Berber Games

For fall break I went on a camel trek in Morocco. I went hiking with a Berber guide through the Sahara for three days, from Mhamid to the Erg Chigaga dunes. It was awesome. While camping, my guide taught me a few games. All of which were played by drawing lines in the sand and using nearby rocks or sticks for pieces. And though at first the games seemed familiar, I quickly learned that the Berber have their own native rule-sets. It was really fascinating seeing a different cultures take on the classics. Also, my guide is way smarter than me.

Tic-Tac-Toe

This was actually taught to me by my guides son, Hassan, who joined us on the trek. something interesting of note: most games in the US are played with squares or grids. All of these games were played with dots, usually on the intersecting points of lines. Which were far more suitable for their rule-sets than grids could have been. You'll see why in a moment.

Tic-Tac-Toe was played by drawing 4 intersecting lines in the sand. One vertical line, one horizontal, and two diagonal cutting through the two, which forms an 8 slice pie. Players take turns placing down pieces, we used rocks and sticks, until each player has three pieces on the board. The first piece must be placed in the center. In the version of tic-tac-toe I'm used to playing, this is where the game ends. But in the Berber version (and I'm sure in other cultures' versions as well) the game continues past three pieces, insteading of calling it cat and starting over. 

The seventh turn begins the moving process, wherein players alternate moving their pieces around the board to achieve three-in-a-row. Pieces can only be moved to adjacent points, either horizontally, vertically, or diagnally. Pieces can not be jumped or lost in any way, and only one piece can occupy a single point at any time. And thats it. Its really quite fun. You'll counter one move only to have another unseen move make a row. The lines, instead of a grid, function to connect the points and better display potential moves.

Berber Checkers

Berber checkers is played on a cross-hatched 4x4 grid constisting of 24 lines: 5 vertical, 5 horizontal, and 14 diagnal. Pieces are placed on the points of intersecting lines, making for 41 spaces total. At the start, each player puts their 20 pieces on the first grid and a half of their side, leaving the center space open.  Players may only move to empty points or jump over enemy pieces. Players cannot jump their own pieces. Usually, pieces may only be moved forward. However, pieces may also be moved laterally if jumping over an enemy. Additionally, moves can be chained together in a single turn if you can connect multiple jumps over enemies. If a piece reaches the end, it is kinged, allowing it to move as a bishop does in chess, except with the added ability to jump pieces across the board and to connect multiple jumps. The most interesting difference between this version of checkers and the version I grew up with, is that the cross-hatch points offer only 4 moves whereas the other points offer 8 moves.

Berber Mancala

I learned about this from trying to teach it. I was trygint o show Hassan, the son, the game mancala. But I couldn't remember the rules exactly. But he recognized what I was trying to do and then showed me how the game is really played! I initially drew the board as a grid, but my guide, Mohammad, came over and replaced my squares with cups. 

Berber mancala is played with 12 cups, 6 cups per side, and without any end-zones or goals. In each cup is placed 3 pieces. Players can only intiate a move from their own side. Players take all pieces from a single cup and, moving clock-wise, place one piece per cup until your hand is empty. If the last piece is placed in a cup that already contains pieces, the cup is drawn and the process is repeated. No points can be scored until the third turn. If the last piece in a hand lands in a cup of 3, therefore making 4 total in the cup, then all of the pieces are taken by that player, regardless of the side. However, if a cup accumulates exactly 4 pieces during a pass, then whosever side the cup belongs to obtains all 4 pieces for him or herself. If any cup contains 12 or more pieces at any time, then the entire cup is taken by whosever side the cup belongs to. The game ends when all of the cups on one player's side are empty, the winner being the opponent. 

But the game continues. All of the pieces are counted and placed back in the cups, and whoever has more pieces progress his or her area of control forwards. So if one player has 21 pieces and the other has only 15, then the player with 21 now controls 7 cups, encroaching upon the territory of the opponent. The game ends definitively when one player obtains all of the pieces and controls all of the cups.

In return, I taught them how to play The Very Clever Pipe Game! which they thoroughly enjoyed, and tried to teach them Arrowgame, but with the language barrier this was a much more difficult task.

