Games and Video Games - Fundamentals of Game Design - page 29

Design Practice EXERCISES
1. Create a competitive game for two players and a ball that does not involve
throwing it or kicking it. Prove that it is a game by showing how it contains all the
essential elements.
2. Using a chessboard and the types of pieces and moves available in chess, devise
a cooperative game of some kind for two people, in which they must work together
to achieve a victory condition. (You do not need to use the starting conditions of
chess, nor all the pieces.) Document the rules and the victory condition.
3. Define a competitive game with a single winner, for an unlimited number of
players, in which only creative actions are available. Be sure to document the ter-
mination and victory conditions.
4. Describe the elements of the gameplay in each of the following games: backgam-
mon, poker, bowling, and Botticelli. (Use the Internet to look up the rules if you do
not know them.)
5. List examples not already mentioned in this topic of video games designed for
single-player, multiplayer local, and multiplayer distributed play. Explain how the
games' design supports these different modes.
Design Practice QUESTIONS
1. As a potential designer, do you see yourself as an artist, an engineer, a crafts-
man, or something else? Why do you see yourself that way?
2. Do you agree or disagree with the definition of a game? If you disagree, what
would you add, remove, or change?
3. We have defined gameplay strictly in terms of challenges and actions, leaving out
the game world or the story. Do you feel that this is appropriate? Why or why not?
4. Why is it fair if one athlete trains to become better but not fair if he takes drugs
to become better? What does this say about our notions of fairness?
5. We've listed only the most important things that computers bring to gaming.
What other things can you think of?
6. The list of ways that video games entertain people is only a beginning. What
else would you add?