Rules create a Magic Circle that allows players to step into an alternate reality. The goal for this next assignment is for you to create an alternate reality that we can step into and test for playability.
Option 1 : An Original Game
Your rule set must include what (1) materials everyone needs to play (these can be supplies we have in the classroom, or tokens you make yourself). (2) How to play (what do we do with the materials). (3) Clearly state the outcome of the experiences (i.e. something is created like in a surrealist game, or someone wins like in Flux, etc.). Your experiences should be for between 2 and 5 players. You may utilize the spaces outside, or define how players interact inside, or you may utilize technology in a playful way.
Option 2 : Deconstruct an Existing Game
For this option your rules should not change from the original. Instead break down the game to its basic mechanics and then apply your own skin (narrative) to those mechanics. For example if you breakdown Candyland, you take the mechanic of drawing a colored card to move a token to a matching colored space on the board. What new artwork or narrative can be created using a colored path that is traversed by drawing colored cards?
Games to deconstruct: Snakes and Ladders, Battleship, Operation, Carcassonne, King Domino
Process
This project will repeat the following steps: create (write rules and make materials) > test > iterate and refine (edit rules and improve materials) > test repeat process loop, so each week we should be able to test a new iteration of your play experience.
Grading
The project will be graded on your concept, clarity of rules (or narrative if doing option 2), iterative process / testing, and playability / re-playablity.