Make Your Own Fun/Rules.

I was talking to a buddy of mine at work here, and he was describing a "new" form of Halo that some folks are playing off hours just for fun. Be it "emergent gameplay" (the new hot buzzword in game design), or an open set of tools, we've all probably come up with our own fun/rules games with our favorite titles, and I figured since it's been ages since I posted anything here, I'd share a few, as they're my favorite kind of game.

Demolition Derby Halo. The idea here is that everyone agrees to not use any weapons, and the only way you're allowed to kill someone is via vehicular manslaughter. Be it a ghost or a banshee (mad skillz), you have to run, not gun, them down. Now, before everyone jumps down my throat, I'm sure someone else has played this before, somewhere else on the planet, so let's not all jump on the "welcome to last week" bandwagon on me here, because it got me remeniscing about some of the old "make your own fun" games I've played with friends in the past.

Zombie Hunter. The game is Goldeneye for the N64. You're gonna need 4 controllers, and have all the characters unlocked (I think...it's been awhile). The "Zombie" player MUST use Bootsy Collins (aka Baron Samedi), as he looks most like a Zombie what with the torn up white jacket, pants, and facepaint. And let's face it, there is nothing more terrifying than a clown-faced zombie in a white top hat. At least not in Goldeneye, anyway. The Zombie is on his own team, and takes the maximum health handicap bonus (+10). The other three players (The Zombie Hunters) can be anyone they want, are on a team together, and must take the minimum health handicap bonus (-10). The Zombie cannot use any weapons, and must kneel at all times. Even more important than kneeling, the Zombie player must make "rar" zombie noises the entire time he's playing, varying emotionally depending on his situation. The Zombie Hunters can use whatever weapons they want, not that it will do them any good.

Now, there is one more very important rule. When the Zombie makes a kill, he must bend over the kill and make hamburglar style zombie noises, indicating he is consuming the dead body. Everyone else is free to pee their pants and scream in terror when the Zombie crawls comes kneeling around the corner. And trust me, until you get the hang of being a Zombie Hunter, you will scream (while laughing), because that Zombie is nigh unstoppable, and one hit from him or a friendly bullet from your own team-mates will kill you.

First team to 10 kills wins. I don't think I've ever seen a round where the Zombie didn't win, because the Hunters were too busy accidentally team-killing themselves into negative digits while desperately spraying the Zombie with bullets to keep it from advancing as they screamed like cheerleaders.

I've heard of this being played in Halo as well, but there's nothing really "zombie" about Master Chief with a sword.

Tag Team Racing The game is Project Gotham, but I imagine it can be played with any racing game on Live that allows you to use any car of your choosing, and doesn't stop the game when someone reaches first place.

The idea here is that you've got 8 players, 4 teams, all color coded. The two man teams are divided into two drivers: one takes a Mini Cooper (or similar tiny-assed slow car), and the other takes an Enzo (or equivalent superfast car). Only the Minis count towards the lap/position/finish line, and there are no other rules. The Enzos can drive however they like. They can shield their Mini from attack if they want, or they can drive the course backwards and slam into minis or other Enzo blockers head on. It really doesn't matter. The only thing that counts is the color of the first mini to cross the finish line.

Best played with good friends and not a lot of alcohol. Keep baseball bats, knives, and any other bludgeoning tools out of reach.

Battlefield Golf You'll need a copy of BF2 for this, and a cooperative server (preferably one you're running). You'll need to load Sharqi Penninsula (32 or 64) as the map, and set it to 300 tickets so that the game doesn't end before you're done golfing (alternatively you can have someone go out and cap a couple of flags so it's even before you start, and then you won't get flag attrition ticket loss). We ran this one with about 5 guys in it, but really, you can put as many in it as you can manage.

The reason you need to use Sharqi is because up in the NW corner of the map there is a 3 hole golf course. Have everyone meet up at the Clubhouse, and resist the urge to shoot each other. It only makes the golf part take longer, although it can be hilarious at times.

The "good guys" are the tournament officials here. Two guys spawn in on the US side as medics, and drive on out to the golf course. The rest (3 or 4 if you'd like a complete golf outing foursome) spawn at the Clubhouse using the Assault kit (for the grenade launcher), grab some carts Vodniks and head on out to the first tee (it's not labelled, just pick whichever hole looks good to you).

Pick who hits first, and send the Officials (US Medics) down the fairway a bit to spot where the first ball M203 grenade lands. It'll leave a char mark temporarily on the ground, so one of the medics has to run out and drop a medic bag on it to spot the shot landing before the char mark dissappears. Everyone else hits, with the Officials marking the ball craters.

If you run out of M203 grenades, have someone spawn in as a support caddie kit, or one of the foursome can just go commander and drop some crates on the fairway for ball reloading.

Eventually, you get to the green, which is where the fun is had. You can either claim to "lay up" your shot, which is to say you can try to shoot closer to the green without actually hitting it, or you can "go for it." Going for it = trying to hit the pin, and the pin is one of the Course Officials (US Medics). If you're the pin, it's your job to run around like a crazed monkey hopped up on meth, trying not to get hit. Every missed shot is counted towards the hole. The Course Official (pin) MUST BE KILLED for it to count as a holed shot, ending the hole. The second Course Official can run out and rez the pin, or if he's the Squad Leader, the pin can respawn there.

