Games, Design and Play: Elements – Cole Lee

1. Identify the basic elements in a game of your choice (actions, goals, rules, objects, playspace, players).

The game is capture the flag.

Action: “Tag” a player if they’re beyond the line and crossing over to your team’s space. Run to other team’s space, and hide, or just in general interact and move within that space. You can unfreeze a tagged player by tapping them if they’re on your team.

Goals: identify and “capture” the other teams flag by touching it.

Rule: differs depending on which version of the game. The version I play is that you can’t hide the flag in areas too difficult to find; if you get tagged you have to freeze.

Objects: hands and bodies

Playspace: any terrain decided (usually have some areas of coverage for placing the flag, the playing space is usually large than 20x20m in size in order to allow for traversal across the playing field to “capture” the flag).

Players: teams of 3/4 or more, with two teams.

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.

 Another game could be red light green light. The action from this game I will swap is that the user must freeze at a certain interval if looked at. This can be swapped with the mechanic of being tagged in capture the flag. In capture the flag, instead of tagging to freeze a person, the person would need to freeze at an interval indicated by a sound.

This would make the game a little easier to win as the tagging mechanism renders a player unable to move, whereas the red-light-green-light mechanism of allowing the player to unfreeze at intervals would make it so they can progress closer to the flag. Therefore, it’s easier to capture the flag. I can see the game ending more quickly – it’s easier to reach the objective.

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.

There are many states of possible interaction, for individual or group contexts. For a group context, this is the following actions.

• At start line – all players are on their own side
• Players start moving in either direction towards the flag, and they’re looking for the flag
• Players are tagged or frozen on either side of the court.
• Some players get untagged.
• Player reaches flag and touches it, ending the game.

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.

League of Legends

1. Champion selection: Players pick their champions, roles are decided (top, mid, jungle, bot, support), and strategies are discussed in chat.
2. Early game (laning phase): Players spread out into lanes or jungle. The goal is to farm minions (get money), “poke” enemies by lowering their health with attacks, and avoid getting killed.
3. First engagement: first fights happen, often in the jungle or during ganks in a lane. Some players might get a kill, giving their team an advantage.
4. Mid-game: towers are destroyed, players start grouping for team fights. Objectives like Dragon or Rift Herald are prioritized, and the game’s action intensifies.
5. Team fights: Full 5v5 battles take place around objectives or in lanes.
6. Late Game: Both teams focus on major objectives like Baron Nashor or Elder Dragon. Winning a team fight can lead to pushing down the lane — “running it down” or everyone coming down a lane and destroying inhibitors like towers.
7. Victory/Defeat: The game ends when one team successfully destroys the enemy Nexus, or the other team surrenders.

Review: the game states constantly change based on player decisions and my framework is really dependent on how the game goes. The space of possibility shifts throughout the match—from individual lanes to full-team fights. Every action (minion farming, securing objectives, team fights) shapes the strategic flow. The real-time element means players must adapt quickly to evolving situations, as each decision impacts the entire team’s success. The game’s complexity also increases with different champions and abilities, it really makes the gameplay experience completely different as different balances of champions (ex. more mages, more assassins) would change whether or not there is more focus on different phases of the game

Turn-based Game: Chinese Chess 

1. Initial Board Setup: Pieces are arranged on the grid, with each player deciding on an opening strategy.
2. Red’s First Move: Red moves a piece (such as a cannon or soldier). The opening move defines early strategies and begins opening the space of possibility.
3. Black’s Response: Black mirrors the opening move, setting up their own strategies.
4. Mid-game: Both players are moving pieces, with cannons and horses (knights) getting involved in attacks. Pieces are being exchanged, and the space of possibility starts to shift as the board opens.
5. Endgame: The remaining few pieces (often generals, advisors, and pawns) dictate the strategies. Each player would want to to trap the enemy general.
6. Checkmate: One player successfully traps the opponent’s general.

Review: Unlike League of Legends, where actions are simultaneous, Chinese Chess alternates between players, giving them time to strategize. The space of possibility starts small (due to the tight arrangement of pieces) but expands as the board opens up and pieces are captured. As the game progresses, the possible moves become more limited, narrowing the player’s decisions.