Back on Track: Game Systems

1. Creating mods (modifications) to existing games is a common practice, not just for computer games, but for any form of games. Does this imply that any game can be considered a game system? Why/why not?

Although performing modifications to existing forms of games is a common practice, such does not imply that any ganme can be considered as a game system. According to its definition, a game system is a collection of components or formal elements which could function across multiple games. However, there are some games with components that are specific, i.e. they could only make sense in the context of the game. For instance, the property cards (based upon locations found on the gameboard) and chance cards (a set of random events related to places on the gameboard or context of real-estate management) used in Monopoly could only provide meanings in the context of the game. Take these components out of the context of Monopoly and they would become highly unsuitable for other games or be rendered meaningless altogether. Another example of game components that bear specific and inhererent meanings like that of Monopoly, would be that of the cards used in the context of the game, Cluedo.

2. Consider a game which you feel could be successfully modified. How could this game be generalized into a game system? How much of the unique character/flavour of the game can be retained? How generic can you make the game system? How easy will it be to create new, unique games from the game system?

I shall use the oriental game of Mahjong (pronounced as Ma Jiang in Chinese) as a working example for the remaining questions in this blog exercise :p

Let's see... A Mahjong set differs from country to country but would normally consists of the following components:

Dragon tiles (a western convention given by Joseph Park Babcock in his 1920 book Rules of Mah-Jongg: pronounced as Zhong in Chinese-lit. Middle, Fai-lit. Prosperity and Bai-lit.White respectively.

Wind tiles: East, South, North and West (x4)

A set of Circle (pronounced as Tong in Chinese) Suit tiles (x4)

A set of Bamboo (pronounced as Suo in Chinese) Suit tiles (x4)

A set of Character (pronounced as Wan in Chinese) Suit tiles (x4)

Flower tiles: Each depicts unique artwork of its own but they are typically optional in gameplay.

In addition, the game also consists of other miscellaneous components such as dices (a total of 3), chips of different colours and sizes, an arrow indicator to indicate the direction of gameplay and a marker device to indicate the wind direction and hence which player to act as a dealer in the game. The basic core mechanics of the game revolves picking a tile at random, discarding, matching and matching tiles in a number of ways to form winning various combinations and depending of the type of combinations, scoring would also differ.

This game could be generalized as a game system mainly via the use of its tiles that allow for numerous combinations and groupings. This provides some flexibility as demonstrated by the fact that there are a number of variations across countries. From the Classical Chinese style to American style, the game has evolved overtime that subsequently gave rise to variations that differ in terms of scoring and additional components. For instance on top of scoring changes, the Japanese variation of Mahjong also include the rules of riichi and dora which are unique to Japanese Mahjong. However, much of the essential characteristics/oriential flavour are still very much retained with the inscription of Chinese writings on the tiles and in terms of the mechanics employed in gameplay, i.e. picking tiles at random, discarding, mixing and matching those discarded by other players to form winning combinations.

For more information on the actual gameplay of Mahjong and its variations, there is a good and comprehensive write-up available here.

Regarding the ease by which such game system could be used to create new and unique games, I think it would be highly suitable in generating games that focus mainly on mixing and matching of tiles :) which takes us to the last question...

3. Describe one new game designed on top of the game system you proposed in question 2.

Due to the inherent mix-and-match quality of the tiles as well as their ablity to stack upon one another (thereby preventing one from seeing what's beneath them :p), there is a new game designed based on the game system provided by Mahjong under a number of names, one which is Mahjong Tiles on the Net. The objective of the game is to clear a set of stacked up tiles (whereby difficulty varies according to different layouts) by clicking and matching tiles of exact matches or belonging to the same catogory (e.g Flower tiles, etc) while the rule is that players are only allowed to select and match tiles that are "exposed", i.e. they are not found in between two tiles or have another tile stacked upon them.