Following on from my last blog – I will offer up one way to go about the design and construction of a game. Before I begin though – let’s remain clear on what I mean by the term ‘game’.

 A game is basically a ‘plan’ – that is; we go in with a definite and clear idea of what we want to achieve; rather than just rolling for fun and dealing with whatever situations arise (though that kind of rolling can also have great benefits). A plan should also be systematic and linear – by this I mean, we try to initiate and carry out our pre-determined plan (technique or string of techniques). If the opponent fails to come up with any effective strategies to thwart our plan – then we simply push on and execute it. If the opponent puts obstacles in our way – we (over time) come up with ways to overcome, remove or take advantage of these obstacles – and thereby ‘develop’ our game.

 We do all of this – ONE POSITION AT A TIME. IE: We develop a GUARD PLAN, a PASSING PLAN, a SIDE CONTROL PLAN, A MOUNT PLAN, etc. Again – all this takes time! You develop a plan ONE POSITION AT A TIME!

 There are many ways we can think about what this concept could look like as two dimensional image – it could be perhaps most accurately depicted by a systemic flow-chart (IE: we do this – if he responds this way, we do that – if he responds that way, we do this, ETC). The way though, that I like to think of it, is a little more conceptual and can be likened to the shape of a galaxy. The center is your basic plan – what you will do if there is little or no resistance – then as we spiral away from the center – we are adapting/developing our plan, according to our opponents reactions – as we keep spiralling away, the whole thing becomes a little tenuous as we are now dealing with highly exotic or unlikely reactions and are being taken further and further away from our CORE idea. One could keep working to overcome an opponent’s reactions to a basic plan – forever – but at some point I find it more useful (and interesting) to just go explore another galaxy. And start to develop a new plan – for a new position. I hope this helps – best wishes: JBW

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