Objectives

Term

Belongs to the term

Ludic Objective: A Ludic Objective is a task with a target state and a condition of fulfilment: what is to be achieved and how it shows that it has been achieved - checkmate, more goals than the opponent, the last card played, the dragon at zero hit points.

Stack

What it is about

The Objectives stack collects kinds of task that a game can set. A task has a goal state and a condition that shows it has been reached: checkmate, the flagpole at the end of the level, the last card played, the dragon with no hit points left. The objective says what for one acts; what one does along the way is said by the Activities, why it has to happen now by the Argumentum.

The 24 cards come in two sections. The 14 objective types are an open palette, not a gapless grid: Reach, Remove, Find, Solve and Optimize are clear, independent goal states – reaching a point, making something disappear, finding something hidden, solving a puzzle, achieving as much or as little as possible. Obtain, Create and Configure are a task only when a fulfilment condition is added; otherwise they are a single action. Choose and Synchronize are one only when the state reached is itself the goal. Survive and Defend preserve instead of change: staying alive, keeping something intact. Evade/Conceal and Deliver/Escort are new and not yet tested. Overlaps are intended; when in doubt, the fulfilment condition decides, not the name.

The six aspect cards describe what every task has: its wording, the success condition, the victory condition, which not every task has, the ranking of ultimate and intermediate goals, the question of whether the task can be declined, and its type. A guide card, two separator cards and a blank card belong to the stack.

How to use it

Method: (1) Lay out the type cards and start with the five clear goal states: Reach, Remove, Find, Solve, Optimize. (2) Ask in the team: what kind of task does our game set? Choose one main type, plus at most one or two more. (3) For Obtain, Create, Configure, Choose and Synchronize, name the fulfilment condition explicitly – if it is missing, it is not a task but an action. (4) Work out the chosen task with the aspect cards: how is it worded, how does the game recognise success, who wins, are there intermediate goals, may players leave it aside? Transfer the result to the worksheet.

Time: 10 to 15 minutes as a quick choice with experienced teams, 25 to 40 minutes in a workshop with discussion.

Sequence: in ideation, briefly clarify whether the game sets a task at all – some games, such as a sandbox, leave that to the players. The task is worked out in development, after the Activities and together with the Argumentum.

Relations

The game sets the task, the players bring the drive: whether and why someone pursues a task is described by the Motivation stack. A player can leave the main goal aside and still enjoy playing, or set themselves a task – the best time in a speedrun, the castle in the sandbox. The Activities open the space in which tasks are pursued; actions only become a task with a fulfilment condition. The Argumentum grounds the task in the fiction: “Save the village” is the premise, “the dragon has no hit points left” the condition. To be distinguished is the Temporal Structure: it determines when a match ends, not when a task is fulfilled – a stalemate ends without checkmate, and Tetris ends without any victory condition at all.

cards

The cards

OB-01 Reach The objective is a defined point – spatial (a place, a finish line) or as a threshold (a value, a status). Reached or not is binary; the path there is open.

OB-02 Remove The objective is the disappearance of something – defeating opponents, clearing the board, neutralizing a threat. Fulfilled when the designated elements are no longer there.

OB-03 Find The objective is knowledge about a place, an identity or hidden information. Fulfilled when the sought-after thing is found or revealed – regardless of whether one then possesses it.

OB-04 Solve The objective is the correct resolution of a puzzle or problem. Fulfilled when the solution is found and applied – usually with an unambiguous right/wrong evaluation.

OB-05 Optimize The objective is not binary reached/not reached but gradual: as much as possible (high score) or as little as possible (time, moves, losses). No fixed endpoint – "better" is always conceivable.

OB-06 Obtain The objective is possession – gathering resources, acquiring an item, taking territory. Note: acquiring is first of all an activity. It becomes an Objective only through a success condition ("Obtain X").

OB-07 Create The objective is a produced artefact – a build, a construction, a work. Note: creating is first of all an activity; it becomes an Objective only through a success condition ("build X", "make Y").

OB-08 Configure The objective is a constellation – bringing parts into the right arrangement, order or combination. Note: arranging is first of all an activity; it becomes an Objective only through the defined target arrangement.

OB-09 Choose Usually choosing is an Action (one move among many). It becomes an Objective only where the choice itself is the goal – in dilemma and decision games where there is no "right", only a "decided".

OB-10 Synchronize The objective is coincidence – at the right moment, in the right beat, attuned with others. Usually a dexterity Operation; it becomes an Objective only when the hit beat itself is the fulfilment state.

OB-11 Survive The objective is not change but preservation – staying alive/in the game/functional while the game builds up pressure. A LUNA addition to Debus' thoroughly transformative goal types: Survive is conservative.

OB-12 Defend The objective is the integrity of something particular – a base, a zone, a figure is to persist while attacks aim at it. A LUNA addition: Defend is conservative and the inverse of Remove.

OB-13 Evade / Conceal Not reaching or changing but withdrawal – escaping capture/detection or actively withholding information. A LUNA addition: the information-related counterpart to the transformative Debus types, related to Survive (conservative) but specific to detection and knowledge.

OB-14 Deliver / Escort Distinct from Reach (in which the agent itself reaches a place): here a third element is moved – transported or protectively escorted. A LUNA addition with a spatial-transformative character. Rescue is a variant with prior freeing → Compositum (Deliver + Remove of the guard).

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