We have found that the blank page and the blank slate are too vast and too slippery a place to begin to design a game. It is useful to provide a set of constraints to provide traction and focus. We've identified two kinds of constraints, formal and conceptual, that can help student game designers by providing a point of departure. Since sometimes getting an idea can be hard, and since students can feel anxiety in the face of expectations of creativity, the sillier or the wierder the constraints the better. This allows a constructive looseness into the process.

Formal Constraints have to do with questions of form. For example:

• How many players?
• Turn based or simultaneous play?
• What does the field of play look like?
• What is the quantifiable outcome?
• What is the artificial conflict? How is it expressed?

Conceptual Constraints have to do with questions of theme or subject. For example:

• Can you make a game about a color?
• Can you make a game where a victory is also a loss?