Identify the basic elements in a game of your choice (actions, goals, rules, objects, playspace, players).
Game: Balatro
Actions: Even though possibilities are limitless in Balatro, there are a very limited amount of actions a player can do. While in the scoring phase, players can choose to Sort their hand, Rearrange their jokers, Discard cards, and Play Hands. Meanwhile, in the shop phase, players can choose to Buy or Sell packs/cards, Use said cards to alter their deck, and Reroll the shop.
Goals: Balatro can mainly be played with two goals in mind. As a roguelike at heart, the main way Balatro can be played is to survive as long as possible. After 8 Antes (levels), the player is awarded with a sticker signaling completion of that difficulty with that deck. However players can still keep on playing in Endless Mode. Besides survival, many other players try to conduct“Balatro Science” by attempting the highest score possible. Both goals are quite different but equally as fun!
Rules: The game works by loosely following poker rules. You start by drawing 8 cards from a normal deck. Then, you can play at most 4 hands or discard 3 hands of at most 5 cards in order to reach that level’s minimum score. Each poker hand you play scores differently, and the score scales as you progress. If you can’t reach the score, you lose and need to restart. After each round, you have a shopping phase where you can purchase “Joker” cards that give power-ups to certain cards or your deck. You can also choose to upgrade hands through “Planet” cards, buy “Vouchers” that change certain rules (such as giving you one more hand per round), or buy “Arcana” cards that alter and power up your cards in different ways!
Objects: There truly are very few objects in Balatro. You only have Packs, Cards, Jokers, and Vouchers (and Skip Tags, but I’m not sure if they’re objects). By interacting with these four types of objects, you tailor your deck to create your best strategy to score points!
Playspace: The game has two aforementioned playspaces. The first one is the “Round” space. This is where you must play hands that reach the minimum score. This space changes as you go through your deck. The second space is the shop, where you can alter and upgrade your deck and jokers, it also only changes by choosing to spend money on re-rolling the shop.
Players: Balatro is only a single player game, however it is quite fun to play with several friends and discuss the best strategies throughout a run.
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.
What if we applied the playspace of soccer to golf? Then, instead of having 18 rounds of players individually trying to reach a small hole with as few strokes as possible, we could have a team game where players pass the golf ball to each other and attempt to score goals with their clubs on either side of a field. This swap would completely change the experience of golf. New strategies could arise based on team sizes, positions, and even individual players’ areas of expertise. Now that I think of it… this kinda sounds like lacrosse, lol. On the other hand, we could have soccer played as a match that lasts 18 rounds, where two players attempt to follow the rules of golf but instead of using golf balls and clubs, they use soccer balls and their feet. This would value accuracy and a slower form of playing way more than the athletic and dynamic soccer experience. (Edit: I looked it up and this sport actually also exists!)
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.
Hearthstone Turn Based Log:
Turn 1:
Player 1 Chooses to keep all three of his initial cards.
They have 1 mana crystal and choose to end their turn immediately.
Player 2 then uses their coin to gain one mana and plays a 2/3 minion that costs 2 mana. They end their turn.
Turn 2:
Player 1 plays a 3/4, 2 mana minion with taunt, forcing the second player to attack this minion instead. Player 1 ends their turn.
Player 2 plays a two mana spell that kills Player 1’s minion. Then, they use their minion to attack player 1’s hero. This reduces the hero’s health to 28.
Turn 3:
Player 1 doesn’t draw any cards that cost 3 mana or less. They can’t do anything, so they simply end their turn.
Player 2 continues to attack Player 1’s hero. They also cast another spell that summons to other minions. One is 4/1, the other is 3/3.
Turn 4:
Player 1 once again didn’t draw the cards they needed for their combo. Frustrated, they only play a 1 mana minion that is 1/2 and end their turn.
Player 2 plays a 2 mana cost secret and another 4/4 minion. Things really aren’t looking good for player 1.
Turn 5:
Frustrated by not drawing their combo pieces, player 1 concedes the game.
League of Legends Real Time Log:
(I will be focusing on Bot Lane as I can’t see the whole map at the same time while my roommate plays).
02:15
- First Minion Wave: Minions spawn and lanes meet; Lane phase begins.
03:30
- First Blood: In mid-lane, Ahri lands a charm on Syndra. Lee Sin ganks from the river, and they secure first blood on Syndra.
07:00
- Bot Lane Action:
- Thresh (my roommate) hooks Leona, but a counter-engage results in both supports taking damage.
- My roommate’s bot laner is able to kill Leona, gaining a gold lead.
- His Jungler doesn’t come to help him and he ends up dying too.
09:00
- Dragon Attempt:
- Opposing Team’s Sejuani starts the Dragon with bot lane priority.
- Roommate’s Team Lee Sin spots this with a ward and calls for a contest.
- Opposing Team’s secures the Dragon but loses two champions.
12:00
- First Turret Destroyed:
- Roommate’s Team bot lane pushes and destroys the enemy turret.
(Some fighting occurs during the mid game, after lane phase ends. My roommate chooses to build certain items in order to counter the opposing team’s top laner).
22:00
- Baron Nashor Secured:
- Roommate’s Team takes Baron uncontested due to prior team fight victory.
28:00
- Final Push:
- Roommate’s Team groups bot lane.
- A decisive team fight occurs; His team aces the enemy team with him landing an amazing hook (eliminates all enemy champions).
Game End:
- His Team destroys the Nexus.
Hearthstone Review:
It’s quite interesting to see just how much each player’s turn impacts the other player’s possibilities and decision making. By reacting to minions that one player has played, the other person’s strategy is constantly updating as each turn goes by. However, these updates aren’t necessarily dynamic as the player has quite some time and a limited amount of possibilities given their cards to react to a certain situation. It was also interesting to see just how much luck in drawing cards played a pivotal role in the playspace. By not having access to certain cards, this rendered Player 1’s deck virtually useless, making them frustratingly concede.
League Review:
It was interesting to see just how reactive to his environment my roommate was throughout the entire game. The possibilities are endless, entire situations change with a single miss of an ability, and with one player’s macro decision of doing an objective the whole game flips on itself. At the same time, there is a very formulaic way of playing the beginning, middle and end of a game. I especially enjoyed seeing how my roomate reacted to the opponents builds in real time, and how he constantly interacted with his team’s communication to try and work together towards a common goal.
