1. Identify the basic elements in a game of your choice (actions, goals, rules, objects, playspace, players)
Nintendo Smash Brothers – There are different mini-games playable within Smash-Bros, but I will answer the questions based on the default game setting. The main actions users can take is by using the Joy-Con, they control a character in the game, where they can run, jump, attack, shield, and use super powers to other players. Using the actions, the main goal is to get your opponent’s life to 0, where the rule is that they only have certain life stocks given at the beginning of the game, and if you fall from the stage, you also lose a life. The main objects are special items that also serve as key objects to boost your skills or to damage other players. The players are different characters from the Nintendo series which all have different skills and traits, where the playspace is the stage where characters combat, where some stage have more obstacles than others.
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.
Let’s say we swap the main rule of the board game Catan and card game Old Maid, where you cannot trade cards (resource) by negotiation in Catan but you can negotiate and trade cards in Old Maid with anyone if it’s your turn. For Catan, while the main goal can be achieved due to other functions such as building a house, drawing cards and rolling a dice, it does limit its designer’s objective of making the game like a real business, where negotiation brings the social element and also the tactics involving behavioural psychology, which is behind any business you do in real life. On the other hand, Old Maid could be a mess, where negotiation allows players to identify what card other people have, which distorts the key element in the game of not knowing where your card might be, making the goal too easy to achieve and making it un-thrilling.
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
I used to play capture the flag when I was small, where players get into two teams, where each team has a flag at the end of the rectangular playspace. The playspace is divided into two, where players try to get the other team’s flag by running to the edge of the other team’s area and come back to their own area safely with the flag. The players in the other team can stop the other team’s runner by touching them, where those caught would have to go to jail. If runners from your team reach the jail, those caught would be free. In the space of possibility map, runners from team A would run towards the flag for team B, where other players in B try to stop them by running towards them. Once people gather to the runner in A, it offers different possibilities for others from team A; either to also start running while the players in B are focused on B, or to protect their own safety by staying still.
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.
I have played both real-time and turn-based games myself – Minhaya, a Japanese online trivia quiz game, and Pokémon Pocket, an online card battle. Minhaya is a real-time game where 8 players compete by answering up to 25 trivia questions, and the first to score five points wins. All players can answer simultaneously. Whoever finishes typing first gets the point, while an incorrect answer deducts one point. Early in the game, players often guess quickly since they have no points to lose. Once points accumulate, however, players become more cautious, usually answering one at a time, which slows the pace and makes it feel more like a turn-based game. When someone reaches four points, players with fewer than three points suddenly rush to answer, taking risks to prevent the leader from winning. This dynamic keeps the competition intense, something that would be lost if the rules only allowed turn-taking.
In contrast, the Pokémon Pocket card game is strictly turn-based. Each player has a personal deck with different card types, some that heal and others that deal damage. At the start, I moved first, giving me an advantage by drawing items before my opponent. However, the rules balance this by preventing the first player from attacking right away. This restriction allows the second player time to plan strategies to offset their disadvantage, often by playing more aggressively. Because both players are given time to think without interference, the game becomes less about spontaneous reactions and more about careful tactical planning.