What are your experiences with cultural takes on games?

Nifty

GamesRadar has a list up of The Evolution of the Tree, and other things. The list is entertaining at the very least, but actually pretty interesting. Give it a look.

I Wish You Were The Moon

Pixels, hearts, the moon, and photography? This game was basically made for me.

I wish you were the moon by Daniel Benmergui

Fate Illuminate

I wrote a villanelle about Mirror's Edge. I eschewed some of the form's rules, for example, rhyming, but I think it's worked out for the best so far. I would explain what the poem is trying to exude, but hopefully the poem can take care of that itself. Hope you like it.

Fate Illuminate

supplant that twinge of hesitation
momentum steeled in exhalation
that bound beyond horizon's edge

to the dogs throw any scraps of fear
check all pity for your bruising lungs
supplant that twinge of hesitation

saliva bitter, spit out the tar
grit concrete into bleeding pores
for that bound beyond horizon's edge

sinews snap and callous bursts
pontify your leap to fate
supplant that twinge of hesitation

overt exertion, ecstatic motion
a secretion of endorphins blind
that bound beyond horizon's edge

of reason shatter any bastion
reflecting faith in mirror's frame
supplant that twinge of hesitation
that bound beyond horizon's edge

Designing With Goosebumps and Without Censors

In my non-fiction class, we're learning about the process of writing. Writing is a a process of creativity, of the imagination, and of the spirit. Writing is this junction point of creativity and imagination, it is an expression, convalescence of emotions and thoughts as words. Our best writing comes naturally and fluidly, but only if we allow it. We have been discussing how a careful first draft is a failed first draft, courtesy of Patricia Hampl. As humans, we have this thing in our mind called a censor. This censor filters our thoughts before they emerge into the open world. The censor is a fact-checker, a security gate checking to see that our thoughts are somehow legitimate before we let them leave our mind. In writing, the censor is more of a hindrance than a benefit. Because our censor questions the validity of our intuition and our imaginative subconscious. Anything our censor finds false, lacking, or incomplete, it throws into the trash for immediate incineration. But this censor halts our imaginative flow and stops our real genius from ever getting on the page. So right now we're practicing over-coming our censor, not letting it block our flow and just writing whatever comes out. There is always room for revision later.

I've come upon the same conclusion for game design. I think the present process of game design is moreso a science than an art. We have a heavy, thick-walled censor for designing games. Or at least I do, and am practicing to overcome it as well. Our game design censor has a face, many actually: reviews, gamers, publishers, friends, design theory, mechanical knowledge, and the gamer we know ourselves to be. So when we design games, every idea we come up with has to pass through this series of security gates, diminishing its chances of ever seeing the light of day. But these ideas our coming from a place of art, a place of genius and creativity and where pigs can fly. This place inside of us is our passion. It can feel the truth of interactivity and joy and learning. But when we allow our censors to fact-check each fairy or brilliant gem that flows by, we lose the imagination and creativity and passion, the essence, of our artistic genius.

Cliff Bleszinski ignores his censor. He designs with goosebumps on his arms. You know what its like. When an epiphany strikes and you know you can feel it, you can feel so strongly that twinge of genius, that spark of awesomeness from within. And the next moments are amazing. As you explore at light speed this universe of ideas. Your smiling and your heart's beating fast because this idea has so much gravity. But almost immediately your censor stops the imagination and asks, "will that actually be fun," and, "how do you control it," and, "will anyone actually want to play this." These questions can be asked later, once you've allowed the ideas to flow and the mystery has been explored. Otherwise the censor will stop you in your tracks and discourage you from exploring what could be something truly great.

CliffyB, I think, designs without his censor. He feels game design. Just watch this Developer Diary about Sound in Gears of War 2:


You see what I mean. He feels. And I think this is what so many games are lacking these days. Feeling. Its so important that games have passion, that they breathe, that they have spirit. And I think this comes from the fact that Cliffy has a connection with his game. Gears 2 is uniquely his own and is infused with his passion and energy.

