THE RULES

The idea of the game is the following one : a creature is handed over to each participant, who will add an element. The following rules are propositions, with many variations possibles, based on the choice of the participants. The rules must however be decided before starting !

Steps

• Depending on the number of participants : X participants —> x steps. Each participant will therefore contribute only one time to each creature.
• More steps than participants : Each participant will contribute more than one time but at each step, the creature will have evolved. This variation is interesting if there’s few participants
• Less steps than participants : Each participant will not contribute to each creature. This variation is interesting if there a large number of participants. An alternative consists of creating sub-networks within the group.

The number of steps will also depend on the involvement of each participant. Fewer steps may require an larger contribution at each step to have something interesting and enough developed at the end. If there are many steps, the participant may feel that there’s nothing anymore to add, as the creature is already enough rich in details. We had this problem for some creatures, but not all.

Time

• Fixed time : we decided to have a month to realize each step. Time can be a restrictive rule (complete a step within 3 days for example) but we didn’t want to be limited by time, as we were all busy beside.
• Variable : Time can be a restrictive rule fixed for each step : 1 month for the first step, 3 days for the next one,…If the participants can meet regularly to exchange the creatures, this option could be interesting.

Place

• A common place : the participants can meet regularly in a place to work on the creatures. The project allows then a real common activity and a direct exchange during this time.
• Work at home : each participant will work at home and a time is decided to exchange the creatures. This option doesn’t allow a direct exchange but if the participants cannot meet regularly, this is interesting. A exchange moment can also be organized at the end, to share technics and ideas. This is a very important part of the project. In our project, we worked at home and met at the end.

Exchange

• Public ; At the end of each step, the participants meet to exchange the creatures, based on a pre-established scheme (to be sure that everyone contributes to every creature). In this case, the participants will know who worked on the creature for the last step but not the previous ones.
• Circular : The Participant X will always give the creature to the participant Y. The exchange is facilitated in this case if, for example, some participants see regularly each other.
• Total secret : a neutral person to the project gathers all creatures and redistributes them based on an pre-established scheme. The exchange may therefore take several days, as each participant needs to collect the creature following a specific order. They don’t know from whom the creatures comes and who will get it after. It is therefore a total surprise at the end, as each participant will have seen only one time each creature. We chose this option.

Theme

We have decided that the participant who creates the first step will decide the theme of the creature, The other participants will therefore have to follow this theme plus the restrictive rule. The theme should not be too limiting and inspiring enough. It is also possible not to fix any theme but we found that it was a good help to get a certain cohesion in the creation.

Restrictive rules

To bring some complexity to the game and tickle the creativity, it is possible to fix a restrictive rule at each step.

• personal restriction : each participant proposes many restrictive rules. They are then gathered and put in a bag. At each step, the participant will take a restrictive rule in the bag and will have to respect it for the next step. We have chosen this option but didn’t choose any restriction for the first and last step.
• common restriction : a restrictive rule must be applied by all participants for the same step. This option may reduce the creativity but offers an interesting way to compare the creatures at the end : how each participant interprets the restriction on different creatures.

The restrictive rules can be of various types :

• specific material
• texture
• specific technic
• colour or pattern
• source of inspiration
• imposed quantity

…. In our case, we prohibited the removal of any existing element. It was however possible to modify an existing element.