Challenge!!!- Make rules and instructions into a dramatic script.
So, instead of writing a blog talking about how I've been faced with this mountain of a challenge, I thought I'd turn it into a game!
You want to play?
Basically, we're at the stage now where the rules and instructions of our brand new games (I should add here that all the games in ntw05 are original and custom made for this specific project- it's very exciting!) have to be transformed into a dramatic script so that the players (that's all of you that are coming up in July!) will understand how to play each game without someone standing in front and saying "the rules are....... the objective is..... you are the winner if...."
I'm loving the challenge but it's bloody difficult!
You want to give it a go?
Feel very free to show me that it's simple- I'm not proud, I'm still learning and eager to learn from everyone.
Write a short script in the comment box (no more than two minutes) using a max of 3 characters so that by the end we know-
the objective of the game
the rules of the game
instructions of how to play
and how I win
Your game is.........TETRIS! (a favourite of the NTW05 team)
Have fun!
Beth.x
You want to play?
Basically, we're at the stage now where the rules and instructions of our brand new games (I should add here that all the games in ntw05 are original and custom made for this specific project- it's very exciting!) have to be transformed into a dramatic script so that the players (that's all of you that are coming up in July!) will understand how to play each game without someone standing in front and saying "the rules are....... the objective is..... you are the winner if...."
I'm loving the challenge but it's bloody difficult!
You want to give it a go?
Feel very free to show me that it's simple- I'm not proud, I'm still learning and eager to learn from everyone.
Write a short script in the comment box (no more than two minutes) using a max of 3 characters so that by the end we know-
the objective of the game
the rules of the game
instructions of how to play
and how I win
Your game is.........TETRIS! (a favourite of the NTW05 team)
Have fun!
Beth.x
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Bethan Marlow on
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AND I'll even give a prize to the winner (it's not a game without a prize is it?!) The winner will get a box of chocolates OR a bottle of wine OR a scratch card (if you're willing to gamble it all!).
NTW staff- feel free to play too! -
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Permalink Reply by Richard Croughan on
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ACT I
Scene 1
OBLONG is a bit depressed
CUBE is a bit cocky
EL is a bit of a hippy
OBLONG:
Err.. hello? Yeah, hi. Can you make me horizontal, please?
That way I can have a lie down and almost complete a row of blocks.
CUBE:
(falling)
Hi can I go on the end please? There should be room. Why are you rotating me?
I have octahedral symmetry for goodness sake!
EL:
Wait a second... if I fill in this gap here, I'll complete the line and OBLONG will
disappear entirely.
OBLONG:
Well, that's the point EL. A completed line of blocks means 10points and it'll just vanish!
Oh, to disappear entirely... how happy I'd be.
CUBE:
What are you DOING?!! I'm half gone. And not in a 'Ooh,-I'm-only-staying-for-one-
drink-because-it's-Thursday-and-oh-whoops-now-I've-had-three-and-I'm-half-gone'
kind of way. I'm actually HALF GONE.
OBLONG:
(from off)
Your other half's here - don't be a tool about it - you've just won Player1 10points. It's how they win.
EL:
They? Who's 'they'?
CUBE:
The people controlling us. They rotate us to complete lines of blocks to win points.
EL:
Oh, I see. Sorry for being awkward. Am I awkward? I am aren't I? I mean, I'm a right funny shape and all. I don't fit in as easily as you, CUBEy.
OBLONG:
(singing: "Let's go 'round again")
Look, it's me again. Ooh, I'm going vertical now. Straight and narrow, me. Not like cube!
EL:
Don't get too high, man. That's my advice. If you get too high, you can't win. It's game over.
CUBE:
He's right. Oh, if only you guys were a Platonic solid like me.
OBLONG:
Life would be boring, you square.
EL:
Guys, come on that's enough now... look- I've just rotated to complete three lines.
We're all gonna disapp...... -
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Awesome Richard, well done!
A few questions-
how does the player rotate the piece?
If there's only three pieces, how can they go round again if they're still in the grid?
How many pieces fall at the same time?
It's a great scene about Tetris characters but how do I go from watching this to physically playing the game? (either in 'Human Tetris' form or on a Gameboy)
A few things you missed out too-
the piece that looks like an 's'.
the fact that the pieces fall quicker as the levels go up.
that a player can bring the piece down quicker if they press the 'down button'.
You can't actually complete a tetris line with just three pieces.
Sorry to sound a bit square with all the questions!
It's a beautiful script. Thank you for replying so swiftly. You're the winner so far!
Any other takers? -
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What's the "style" of Gordon Brown? I think I need a recorded example please Mike- just to get the full effect!
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Permalink Reply by Mick Greenway on
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I can't do it in two minutes. This any good, Beth?
A: Ladies and gentleman, with the aid of my friend here.
B: Friend?