Next time you get that twinge of enlightenment, ignore your censor for awhile and see where your genius takes you. Don't worry about gamers' expectations, or the AAA benchmark, or what everybody else is doing. Just listen to your spirit talk and let it show you what your passion can achieve when set free.

Your Point of View I

This fall, I'm studying in Perugia, Italy, which is right in between Florence and Rome. I've been here two weeks, hence the lack of posts. Before I came to Italy, I was in New York City for a few days visiting my brother. As you likely know, the subway trains in NYC are plastered with posters. Where better to advertise than in high traffic places, right? Most of the posters are fairly boring, but, thanks to my brother, one type caught my eye. They're called "Your Point of View," an ad campaign by the HSBC bank. The posters display two images juxtaposed with two different labels. They're fairly though provoking. Here is an example. Be sure to check out all of them in full size at the official site.To me, of course, the images rang true of game design. Game design is about choices. From initial concept to completion, we are constantly making decisions. Is this right for the game? Or is this better? How does this feature support the game? Do I want this control mapped to the right trigger or the left? and on and on. Ultimately, we need to critically analyze each decision we make to ascertain its true value. Why not put this though process into practice. This juxtaposition of images can be a really cool game design exercise. Starting today, I will periodically upload my own "your point of view" images, photographs courtesy of your truly. I would make a nice photoshop poster, but I don't exactly have access to the software right now. So without further ado, the first "your point of view" thought prompt.

open

liner

linear

open

Please feel free to leave any comments.

hsbc ad image link
all other images by Finn Haverkamp.

Hero Design Challenge

Game Career Guide continues to run a game design challenge each week. Last week's challenge was to design a hero. This was my third time submitting, and I pulled away with an honorable mention. Thanks to Jill Duffy and the GCG staff, and congratulations to all of the winners!

The Worth Game

My brother and I are designing an MMO, called Project Fun. We were talking about the game’s design last night, and, having not discussed the game in a while, we wanted to return to the roots

Last night we were discussing the game’s design, and I wanted to return to the roots of the project: what makes Project Fun fun? Fun is, after all, the entire purpose of this game’s existence. So nailing down this aspect seemed fairly crucial. The problem was I couldn’t answer the question. Why is Project Fun fun? To find the answer, I asked myself a rudimentary question: "what makes most games fun? what makes MMO's fun?" Perhaps seeking some revelatory light, I decided to be a break-down of World of Warcraft, because it is both a game and an MMO, and it's successful.

The fun gameplay of WoW, I discovered, comes from the support of three pillars. These pillars not only share the load of “fun” in WoW, but also the weight and effectiveness of one another. At the most basic level, WoW is fun moment-by-moment. Running, jumping, attacking, managing talents, these are the game's cells. Supporting this pillar is the mission-game. Players are constantly moving towards an objective, a quest, the next level, a raid. The end-game of this pillar is better loot. The third pillar, which reinforces both the other pillars and an overall concept of fun, is the meta-game. WoW's primary meta-game is making your character uber. Another meta-game is your social- and support-role in a guild.

And then what? Hm. Let's recap.

WoW has three pillars, all of which support a goal of fun. You may have noticed that these pillars can actually be attributed to most games. Let’s look at Mario. Moment-game: run and jump/collect coins. Mission-game: collect a star/get to the next level. Meta-game: save the princess/beat the game. The structure is sound. The moment-game is essential. And so is the mission-game. And so is the meta-game. The moment-game provides an immediate stimulus of fun. If the immediate action, be it physical or mental, isn’t fun, then the rest of the game is meaningless. But without an objective, the moment gets old pretty fast. The mission-game provides a challenge or set-piece in which to test the player’s moment-to-moment skills. But then the mission ends. And there to reinforce the structure is the meta-game. You wouldn’t play moment-by-moment without a goal to test your skills against. And you wouldn’t complete the goal without a larger, more meaningful objective. And then I ask: but why complete the meta-game.

