)
- Players: A and B
- Current Player: B
- Dice Roll: 5
- Player A’s Position: 15
- Player B’s Position: 6 (Went down a snake)
- Game State 8
- Players: A and B
- Current Player: A
- Dice Roll: 1
- Player A’s Position: 16
- Player B’s Position: 6
- Game State 9 (Victory)
- Players: A and B
- Current Player: B
- Dice Roll: 4
- Player A’s Position: 16
- Player B’s Position: 10
- Game Start
- Real-time game: Tag (game state log generated with ChatGPT)
- Game Start
- Players: C (Seeker), D, E, F, G (Hiders)
- Current Player: C (Seeker)
- Seeker’s Position: Center of the Playground
- Hiders’ Positions: Scattered around the Playground
- Game State 1
- Players: C (Seeker), D, E, F, G (Hiders)
- Current Player: D (Hider)
- Seeker’s Position: Chasing D
- Hiders’ Positions: Scattered around the Playground
- Game State 2
- Players: C (Seeker), D, E, F, G (Hiders)
- Current Player: C (Seeker)
- Seeker’s Position: Tagging D
- Hiders’ Positions: Scattered around the Playground
- Game State 3
- Players: C (Seeker), D, E, F, G (Hiders)
- Current Player: D (Hider)
- Seeker’s Position: Tagging D
- Hiders’ Positions: Scattered around the Playground
- Game State 4 (Tagged)
- Players: C (Seeker), D (Tagged), E, F, G (Hiders)
- Current Player: C (Seeker)
- Seeker’s Position: Tagging D
- Hiders’ Positions: Scattered around the Playground
- Game State 5
- Players: C (Seeker), D (Tagged), E, F, G (Hiders)
- Current Player: E (Hider)
- Seeker’s Position: Chasing E
- Hiders’ Positions: Scattered around the Playground
- Game State 6 (Victory)
- Players: C (Seeker), D (Tagged), E, F, G (Hiders)
- Current Player: C (Seeker)
- Seeker’s Position: Tagging E (Last Hider)
- Hiders’ Positions: Scattered around the Playground
- Game Start
- How do these logs show the game’s space of possibility and how the basic elements interact?
- In Snake and Ladders, we see in the log that players take turns, move based on dice rolls, and encounter objects like ladders and snakes. In Tag, players in real-time chase each other, with one player trying to tag others while the others avoid being tagged. Both games have distinct dynamics shaped by their rules, actions, goals, and playspace.
