The following questions are from the Exercises section of Chapter 1 of the book “Games, Design, and Play” by Macklin and Sharp.
1. Identify the basic elements in a game of your choice (actions, goals, rules, objects, playspace, players).
Let’s take a look at Dungeons & Dragons. To prevent a vague answer in Actions, Goals, and Rules, I will focus on the battle sequence of D&D for these sections (the core gameplay varies based on the campaign, which heavily influences how these categories can be).
Actions: The core gameplay of D&D varies based on the campaign and character types, which influence the types of actions that can be taken. It is mostly a game of free will, as long as the actions taken are deemed viable by the game coordinator, known as the “dungeon master”. In a regular campaign, some expected actions are talking with NPCs, collecting items and finding loot, and engaging with the environment such as cutting the end of a rope bridge to collapse it. In a typical D&D battle, some examples of these actions include making a swipe at an enemy, casting a spell, drinking a potion, rescuing a friend, or even engaging in dialogue.
Goals: Goals greatly differ based on campaign. There typically is an overarching plot goal, with a few subgoals that lead to various character development sections and intermittent wins. Characters typically have different goals based on how they are created; some may want to destroy an elder brain to free its captives, whereas others may deem control over the creature to be more favorable. Similarly, the goal of a battle in D&D is simply to resolve the battle. This may be defeating the enemy, running outside of their range, or persuading them to end the fight.
Rules: As mentioned before, there are many types of actions players can engage in. The rules keep this in check, to prevent players from being too overpowered in a battle. Whereas some rules are determined by the dungeon master, some are more concrete and pre-defined by Wizards of the Coast, who own and maintain the general rules of D&D. For example, there are limitations in how many actions are permitted in battle, exhausting an “action” and/or “bonus action” depending on the type of move. The freedom of choices paired with the limited amount of actions makes the battle system feel creative yet strategic.
Objects: In D&D, players typically keep track of their information with a character sheet and decide the success of their actions using a set of dice. In more advanced setups, there may even be grids, floor maps, figurines, item cards, or currencies that expand the magic circle from one that is purely imaginative to one that exists in real space.
Playspace: The space of D&D is typically in the imagination, governed by roleplay and the words of a dungeon master. As previously mentioned in the Objects section, some may decide to make the real world more immersive through physical props. A more extreme version of D&D brought into real life is LARPing (live-action-role-playing), where people may dress in costumes and act out scenes rather than envision it in their heads.
Players: The players are an integral part of D&D, shaping the world through varied imaginative experiences. Depending on the types of people that play in a campaign, there will be vastly different dynamics and events that arise out of conflicting character personalities. Regarding the players themselves, those who play D&D will engage in the game when their friends are available. This can be in the day, in the afternoon, or at night.
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.
One thing I’ve found interesting is how Among Us is a game about killing, yet seems so silly, cutesy, and arcade game-y. Although the thought of being hunted down in a spaceship by impostors sounds absolutely horrifying on paper, the game itself is just a game of silly beans decapitating and accusing each other via a brainrotted chat system. So: what would happen if you applied the goals of Alien: Isolation, a similar game where you are being hunted down in a spaceship by a ravenous alien, and applied it to Among Us?
Essentially, this would mean that the goal is to no longer simply complete tasks while being hunted down by impostors, but rather make it to the end of a map by sneaking around to some end location without being caught and killed. I’d argue that this large goal change would make the game scarier as it would incentivize players to sneak around in isolation rather than run around to find bodies and report them. When people are more isolated, dead bodies are harder to find. Typically, reporting a dead body opens up a temporary “safe space” through the chat system where the impostor cannot kill anybody, but making these harder to find could de-incentivize running around willy-nilly trying to find these dead bodies to report. Body discovery may suddenly fade into something seen as more optional since players don’t want to get caught. (Of course, this is near impossible to prove without players to actively test with to see if this dynamic arises!)
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.
An iconic game to play on the elementary school playground is Tag. In Tag, excluding the wide diversity of playspaces and environmental objects, there are very limited possibilities in terms of game state. There is one person who is “It”, and everybody else is considered a “Runner”. One way to represent the loop can be: (1) Choose an “It”, (2) “It” tries to tag a Runner, Runners try to avoid “It”, (3) a “tag event” occurs, which leads to role reversal and a repeat of step 2. The game ends whenever people call it quits or when somebody’s mom decides it is time for dinner. A more detailed analysis can be seen in this image:
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.
In a real-time game like World Chase Tag (link), some of the game states include (0:02) Wade taking higher ground over Orlando, (0:16) Orlando narrowly ducking under an obstacle to dodge Wade, (0:19) Wade leaping over a wide gap to lose Orlando, and (0:20) Wade winning the game without being tagged for an ample amount of time.
In a turn-based game like Baldur’s Gate 3 (link), some game states include (1:20) all characters rolling for initiative, (1:36) one character quick targeting spells on an enemy, (1:52) one character making a melee attack on another enemy, (2:22) one character casting an area attack spell on multiple enemies, (2:58) one character teleporting to the enemy, and (3:15) one character making a ranged attack on an enemy.
In real-time games, it is much more difficult to record the current state due to the fluid transition between scenes (hence the name, “real-time”). It is much easier to discern game states in a turn-based game, where the player has to actively select something or wait a certain amount of time before the next state occurs. This makes the frequency of events much closer in duration to each other in World Chase Tag as opposed to Baldur’s Gate 3; a game in the former may take up to thirty seconds, whereas a match in the latter takes up to twelve minutes for one entire sequence. This makes real-time games feel like they have much more pressure, especially when others are involved (nobody wants to waste somebody’s time or be at a disadvantage for their lack of speed). Turn-based games, on the other hand, allow for much more patience, opening the opportunity for strategy and potentially leading to a better outcome. If moves could be planned ahead of time in World Chase Tag, trying to tag somebody would be more synonymous to a game of chess, where the strategy could become to pre-predict an opponent’s movements while they are frozen in time based on the paths they can take. This type of planning proves much more difficult when on-the-spot, causing taggers (such as in the linked video) to miss their mark more frequently.
