1. Identify the basic elements in a game of your choice (actions, goals, rules, objects, playspace, players).
The game of my choice is “The Mind,” a cooperative card game with limited communication between players.
- Goals: There are two types of goals in The Mind – a macrogoal and a microgoal.
- Macrogoal: Clear a series of 8, 10, or 12 levels depending on whether there are 4, 3, or 2 players, respectively.
- Microgoal: Within each level is a microgoal – work with teammates to play a series of numbered cards in ascending order.
- Rules:
- At the beginning of each level, each player is given X amount of numbered cards, where X is the current level.
- Players take turns playing cards from lowest to highest.
- There is no formal turn structure – players may play cards whenever they wish.
- Players are not allowed to talk with one another during a level.
- If a player plays a card in the center of the table, and nobody has a card with a smaller value in hand, nothing happens. However, at least one person has a card with a smaller value, those players reveal all such cards, and the team loses one life.
- A level is cleared when all players have no cards remaining.
- After clearing a level, all cards are reshuffled and redistributed among players.
- Losing all lives loses the game, while clearing all levels wins the game.
- Actions: Players have two choices of actions.
- Play a card: A player places their lowest-numbered card in the center of the table.
- Raise their hand: Players may also raise their hand. If all players raise their hand, a shuriken is used.
- Objects:
- Cards: There are a total of 100 numbered cards, labeled 1 through 100. These cards are distributed at the beginning of each level.
- Shuriken: Shuriken act as lifelines – the team starts with a few shuriken, and can gain shuriken as a reward for clearing levels. When a shuriken is used, all players reveal their lowest card to their teammates and no longer have to be played to clear the current level.
- Lives: Whenever a player plays a card with a higher value than a card in someone else’s hand, the team loses a life. The team may gain lives as a reward for clearing a level. When all lives are lost, so is the game.
- Playspace:
- Any place that allows for a gathering of people. This can include a table, a floor, or online via Tabletop Arena or a similar website/software.
- Players:
- People! Either 2, 3, or 4.
Consider the above game of The Mind between Angela, Brad, and Charlie. They are on Level 3 of 10, with 2 shuriken and 3 lives. The most recently played card was a 27. If Angela plays her 56, then nothing happens. However, if Charlie plays his 60, then Angela reveals her 56 and 57, Brad reveals his 58, and the team would lose one life. The 56, 57, and 58 are then set aside for the rest of the level.
Imagine that the group has been sitting in silence and have not played any cards for a while. Angela is thinking, “If Brad and Charlie have a card close to 27, they would have played it by now.” Brad and Charlie are stuck thinking the same thing about each other. Thus, they all decide to raise their hand, using a shuriken, allowing Angela to reveal her 56, Brad to reveal his 58, and Charlie to reveal his 60, setting them aside for the rest of the level and proceeding with the game as normal.
2. 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.
Slay the Spire is a digital video game available on console and PC. This is a game where players can draft cards and relics to create powerful combos and defeat enemies in order to advance in a dungeon called The Spire.
Imagine if the Slay the Spire had the playspace of a game like The Mind (in particular, physical playspaces like the table or floor), where cards and relics took on the role of physical objects. This would make Slay the Spire much clunkier and more unwieldy to play. As an example, consider the above relic – in a digital game, the computer can automatically perform the calculation for you, and heal the correct amount of hit points every time. But in an analog game, players would have to manually track or count the number of cards and do mental math – dividing by 5, rounding down, then multiplying by 3. Not only is this procedure cumbersome and wastes a lot of time, but it is also subject to human error. Doing this for every relic in your possession would be a nightmare!
Likewise, playing The Mind on a digital table loses the physical intimacy. In a normal game of The Mind, players can still glean information based on body language and facial expression that doesn’t constitute explicit communication – if a player is leaning back in their chair, relaxedly, then they are likely in no rush to play any cards and have comparatively high values. Likewise, if a player looks poised to pull the trigger, they may have several cards with values in close proximity, so they’re gearing up to play multiple cards in quick succession. But this element is lost with a virtual playspace, where “reading the table” isn’t much of a strategy.
3. 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.
The game I choose is Rock, Paper, Scissors.
In a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, two players simultaneously choose one of three objects to use: rock, paper, or scissors, typically using their hands as both the objects and the playspace. To win, one player must choose an object that beats another object – a player that chooses rock will beat a player that beats scissors, a player that chooses scissors will beat a player that chooses paper, and a player that chooses paper that chooses rock. If both players choose the same object, then they draw and must replay the game to determine the winner. If that was a bit confusing to follow, don’t worry: below is a handy flowchart that represents the possibility space of decisions that players can make, as well as their corresponding outcomes.
4. 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.
- Real-time game: Catch
- Goal: Be the last player to not miss catching the throwable object.
- Rules: Player A and Player B take turns throwing an object at each other. The first to fail catching the object (i.e. letting it hit the ground) is the loser, while the other person in the winner.
- Actions: Throw, run, or catch
- Objects: A throwable object, such as a ball or a phone.
- Playspace: Typically some sufficiently big, open space/field that allows room to run and throw within bounds
- Players: Two people.
- Game States: All possible game states include the spatial position of Player A(‘s hands), the spatial position of Player B(‘s hands), the spatial position of the object, as well as their respective velocities/accelerations. Although these metrics are limited by the size of the play field, the strength of the throw/players, the weight of the object, etc. these values still inhabit a continuous spectrum, so the number of game states is infinite, constantly changing, and much more dynamic when contrasted to a turn-based game.
- Turn-based game: Snake
- Goal: Last as long as possible without running into a wall or yourself.
- Rules: You are a snake eating fruit on a grid. As you eat fruit, the length of your body increases, which constitutes both your score and as a hazard. Upon eating a fruit, another fruit randomly spawns on a grid and your body elongates, making the grid more dangerous to navigate.
- Actions: Move left, move right, move up, move down
- Objects: Snake, fruit
- Playspace: Digital grid
- Players: You, controlling the snake.
- Game States: All possible game states include the direction the snake is moving in, the slots of the grid currently occupied by the snake, and the slot of the grid occupied by the fruit. Because these values inhabit a discrete spectrum, the number of game states is finite. And although the game states do not change as rapidly as a real time game, there is still a considerable amount of flux present, just in moment-to-moment, quantized chunks.
