Between Times

Frame · Time relations temporal

Neither one nor the other – a threshold state in which the old order no longer holds and the new does not yet exist.

Design question – Your game takes place in a transition. What has been left behind, what is not yet reached – and how does the state of the in-between feel?

Reference example – Spiritfarer: a ferry between life and death, on which the old rules no longer apply. Football: the summer break – the old season is over, the new one has not yet begun; transfers, rumours, uncertainty.

Associations

• Typical Activities – Deciding, Transitioning, Experimenting, Negotiating

Coherence

Mechanisms: Variable Rules (rules are set during play), Legacy (decisions shape the future), Negotiation (negotiating the new order). Activities: Deciding, Transitioning, Experimenting, Negotiating. Ludic Narrational Structure: Kishōtenketsu (the transition as the turning point), rise narration (maturation).