Repeat 'till the round is over, and count up the shots. Whoever wins gets bragging rights, I guess.

Got your own Make Your Own Rules Games? Leave 'em in the comments.

Comments

[raina1up]

this is somewhat off topic but related, but i interviewed someone who holds the world record for Hammerless Donkey Kong, uh, which i guess can be considered "Emergent Donkey Kong." You basically play the game without using the hammers (duh)

[jiggery_pokery]

The British video game magazine Digitiser suggested an "Improvement via Improper Gameplay" for (some of?) the games they reviewed for a while in exactly that style. I cannot recall any specific examples but do know they had some crackers.

Theorists might say that emergent gameplay represents the difference between playing a specific game and just playing with a specific game.

[Dangermouse]

Excellent article! Make an old game fun again. People better respond en masse to that posting. I've thought of some more:

Rally Cross Jarts:

Play Rally Cross for the PS1, and play on the tropical island track, whatever that was called. It's the one with the really tall jump before the tunnel. Player one positions himself near the mouth of the tunnel, which is about where a car will land, when jumping from the top of the hill. Player B heads back a ways on the track, getting a good run-up to the jump. Player B hit the jump at top speed, trying to land on player one's car. It ain't easy, but when it works, player one gets to see a tiny speck emerge from the horizon, slowly growing into a vehicle that comes straight through your windshield. Trade places. Repeat.

Mount Chilliad Hill Climb:

GTA San Andreas (PS2). Enter two player run-around mode. Grab a motorcycle. One player drives. The other shoots police. A dirt bike is better but a police bike will also works, and angers the authorities. Shoot some people till you get at least three stars (five is better), then proceed to Mount Chiliad, with the constabulary in tow. The goal is to make it to the top of the mountain, via the switchback road. The police will somehow head you off with SUVs and maybe even swat trucks, but they are as likely to fall off the cliff as they are to stop you. If you make it to the top, your reward is a two-man vehicular base jump from one of the highest points in San Andreas. I think Dave and I once made it up, down, and up again without dying.

War of the Monsters Javelin Tennis

War of the Monsters (PS2). Two players scale buildings a good distance apart. The basic square new-yorky level is a good place. Find an antenna or flag pole and take turns throwing it at each other. It is possible to catch a thrown object by hitting your "throw" button at exactly the right time. It's pretty hard, and its even harder if you're using a flag pole, as they are really hard to see coming. If course, if you miss your catch, you get lanced through the chest, and there's the rub. Last monster standing wins.

Doom Cacko-Baiting

I don't know if this counts, but it was really fun. Choose a level with cacodemons in it, preferrably behind a player-controlled door. One player teases the caco till it only has eyes for him. A few bullets should hurt it just enough to focus on him. This should ensure that player two goes largely ignored. Player two harasses the demon from behind, using only fists, until it is dead. The caco should remember the sting of the bullets to the exclusion of the punches up the rump. All cacodemons throughout the level must be handled in this way.

Adventure Pack Rat

This goes back to the days of Adventure on the Atari 2600. Basically you get greedy and posess every object in the game. Every dragon, key, (the) bridge, magnet, bat, sword, and secret dot must be in your gold castle before you bring home the chalice. If you want to get real fancy, keep the dragons alive.

[dustmop]

Battletoads

Back in the old day, when we got bored losing at two player Battletoads, we would do competitive jousting matches. Each player would pick a side of the screen, then you dash towards each other and do your super attack. Last player out of lives loses. You get bonus points if you can pick someone up and throw up off a ledge.

[spacejunk]

Hey, cool article! I always enjoy seeing what kinds of games people have invented inside the world of other games. The best and most replayable titles seem to lend themselves easily to this kind of manipulation.

Some of my friends participate in what they call the 'Nade Olympics in various first person shooters... basically see how far you can hurl yourself with the explosion of a grenade at your feet.

I can remember once a couple friends and I were on X-Box Live and a bunch of kids tried to get us to play "Cops & Robbers" Halo. Basically you couldn't actually shoot people, you had to sneak up behind them and tell them to freeze, then escort them to a designated "prison area". Okay, so that was pretty lame, but it was funny seeing them try to enforce their rules on people as it all went to chaos around them.

I think the ultimate though is River City Ransom! You could just beat up a buddy if you were bored, or play baseball with the bats and rocks that were sitting around. Classic stuff!

[seishino]

Ragnarok Online:

I don't know if this works anymore. We were doing this during the beta when there really wasn't anything else to do.

Step 1: Round up between 1 and 20 good friends.
Step 2: Head to the desert town, and walk right up to the city limit.
Step 3: Have someone count down from 3-2-1.
Step 4: Make a dash for the pyramid, clicking furiously but strategically to maximize speed.
Step 5: Barrel down through the pyramid dungeon as fast as you can go to the bottom level.
Step 6: Invariably, the very, very nasty enemies will start heading after the first person in the race, and will only be a few feet behind, which means that if you slip too far behind the leader you're in for a wall of about 200 very upset mummies.
Step 7: Winner is anyone who makes it to the end alive.

[kuwang]

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