1. Achievement
Definition: A virtual or physical representation of having accomplished something. These are often viewed as rewards in and of themselves.Example: a badge, a level, a reward, points, really anything defined as a reward can be a reward.
Potential Game Jam use: Implement nothing but the achievement system. Have a series of achievements with associated names, scores or artwork that are awarded for completing an otherwise mundane task. A ramdomly generated field of coloured shapes, for example, could require the player to repeatedly pick shapes of the same colour - sucessfully getting a certain number of a certain colour would award an achievement. Achievements themselves could be linked back in to the game itself (i.e. the unlocked items become playing pieces in the game itself).
2. Avoidance
Definition: The act of inducing player behavior not by giving a reward, but by not instituting a punishment. Produces consistent level of activity, timed around the schedule.Example: Press a lever every 30 seconds to not get shocked.
Potential Game Jam use: give the player a fixed amount "health" or score and have them complete tasks to avoid being punished. Sucess in the game could be measured by the period of time the player manages to survive.
3. Behavioral momentum
Definition: The tendency of players to keep doing what they have been doing.Example: From Jesse Schell’s awesome Dice talk: “I have spent ten hours playing Farmville. I am a smart person and wouldn’t spend 10 hours on something unless it was useful. Therefore this must be useful, so I can keep doing it.”
Potential Game Jam use: endless building games seem to be the obvious striaght-forward implementation. A tongue-in-cheek implementation of a Farmville-like mechanic would likely work well. An endlessly expanding cabbage patch springs to mind for some reason.
4. Countdown
Definition: The dynamic in which players are only given a certain amount of time to do something. This will create an activity graph that causes increased initial activity increasing frenetically until time runs out, which is a forced extinction.Example: Bejeweled Blitz with 30 seconds to get as many points as you can. Bonus rounds. Timed levels.
Potential Game Jam use: repeat the same basic play over and over, each time with a reduced amount of time available to peform the core actions. Tapping critters is an easy one - the intesity of the experience is held by a careful, balenced reduction in time available to get each critter.
5. Ownership
Definition: The act of controlling something, having it be *your* property.Example: Ownership is interesting on a number of levels, from taking over places, to controlling a slot, to simply owning popularity by having a digital representation of many friends.
Potential Game Jam use: local multiplayer (thinking iPad-specific here) split-screen action that somehow involves removing "pieces" from the opponents stash. Obviously there has to be complexity in retaining one's stash whilst also diminishing that of your opponent.
6. Status
Definition: The rank or level of a player. Players are often motivated by trying to reach a higher level or status.Example: white paladin level 20 in WOW.
Potential Game Jam use: a simple domination-of-like-and-lower-level characters with an experience and levelling mechanic and some random generation of enemies at appropriate levels.
7. Appointment Dynamic
Definition: A dynamic in which to succeed, one must return at a predefined time to take some action. Appointment dynamics are often deeply related to interval based reward schedules or avoidance dynamics.Example: Cafe World and Farmville where if you return at a set time to do something you get something good, and if you don’t something bad happens.
Potential Game Jam use: things that require attention in the very traditional Cafe World/Farmville cast - can be applied to any context or theme, just figure out something a: great and b: unfortunate/funny/bad to happen when the play meets or misses the timers. Very similar (in fact really an extrapolation of the Countdown mechanic).
- Avoiding Unkillable Objects - There are objects that the player cannot touch. These are different from normal enemies because they cannot be destroyed or moved.
- Instant Death - Something causes the player to instantly die, such as spikes or bottomless pits.