A: My friend here, I am about to demonstrate the ancient game of Tetris-
B: Ancient?! It’s a computer-
A: - which was played in the Catacombs of Ancient Greece using Christian gladiators and stone tablets. However, as my friend correctly points out, nowadays it is played on a computer. I am the player. He will represent the computer.
B: What?
A: Hold this. (He hands him a 20 x 10 grid which B holds up in front of him) Other way up! At the start of a game the grid is empty. Then, the “droppy” bit of the computer.
B: The what?
A: The droppy bit.
B: Computers don’t have droppy bits.
A: They-do-so. Shut-up! The droppy bit drops one of these seven shapes which then moves slowly down the grid, a row at a time. These shapes are all the possible combinations of four squares. There is the big square, the long line, the T, the L, the backwards L, the Z and the S.
B: Looks nothing like an S.
A: That’s as maybe. As the shape moves slowly down the grid (B is struggling to drop a shape and hold the grid) I can move it left one square by pressing the left arrow on my keyboard (Holds up cardboard keyboard and presses key. B attempts to move the piece to his left) Left! (B adjusts) or to the right (B attempts to move the piece to his right), Right!!! by pressing the right arrow. (B is finding it increasingly impossible to carry out both tasks) Ladies and gentlemen, I have just realised that, of course, a computer also has a “movey” bit. Yes, that’s it. (Points at person in crowd) You!
(The planted C looks behind himself)
No, you! You in the hat!
C: Me?
A: Yes. You are now my chum. And the movey bit. Join my friend.
(C reluctantly joins B and takes the shape off him)
As I was saying, the right arrow moves the piece to the right. (C copes) Good! And the left arrow to the left. Excellent! Now, what do you think the upward arrow does?
C: Moves it up?
A: Hahaha! “Moves it up” he says. Oh no, my chum, the ancient game of Tetris is not that simple. Oh no.
C: Moves it down!
A: It rotates it.
C: Ah. (Turns the shape round like a driving wheel)
A: Not quite. Each key depression rotates it 90 degrees clockwise. (C manages the 90 degrees but anti-clockwise) Are you often late for appointments, my chum?
C: Eh?
B: He moved it clockwise!
A: To you perhaps. But not to me.
B: Oh, humour him. Do it the other way. (C does so)
A: Perfect! Now the object of the game is to make as high a score as possible. Each time you build a row of squares across the grid you score ten points and, importantly, that row of squares then disappears from the grid and everything above it drops down one row on the grid. Let us build a row.
(With some comic business a row is eventually created)
That, ladies and gentlemen, if I am not mistaken – and if I were it would be the first time in my life - is a row. And so, it disappears.
B: How we gonna do that?
A: That, my friend is up to you two. What do you think I am, a computer? -
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Very, very, very good Mick.
Very clear explaining of the game but alas, I have a few questions-
Why is A demonstrating the game?
If we go ahead and play, what's our reward? Why should we play the game? Is there a jeopardy? An urgency?
What makes it dramatic and not just theatrical?
Another fantastic script though, congratulations.
So, we've had human tetris, Christian Gladiators moving stone tablets. What else could these Tetris pieces be, who are the characters, why are they moving them and why do we need to play the game?
The possibilities are endless! -
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Any other takers? closing date for this challenge will be this Friday, June 25th at 1pm.
I will then announce the winner! Woohoo!
Come on, you know you want to!x -
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Permalink Reply by Andrew Filmer on
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Why do the instructions for each game have to be in the form of a dramatic script?
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Because that's when it starts to become an interactive theatrical gaming experience as opposed to just playing a game.
Who knows, you might be right. Do you think it's over-complicating things? Is there another way of making it dramatic perhaps??? -
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Permalink Reply by Alex Fleetwood on
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That's a very interesting statement and an interesting question.
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I suppose I don't need actors for something to be either 'dramatic' or 'theatrical' and I am much more interested in a situation that allows me to interact with fellow audience members than with someone playing a character. Watching my wife's family play 'racing patience' was often an 'interactive theatrical gaming experience', and that was just cards.
So perhaps you are seeking to script a general scenario rather than a scene? And perhaps the objective of the game isn't clear at the outset, and the instructions are revealed gradually through playing rather than all at once at the outset? Maybe there are simply instructions given via letter, phone, semaphore? Maybe I want to play because I want to discover the potentials of the game architecture and not because there is any win state? Or because the game is enjoyable/pleasurable/challenging to play in and of itself (ie: autotelic)?
Just some thoughts. -
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Some really great points Andrew that I have definitely taken on board and hope to put into practice at next week's playtest (which of course you are all welcome to attend!)
But now, the deadline is closed and it's time to announce the winner.
The winner is......
MICK GREENWAY!!!!!
Congratulations Mick and thank you all for adding to the discussion with either a script or food for thought.
Mick- please let me know what you would like your prize to be. Wine (if so, which colour), chocolates or a scratch card. (if you send me a message in my inbox with your address I'll even deliver it to your door- I'm crossing my fingers here that you don't live in Australia!)
Thanks again everyone,
Beth.x -
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