Good reading at Gamasutra: Kyle Gabler, Kyle Gray, Matt Kucic, and Shalin Shodhan write up on their experiences prototyping games using the following rules:
1. Each game must be made in less than seven days,
2. Each game must be made by exactly one person,
3. Each game must be based around a common theme i.e. “gravity”, “vegetation”, “swarms”, etc.
You can see the resulting games at the Experimental Gameplay website.
I find most of the experiments quite fabulous, but I think they also show that it is easier to prototype the basic mechanics and controls in such a short time, but that it’s harder to get to the “game”.
So here is a proposal for some other rules which might make more game-like games:
1. Each game must be made in two weeks, with the first week spent on basic mechanics and controls, and the second week spent on tweaking gameplay and making game progression.
2. Each game must be made by exactly two people.
3. Each game must be based around a common theme or experience i.e. “gravity”, “vegetation”, “swarms”, “fear”, “chaos”.
(This is not to say “you should have done it like I would have done it”, just a quick thought on what results follow from different rulesets.)