- Game Repeats Until You Die - There is no victory condition in the game, it just keeps going until the player dies. Or, especially with casual games, the game simply repeats after you beat it. (Example: Nibbles, Minefield, Solitare)
- Remember an Increasing Number of Things - Tests the short-term memory of a player. (Example: Simon)
- Repeat Pattern - The player must repeat a series of given steps. (Example: Simon, Dance Dance Revolution)
- Forced Constant Movement - The player cannot stand still at any point. (Example: Nibbles, Rail Shooters, Asteroids, Winter Bells)
- Block Puzzles - The game involves standard sized objects that must be moved around in a specific way. (Example: Tetris, Sokoban, Connect Four, Dr. Mario, Kirby's Avalanche / Puyo Puyo)
- Game Keeps Gets Harder Until You Die - Like "Game Repeats Until You Die" except the difficulty level also keeps increasing. (Example: Tetris)
- Uncountable Number of Possible Paths - Most games have a few obvious places to go, but this mechanic means that the number of possible ways to order your movement quickly becomes thousands or millions of possible ways and it is not obvious which is the best. (Example: The Traveling Salesman Problem, Sokoban, Flood It, Bloxorz, Mazes)
- Big Gains for You Can Be Big Gains for Enemy - There is an obvious and easy way to score points, but the more points you take the better position your enemy will be in also. (Example: Othello, Risk)
- Block Path - You don't directly fight your enemies but instead tried to block their movements. (Example: Tron, Quoridor, Minotaurus, Abalone, Chess (capturing the king))
- Information Overload - The game presents the player with lots of different variables and pieces of information, and the player must find patterns or make sense of it to make good (or even valid) moves. (Example: Quarto, Set, Bejeweled)
- Disinformation - The player must try to bluff the opponent into thinking they are stronger (for evasion) or weaker (for traps) than they really are. (Example: Poker, Stratego)
- Switch Modes - The player needs to constantly switch between two (or more) modes to effectively fight or move. (Example: Ikaruga, Marshie's Malloween Mix-Up, Pacman (switching between running from ghosts to eating them))
- Push Mole Down, Mole Pops Up - The moves that the player make will also cause obstacles to appear. Many moves are obviously possible, but the move that does not have negative side effects is not obvious. (Example: Slide Puzzle, Traffic Jam, Lights Out)
- Cut Off One Head, Two Grow Back - Like "Push Mole Down, Mole Pops Up" except that making some necessary progress also causes the game to become more difficult. (Example: Asteroids)
- Bouncing Object - You cannot directly control an object's movement, but can try to direct it so that the environment directs its path. (Example: Pong, Arkanoid)
- Gravity - Like "Forced Constant Movement" except objects are pulled either in a certain direction or are pulled towards certain objects. Also consider: zero gravity, reverse gravity, changeable gravity.
- Mouse Dexterity - The player must move the mouse in a specific way without making errors. Often combined with "Forced Constant Movement" or "Avoiding Unkillable Objects". Keyboard or game controllers usually require this sort of dexterity, but the mouse is usually reserved for either looking around or menu selection (neither of which requires dexterity). (Example: Fruit Ninja, Simon Gesture)
- Spinning Plates - The player's attention must be split between multiple simultaneous objectives. Often objects need "recharging" as they deplete at different rates. (Example: Rampart, Diner Dash)
- Teleports - Rather than moving conventionally, the player can teleport to different parts of the screen. The player may or may not be able to control where the teleport goes.
- Squad - Rather than a single character, the player controls multiple characters that must work together to achieve an objective. (Example: Syndicate, A Daily Cup of Tea)
- Scarce Resource - There is an easy way for the player to fight enemies/score points, but it is a scarce resource. The player needs to balance hoarding the resource vs. using them effectively. (Example: Lunar Lander, Many zombie games)
- Jumping - Almost always combined with gravity, the player must jump from one platform to another and not fall. (Example: Mario)
- Hidden Image / Where's Waldo? - Like "Information Overload", but the player is looking at a complex scene for a particular item, clue, or pattern. (Example: Many point-and-click adventure games)
- Timed - The player must achieve a task within a time limited. Some power ups or achievements can extend the time.
- Protect a Target - The player must not only stay alive themselves, but protect a target from enemies. The target may or may not be moving. (Example: Missile Command)
- Undirected Exploration - The player has a large map that they can wander freely around, although obtaining items or solving clues will help open up new areas. The player often backtracks through places. (Example: Cave Story, Metroid, Castlevania)
- Bullet Hell - The player is surrounded by a very large number of enemies or deadly objects. They are easy to handle individually but difficult in large numbers. (Example: "Bullet hell" games, many zombie games)
- Buy Low, Sell High - The game has different items that have changing value. The player must identify when it is good to acquire items when they are plentiful or cheap, and when it is good to sell them when they are scarce or valuable.
- Brawling - The player's character has several different types of attacks (mostly melee, not ranged) to use against one or multiple enemies. (Example: Street Fighter 2, Double Dragon, River City Ransom)
- Dialogue Tree - When the player talks to other characters, they select one of many possible things to say. (Example: Many RPGs)
- Building - The player can place different types of building blocks anywhere in the world to construct objects. (Example: SimCity, Minecraft, Rampart)
- Race - The player must reach a place before the opponent does. Like "Timed" except the enemy as a "timer" can be slowed down by the player's actions, or there may be multiple enemies being raced against.
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