Transforming The Rules

Rules are the most basic of building blocks a game has. Rules are to a game what DNA is to a person. They tell the game how to behave in every basic scenario. Rules create the underlying character of the game. It doesn't take many rules before the game starts taking on a life of its own, and as such rules are a great place to start your game's design.

But also like people, DNA is only part of the equation. It takes a good upbringing to turn interesting rules into a great game. This is one of the game designer's most crucial tasks.

Depending on how the basic rules are nurtured you could end up with:

-Checkers instead of Chess

-Golf instead of Croquet

-Tetris instead of Space Invaders

I find this process to be extremely interesting and inspiring.

The game I'm currently working on was born from a few basic/abstract rules:

1. In the game universe there exists several objects.

2. Each object has a color.

3. Objects that don't share the same color are destroyed if they touch.

4. Objects that do share the same color are combined if they touch.

-What game would you dream up given these extremely basic/abstract rules?

-How many rules and goals would you need to add to turn this into something more interesting and challenging?

I'll be sharing some of my own results in more upcoming posts. In the meantime I'd love to hear your thoughts!