Five Unusual Game Elements and Mechanics

Games often follow the same tried and true mechanics that have been well tested and sell well. When games find their own unique mechanics or elements, it can make the game much more interesting.

QWOP
For instance, QWOP's game mechanic adds uniqueness to an otherwise simple game. You control a runner with four keys. The mechanic is surprisingly difficult to master and most people's first attempt, they run no more than a few meters. However as you play more you discover you can move by doing things the human body should not be capable of. Eventually of course, your awkward movements end with a back flip that end\ your competitive running career.

Burn the rope
What makes this game unique is not necessarily the game play. In fact, the game play is rather short and very simple. You walk to the play area while being shown the simple directions. You then grab a torch and light the rope on fire that is holding up a chandelier which drops on the boss and the game is won. The credits roll and a song plays that explains that they did not want to make a long game and that is it. The catch here is that the credits are actually longer than the actual game could realistically ever take. This is hilariously obnoxious and is what makes the game special.

Don't shit your pants
This game is initially an interesting puzzle on how to properly use a toilet. You will struggle with the command line interface to discover which phrases allows you to manipulate your character. Once you successfully use the toilet you are greeted with an achievement screen. However, what keeps a player interested is how there are many achievements to be unlocked.

Everyday the same dream "art game"
This "art game" has a circular narrative of an office workers life. It seemingly goes on forever in a loop but can have slight variations. I at first thought the game had a rigid structure in which you can only move right. However, after the third time of following the path of going right I decided to take a left. I met a homeless man who proposed to take me to a quiet place. When you get to your cubicle you can continue walking to the stairs. You are then on top of the roof and have a choice to jump. If you choose to end your life, you still cannot escape and wake up where you started every day before.

Judith
Play as two people. One is a lady of a person in a castle. Also you play as a man, in the future who explores the abandoned castle. One of the timelines reveals the next step for the second timeline. Your choices to explore are initially broad but narrow to single choices that force you to view the narrative linearly.

Paper prototype game - Crossfire

Prototype

Crossfire was created with the process of paper prototyping. The idea is to design a game, play test, analyze, and prototype again. Doing this should leave with a better game than when you started.

The first play session I helped play test a four person board game. It started out very basic but ended up being well refined at the end. We figured out what the best way to move the pieces around. Also what the spots on the board should do. We also helped eliminate complicated features that did not add much benifit.

The second play session I worked with one other person. We both did not have very concrete games of our own so we helped come up with game ideas together.

Crossfire initially started out as a chess puzzle. However, through play testing it was found to be rather dull and provided no game play for two players.

 I then radically changed the game to include only a board like chess, and player pieces that behaved like kings. The goal this time was to attack the other persons king. To aid in the kings movement you could use movement tiles that were reconfigured in the board. This made the game much more interesting but was still lacking in strategy. Using preconfigured boards provided a challenge to me as a designer to make them interesting and balanced.

The last prototype I allowed players place the movement tiles where ever they like. They could use this as a strategy to help them win. The game became much more fun because now winning was no longer about how well you know the board but how well can you place tokens to allow you to have an advantage over your opponent. To keep it balanced, alternating placing movement tiles in setup was implemented. Each player could decide where they think the piece would be most beneficial.

Simulated Game Play

Setup:
1. Players alternate placing once movement token on the board until no tokens remain.
- Movement tokens must be placed so that no pieces are touching with at least one space in between.
2. Players place their player token anywhere within their start box except on top of movement tokens.


Rules:
- A player may move his token onto a movement piece and move in the direction of any arrow and move piece all the way to the edge of the board or stop if movement piece is in way. If another player is in the way, they lose.
- A player wins when they land on or cross over their opponent.
- Players may replace movement tiles or continue using the ones already place.


Printable Materials:
Pieces
Board