Agenda

1. Playtest
2. 3rd Game with Formal Constraint
3. Intro to Conceptual Constraints (communicative games; games about stuff)

Ground Rules for Playtesting

1. Follow Rules Literally
2. Designer cannot play own game
3. Reflective Player
4. Observant Designer
5. Possible roles (play to win/spoil/against the text)

We had some interesting discussion related to playing against the text - Jill brought up Ratched and Clank: Futures as a game that she enjoyed just flying around in after completing the game's objectives. Rafael also discussed his experience playing Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds with his sons. Instead of attacking and defending, he spends time farming. The game allows this to a certain extent, but when playing with others this method of play requires their support and understanding since the game rewards attack, defense, and victory.

Playing against the text reveals the value systems inherent in a game. It also requires players to do something other than what popular/gamer culture (the gamespace) tells them to do in the game.

One final note is that when giving designers certain hardware with which to create their games, we communicate constraints. These pieces of hardware along with the constraints constitute a "platform" (similar to a home game console) that influence the game design. We saw this in Days 2 and 3 when we asked players to design games. The two player games designed on paper with dice were more likely to feature alternating turns between the players, while the one-rule games requiring the use of a body part were more likely to feature simultaneous play.