I’ll just tell you right now, the answer is fun, which effectively brings the pillars full-circle. The goal of playing is to have fun. And maybe that’s good enough. But maybe not. I don’t really have an issue with the structure. Game design wise, this system makes perfect sense. Assuming each pillar is solid, fun is perfectly balanced. But is that all there is to the system? I lied; I do have an issue. My issue is intention.

I’m speaking specifically about WoW here, because Mario ends. Blizzard has perfectly honed this system. Call it science; call it math; call it whatever you want. I call it crack. WoW’s pillar system is built with a bait mentality. It is a carrot and stick reward system. Let me break it down: get quest, run to quest, kill mobs, loot mobs, return to quest-giver, receive loot, gain level, get new quest. Blizzard isn’t lying about anything. Your character is getting better. But as a person, you are getting worse. At first, the addiction might be fun. The pillars are indeed solid. It’s a new experience in an exciting world. But pretty soon, WoW becomes a reward grind. But are you still having fun? Doing the same things you did at level 1, are you still having fun? Or is it just an illusion? Addictions mentally and chemically make us believe we enjoy something. But at what point did the addiction stop contributing to our lives? At what point did the game become less so fun, and more so necessity.

I do need to make a disclaimer. There are many out there who do learn and grow from WoW. Specifically, those who nurture relationships in-game, who learn from others, who become better people through their social interactions are benefitting from WoW. But they have escaped the addiction. To them, the game is no longer about getting more loot. They are taking advantage of WoW’s other attributes to grow as people, not as avatars. Another example, WoW can teach players how to work together. Teamwork, leadership, sacrifice, some players learn these skills from playing WoW. But again, for them the loot becomes secondary, a perk, they enjoy WoW as an outlet for social expression. I also think of the Penny-Arcade guys; I know for a fact that they are too smart to become addicted to a system. They derive some other, more valuable, meaning from the game.

I am making a very large assumption. That WoW’s pillar system was designed to be addictive to players. The present MMO structure is what’s really at fault. The game and company thrives from long-term play. So designing a system that promotes long-term play is essential to the game’s success.

My issue with all of this is intention. What is the game intended to do for players? A better question: what is the game intended to do for people? What is the game’s purpose? Why does it exist? How does it benefit a person’s life? I cannot answer these for WoW, though I can make guesses. The most obvious is fun. Or, how about relaxation after a long day at work, or vegging out, or escaping the torture of homework? Intention. What is your game intended to do? If WoW’s answer is fun, does it succeed? The answer to that, however, is not intention, it is affect.

Affect is what people gain from the game? Regardless of intentions, what do people get from playing? WoW might act as a stabilizer. Maybe the pillars of fun are something solid for people to lean against. Maybe WoW is something people can rely on for support and comfort in a difficult life. It’s always there. It’s easy to do. It gets your mind off of the craziness of day-to-day life. This is great until it becomes a crutch. Also known as an addiction. Where players cannot function without it. Where the game becomes necessary to wake up in the morning and go to sleep at night. And then what are people learning from the game?

And now the question isn’t about fun at all. The question is, what is the purpose of this game. I asked my brother that very question last night. “Fletcher, what is the purpose of Project Fun?” He answered, “fun.” And I asked, “Why fun?” He responded, “Why life?”

The great Carl once said, “Why does anyone do anything?” This question is the meaning of life. The answer is to grow as people. To learn. To develop. Our goal is to change. Not to change negatively, and not to remain static, addicted to something that stopped giving long ago. We need to ask, “what is our purpose?” If the answer is to design games, then the designing of those games should help us grow as individuals, and our creations should help others grow as individuals too. It’s the golden rule.

The question is, what is the purpose of my game? What is the worth-game? The answer might be fun. The answer might be to provide relief from stress to individuals. But we need to seek a higher purpose. We need to find something deeper than a take-twice-daily dosage of stress-relief.

In his book Jonathon Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach writes, “There’s so much more to flying than just flapping around from place to place!” Game should be fun. I mean heck, I love fun. But games can offer so much more than fun for the sake of fun. Games can offer experiences that help us grow. Mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, games can take us places that we didn’t expect, to universes we didn’t know existed, but can be fun while doing it.