GDC2013 - Three Folk Games to Inspire Radical New Video Games

Doug Wilson talked about three folk games that can inspire new video games.

• Doug is best known for Dark Room Sex Game, B.U.T.T.O.N., and Johann Sebastian Joust.
• Folk games are traditional, ethnic, or indigenous sports and games. They include physical games like Tag, Jump Rope, Ninja, and many card games. They often use simple and common equipment like balls and ropes, are spread by word of mouth, and commonly have "house rules."The folk games that Doug is interested in are the physical and silly ones.
• Why look at folk games? They require a different way of thinking. Also, paper prototypes can't simulate physicality and game feel, but folk games can prototype motion control.
• Folk Game #1 - Standoff
• This game requires three or more players and is similar to Rock-Paper-Scissors.
• Each player has three choices -- shoot someone else, shoot themselves, or shoot the air. If you're shot at, you're eliminated. If you shoot yourself and nobody is shooting you, you're eliminated. But if you're shooting yourself and someone else shoots you, you're safe and you reflect the shot back at your attacker. Shooting the air is the conservative option but is also defenseless.
• You can play the game with a house rule of using two hands. Two beats one (two guns at you goes through your shield).
• Another house rule is having three lives represented by standing, kneeling, sitting, and finally laying down when you're dead.
• Takeaways from Standoff
• Game gestures should feel good in and of themselves. It feels good to make a gun with your fingers.
• It doesn't matter that the narrative doesn't make sense. The logic of shooting yourself to reflect a bullet doesn't make much sense, but it makes the game silly and approachable for people to play. The "wrong think" has weird warped logic, but it feels authentic. Many motion control games take themselves too seriously and therefore feel awkward when the controls don't quite work. Good examples of silly motion games are Cash 'n Guns and WarioWare: Smooth Moves.
• House rules are an integral part of the game. Games should be easy to modify and add rules, so that people feel ownership. With Johann Sebastian Joust, people modified the game to put the Move controller behind their backs instead of holding it with their hands.
• Folk Game #2 - Listelanse (Sneaky Lance)
• This is a two-player game where both players are blindfolded and holding big wooden spoons. Both players move slowly towards each other and try to hit the other player with the spoon.
• Loud music is played to add tension and also make players not being able to hear themselves. The crowd can shout commands and hints at the players.
• The game is very silly and performative. You feel like a badass because you're blindfolded, but you look like a fool to everyone else.
• Takeaways from Listelanse
• Moving in slow motion feels really good and was a big inspiration for Johann Sebastian Joust. Build the game around an existing activity, gesture, or motion that's already fun. Spectatorship, performance, and physicality should also be a source of inspiration.
• Physical gaming and rich multimedia make an excellent pair. The lights and sounds that are employed add tension, and also set the tone of how to act. Johann Sebastian Joust plays Bach's music, which makes players feel like baroque gentlemen. Lemon Joust was a similar game that was independently designed, but in many ways, Johann Sebastian Joust was more effective with its usage of Playstation Move's light and the music.
• Folk Game #3 - Danish Clapping Game
• This is a game for 2-6 people where each player clap their hands on their knees and then perform one of three actions (move their arms left, right, or up in the air). If players happen to mirror another, then their next action must be to clap each others' hands, changing the rhythm of the game.
• One house rule that Doug plays with is when players mirror each other by raising their hands in the air, their next action is to jump up in the air, high five the mirrored player, and yell "Yay!"
• When playing with more than 2 players, they have to pay attention to both their left and right sides.
• Takeaways from Danish Clapping Game
• Mimicking is fun. Doug designed a game based on mimicking called Monkey See, Monkey Mime. This goes back to a previous takeaway: build around and existing motion that's already fun.
• Comedy and physicality is fun. Doug thinks of motion control as slapstick comedy. Physical games foregrounds what happens in front of a screen.
• Design for spectators, not just for players. Kinect Party is a good example.
• General takeaways
• Folk games are not always just a direct inspiration. For example, playing Standoff with iPhones is not fun.
• Fingle is a good example of people congregating around one device. 
• Space Alert  is another good example of a board game taking some folk game inspiration.
• Resources
• Junkyard Sports by Bernie DeKoven.
• The Well-Played Game: A Playful Path to Wholeness by Bernie DeKoven
• The New Games Book by Andrew Fluegelman
• Come Out and Play Festival
• You Are Go! festival by Invisible Playground
• Recollect camp games you've played as a kid or games you've played in college for inspiration. Always talk to friends about the games they've played.