Teaching Game Design - Writing your First Rule Document

One of the most challenging things my Game Design students run into is writing rule documents.  So, I decided to start the semester with an activity to help them develop this skill.  

I split the class into groups of 3-4 students each and gave each group the following game pieces:

• 1 Pencil Case
• 10 index cards (do not write on, bend, tear, or modify these in any way)
• 40 bingo chips (10 blue, 10 red, 10 green, 10 yellow)
• 8 pawns (2 blue, 2 red, 2 green, 2 yellow)
• 6 dice (1 D4, 1 D6, 1 D8, 1 D10, 1 D12, 1 D20)

The first day of this activity, the students were instructed to create a simple game.  I emphasize simple because the simpler the game, the easier it is to write the rule document.  I had to remind a few groups to scale it down, they were getting waaaay too complicated.  At this point, I told the students that we weren't concerned if the game was broken, unbalanced, without choices, or even boring....just that they had a game.

On the second day, we started writing the rule documents.  Each group had to have the following sections in their document: 

• Title
• Group members names
• Back story/Introduction (optional)
• Components
• Set Up (photos strongly encouraged)
• Game Play
• Game End
• Win Condition
• FAQs (optional)

I went around from group to group and tried to assist the best I could, but as you know, you can't catch everything.  The students wrote their rule documents on a shared google doc and shared with all their group members and me.  

On the third day each group shared their rule document with another group with comments-only ability.  Each group attempted to play the other's game only by reading the rule document.  If they were stuck, they could ask the designers questions but needed to write a comment about what could be corrected.  

At the end of class that day, the groups were given time to revise their rule document based on the comments they received.  

On the fourth day, we repeated the same process as day 3 with a different group.  

There was a huge difference in their first draft and their final submission.  Having the opportunity to read other's rule documents showed them how important it is to be clear and concise.