The Art of Rules

03May09

Rules are to game design what editing is to film: a craft that is at once unique to its medium and forms a central (if at times overlooked) part of its distinct expressive powers. Rod Humble’s recent article for the Escapist serves as a useful and rather accessible introduction to the history and modern use of game rules:

there is a simple tool at the center of all game design, whose exploration requires no team or cost, and from which any game designer can learn by its consideration: rules. Furthermore, I believe that the creation and selection of game rules is an art form in and of itself. By this, I mean that the rules of a game can give an artistic statement independent of its other components. Just as a poem doesn’t need pictures and a painting doesn’t need music, a game needs nothing else apart from its rules to succeed as a work of art. It can certainly benefit from other elements but it doesn’t need them.


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