Brick Breaker
Actions: move bar right/left
Goals: eliminate all bricks (touch brick with ball)
Rules:
- The ball bounces off bricks and bars
- When a ball bounces off a brick it breaks (disappears) and you gain points
- When the screen has no bricks you move to the next level
- Some bricks add rules when broken
Objects: bars, bricks, balls
Playspace: A computer screen
Players: A single player
Changing Pandemic from a game about stopping the virus to one about spreading it would reverse the goals but also dramatically change the emotional experience of play. Players would try to infect as many locations as possible and overwhelm the world. You could add a second team that continues to oppose the spread changing the game from collaborative to competitive. The same objects and general actions could remain, but this swap would make the game feel more aggressive and strategic, encouraging players to look for weak points in the map, create chain reactions, and maximize the spread of disease rather than prevent it.
Musical Chairs
Goal: Be the last person with a chair
Actions: Sit and Walk (And maybe other stuff)- See below
Rules:
- You must walk while music is playing
- You must sit in a chair when music stops
- If music stops and you do not have a chair you are eliminated
- Initially n-1 chairs are positioned on the floor
- After each round one chair is removed
Objects: Chairs – and maybe cakes IYKYK
Playspace: An empty floor
Tag is real-time because players continuously move and react.
Rock-Paper-Scissors is divided into distinct rounds where both players make one choice at a time
Hands are the most important game objects in both games
Play Log for Tag
- Player A begins as “It”; B, C, and D spread out
- A chases B while C and D move farther away
- B changes direction and avoids A
- A stops chasing B and moves toward C
- C runs around an tree to escape
- A reaches out and tags C
- C becomes “It” and the other players run away
Play Log to Rock Paper Scissors
- Player A displays scissors and Player B displays rock
- Player A displays paper and Player B displays paper
- Player A displays scissors and Player B displays paper
- Player A displays paper and Player B displays rock
Tag has a large space of possibility because players can move in almost any direction at any moment. Defining the playspace is a particularly important rule in tag. The players’ locations, speed, distance from one another, and who is currently “It” all affect the game state. The open playspace creates many possible choices even though the rules and actions are very simple.
Rock-Paper-Scissors has a much smaller space of possibility because each player has only three possible actions: rock, paper, or scissors. However, each action changes meaning depending on the opponent’s choice. The game state resets after every round, creating a repeating cycle of choosing, revealing, and determining the winner. Dependent on players though, sometime previous round choices are used to determine future round choices.
[All images generated by ChatGPT]
Prompts for Reference:
- Create bubble letters from 1 to 4 in multiple colors
- Create a visual flowchart for the musical chairs cycle (music starts, players move, music stops, find chair, one player eliminated, chair removed, repeat)
- Create a visual grid of actions in musical chairs. The top row should have walk and sit. The remaining 3 rows should each have 4 more questionable actions like shove, trip, run, babysit a chair, etc
- In a similar style put a cake on a chair
