Game Elements, the elements of a game


What makes up a game?










To answer that we have to look at existing games and what qualities/content they have.
This is a list given to us by our lecturer:

  • Players
  • Objectives
  • Rules
  • Resource management
  • Game state
  • Information
  • Sequencing
  • Player interaction
  • Theme
Let's break it down;
Players: how many players are there? 
Do they play together or against each other? 
Do they interact with each other at all?
Are they alone or in a team?

Objectives: What's the point of the game?
To create/destroy something?
To control/collect something?
To race against others? (or time)

Rules: What's allowed?
What's not allowed?
What does one have to do to win? To lose? To draw?
Does a player lose progress or get kicked out when they cheat?

Resources: What's available to the player that's beneficial to them?
What can they do to get more of it?
How do the resources benefit the player?
How hard are they to acquire?

Game state: This basically describes game saving.

Information: How much does the player know?
How much does the information impact gameplay and strategy?
How does it affect the story in the game (if any)?

A dungeon master explains a scenario to the players
(By Diacritica - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14585648)

Sequencing: In what order do the players/characters move?
Turn based? Does anything affect the turns?
Real time?

Player interaction: Mostly self explanatory.
How do the players interact with one another?
Can they fight?
Can they even talk?
Can they trade resources?

Theme: What is the setting of the game?
Past? Future? Present?
Realistic or fantasy?
Small setting like a neighbourhood or massive, on a galactic scale?

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