Blog - Unusual Constraint - Design a Game with a Specific Time Limit
Friday, November 14, 2008For the final project for my programming class, we are to make a game.
The twist, as always, is found in the constraints.
Constraints are interesting things. They force you to think on your feet, very creatively, as you have to work to not only think up a game that meets the constraints but preferably one that is enhanced by them. In other words, to design a game that doesn't just fit the constraints, but fits them like a glove. Constraints can lead to some extremely creative ideas and original games.
The following constraints are placed on me for my programming final:
-The game must be played only with the mouse.
-As we've not covered any code for networked play, our game is limited to being a 1 player game.
-It's a student project, so, not surprisingly there's no budget.
-The deadline, of course. There's always a deadline. We have 1 week.
Finally, there's the really interesting one:
-The game play has to last exactly 15 seconds.
I'm interested by this surprising challenge. I tend to think of play time only much more generally, as in "this phase of the game is taking the players too long to complete", etc. This constraint is another matter entirely. What mechanics and dynamics benefit from such a brief and specific time limit? Which ones support it?
What narratives would make sense to explain why there's a time limit in the first place? Does the short time limit lend itself more to a casual game or something more hardcore?
It's been fun to think about while I had to come up with my game concept pitches.
Labels: constraints, design, game design, time
posted by Brian Shurtleff @ 12:50 PM
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