{"id":48,"date":"2020-08-11T13:40:25","date_gmt":"2020-08-11T13:40:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mycours.es\/gamedesign2020\/?page_id=48"},"modified":"2021-01-31T16:01:08","modified_gmt":"2021-01-31T16:01:08","slug":"playspaces","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/mycours.es\/gamedesign2020\/playspaces\/","title":{"rendered":"Playspaces"},"content":{"rendered":"

Assignment:<\/strong>\u00a0design a remote multiplayer game that uses an existing communication system. It can be analog or digital, and it can involve custom software, but it has to take advantage of unique properties of a platform you didn\u2019t make.<\/p>\n

Due date:<\/strong> Friday, September 11<\/p>\n

Deliverable: <\/strong>it depends on the format.
\nIf it’s playable in class under 30 minutes, the deliverable can be the game rules and the components themselves.
\nIf it’s unpractical to play in class, produce some documentation. It can be a video explaining the game as if it was on a portfolio or a showreel (preferable), or it can be other form of documentation supporting a live presentation as long as edited to be consumable under 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

Let’s look at some precedents and examples.<\/p>\n

Remote play before computers<\/h2>\n

Some games like Chess or Go have been played at distance even before modern telecommunications.<\/p>\n

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According to a legend the caliph Harun al-Rashid carried on a chess match by correspondence with the Byzantine emperor Nicephorus around 800. Many other royalties, and generals have been said to play chess against each other (they had access to couriers so it was possible).<\/p>\n

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Postal chess allowed for massive team games, so local chess clubs started challenging each other.
\nBecause all moves had to be recorded, we have playthroughs of many of such correspondence games.
\nThis is one of the earliest known ones:
\nCity of Edinburgh vs London Chess Club (1824)<\/a><\/p>\n

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Postal chess postcard from 1965<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Transcending geographical, political, and language barriers.<\/p>\n

Chess easily adapted to all communication technologies from telegraph to radio…<\/p>\n

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Chess Match at WABQ (college radio) in the 1920s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

…to the Internet.<\/p>\n

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fan art?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kasparov versus the World was a game of chess played in 1999. Over 50,000 people from more than 75 countries participated in the game. They voted for the next move.<\/p>\n

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\nCan all games by played by mail like chess or go?<\/em> (perfect information)<\/p>\n

Play by Mail RPG<\/h2>\n

A kind of nerdier subset of tabletop RPGs. Often computer moderated but before widespread availability of the internet.<\/p>\n

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