------------ Chapter 11: Defining Rules -------------- Consider tic-tac-toe, defined by 4 rules: 1. Play occurs on a 3 by 3 grid of 9 empty squares 2. Two players take turns marking empty squares, the first player marking Xs and the second player marking Os. 3. If one player places three of the same marks in a row, that player wins. 4. If the space are filled and there is now winner, the game ends in a draw. These 4 rules completely describe the FORMAL SYSTEM of tic-tac-toe. The do not describe the play experience nor the history/culture of the game. This simply set of rules have generated millions and millions of hours of game play. * Formal rules by themselves do NOT capture the essence of a game. Example 1: Game of poker. Say you change the deck to have suits of "Love", "Sex", "Death", and "War" and change the images. Do the formal rules change? No. (you can even replace "red queens are wild" with "the queens of love and sex are wild".) But does the EXPERIENCE change: yes. Example 2: Poker again: but replace the deck of card with 52 Popsicle sticks colored and numbered. * Looking purely at the rules of a game means repressing many other fascinating game play and game culture qualities. Quality of Rules: What are game rules like? What sets them apart from other kinds of rules? 1. Rules limit player action. 2. Rules are explicit and unambiguous. (note, if they are not, the players will make them so on their own or argue about them until agreement is reached (think Munchkin) ) 3. Rules are shared by all players. If different players use different rules chaos results. (example, back yard baseball where the tree is second base, is it any branch of the tree? The trunk?) 4. Rules are fixed. If someone announces a new rule while playing chess the game breaks down. There are games with changing rules, but how the rules change is regulated and part of the game. 5. Rules are binding. Rules are meant to be followed. Evan a rule of "you can cheat if you are not caught" is a binding rule, if you are caught something happens. 6. Rules are repeatable. From game to game the same rules apply. ** Players voluntarily submit to the game rules to enter the magic circle. ------------ Chapter 12: Rules on Three Levels -------------- Consider a new game called '3 - to - 15': 1. Two players alternate turns 2. On your turn, pick a number from 1 to 9 an and it to your set of numbers. 3. You may not pick a number that has already been picked by either player. If at any time you possess a subset of 3 numbers who total 15 you win. 4. Play completes when the last number is chosen. If no player has a subset that sums to 15 the game is a draw. Make amazing revelation here: 2 9 4 7 5 3 6 1 8 Being a good sport: there are aspects of game rules that are outside the formal rules. - Is there a time limit between moves? - If I am going to lose after my next move, can I just delay play forever ? - Can I tickle my opponent? - Can I sing (off key) non stop to annoy my opponent during chess? - Can I annoy my opponent by throwing paper balls at them non-stop? - Should tic-tac-toe be played with chalk in the middle of a busy highway where you have to dash in and dash out among cars? These are "unwritten rules", and there are many of them. Three types of rules: 1. Operational Rules What we normally think of as Rules. 2. Constituative Rules The underlying formal structures that exist below the surface. Tic-tac-toe and 3-to-15 share the same constituative rules when framed the right way. 3. Implicit Rules These change from game to game and situation to situation. For example, when playing with small children, one usually allows a player to take a move back, but not in a tournament. Example: Chutes and Ladders Operational Rules: On your turn, spin the spinner and move your pawn square by square, the number shown on the spinner. If you end at the top of a chute, take it down. If you end at the bottom of a ladder, take it up. Constituative Rules: 1. All players begin with zero points 2. Players alternate turns adding a random number of 1-6 to current value. 3. The first player to reach a value of exactly 100 wins. If during a turn adding the random number would result in > 100, do not add the number. 4. When a player's total reaches certain numbers the total changes. For example 9->31 (a ladder) and 49->11 (a chute). There is a transition table of these change numbers. ** There is no mention of a spinner, no mention of how players are supposed to generate random numbers, no mention of how players track there current number, nor what the transition table looks like. ** How to constituative rules relate to operational? "Die and Scoresheet". Play as above and use a die to generate random numbers and keep tally on score sheet. Use transition table. "Cards and Chips". Play as above but take chips to denote current total for each player. Generate random numbers by using a deck of 6 cards (1..6) and shuffle between each pick. "Spinner and Pegs": Players move pegs along a linear track, use spinner to generate random numbers. random Numbers and keep tally on score sheet. Use transition table. ** The same set of constituative rules can be expressed in many different operational rules. Implicit Rules: - everyone has access to the game board (actually in the printed rules!) ** The overall gameplay experience, and the "essence of the game", is derived from the combination of operational and constituative rules! As a game designer you generally want players focus on the experience of the game rather than on making sense of the rules => design rules so as to maintain proper player focus. The elegance of the chutes and ladders gameboard is it combines two operation function at once: marking current location and the transition table! It is easy to take this elegance for granted, but it is IMPORTANT. Consider 3-to-15: disaster! Totally wrong focus because of the operational rules.