To understand how something works you have to dissect it to see better in how it works. To understand how an old clock works you have to open it and see it to make something like it. To be a doctor you have to cut dead animals or people up to get an understating. So to understand games you have to cut it up to basic form to understand it. Basically you have to dissect and compare and use the same principals to see what they have to get something new when you see patterns. Try to lay out chess and Tetris in a basic way For instance it can be like this _____________Chess Tetris (or other puzzle to add) Grid type= Block block Turn base= yes no # of peaces= 16 infinite # of types= 6 7 etc.. You fill in the rest to complete unless you have a better way.

That may help you when understanding/designing a game interface, but I think in order to understand the play you''ll want to analyze events/rules/procedures. I think in order to understand appropriate AI you''ll want to analyze scenarios, paths, decisions, stimulus/response, etc and psychology of the human players.

And with all of that, you gain the ability to make something that already exists. In order to go beyond that into the creative realm, you need to either think of variations or use non-game experiences/fantasies for ideas.

What is the underlying layout of the "universe" (if you will)? A 2D grid of points (spaces). Each and every point can only be occupied by a single game object (hereafter referred to as "tokens" to absolve relationship to programming). These are the laws that both share.

Tetris is only worried about horizonal and vertical relationships (diagonal relationships would give us some fundamental pieces that aren''t in the game).

1. Each space either is or isn''t occupied; it follows that there is only one fundamental type of game piece (lets call it a block).

2. These blocks, in random groups of four (following thee rule about only having horizontal and vertical attachments) move in the "down" direction down a rectangular field (after some googling, I never did find the dimensions of the original).

3. When they collide (one/more members can no longer proceed in their original direction of travel) with the boundaries of the field or another object, the whole group stops moving and becomes static (excepting the next condition).

4. When one whole "row" is created (blocks from one side to the other, the "short" way on the field) those blocks are removed, the score incremented in some fashion, and all blocks "above" move "down" one space.

5. Gameplay ends when a block fails to enter the play field from the top (could define this mechanism better/further, but that digs into immplimentation details).

Chess deals with horizontal, vertical, and diagonal relationships between points on an 8x8 grid. The tokens move in a complex manner, and there is an endless number of possible games (almost). Chess is a good example of game design by accretion (start with something, play it, and keep adding stuff), whereas Tetris is extremely simple (there were other games, dealing with boxes/squares on a grid in the puzzle/action format before Tetris; all were far more complicated).

There are many books analyzing Chess and Chess ancestors and chess-like games; I believe these games are more interesting for their historical value (the fact that they evolved over a history of many hundreds of years, imagine if Everquest had done that). I would suggest these books to you if you wish to study the play balance and fundamental theorums as to strategy, as there is simply too much to discuss (read: I don''t know jack about it!).

I believe that there should be as many books on why Tetris and games like Tetris are so popular and can strike a chord with non-gamers. I suppose someday there will be.

You guys said it well.
But maybe I should have taken it slow.
The point is not for a book to do all the thinking for us but for us to come up with.
Let’s just say the basics since you have 2 types of moves the ones that move 1 space and the other that move infinite.
It’s like this

* + X movement
Q R B infinite steps
K k&p 1 step.
knight moves 1 step in each direction and will jump over anyone to get to his spot.
The pawn moves straight but attacks dankly, it also has an extra step if you want in when it starts.

In Tetris you have 4 blocks that attach to each other in a random way. You can move left, right, down, or rotate.

Well if we had a game engine how would we simplify it for each to be put them in without any additional programming? It’s not like you will make an individual engine for each individual games if. So things have to be simplifies so that it’s flexible and simple to understand.

A game engin that (once done) requries no programming to create any game. Wow, how come no one else has come up with this idea before?!?!?!?!

Wait, could Scripting be the answer your looking for?

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But maybe I should have taken it slow.

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You don''t have to take is slow. You need to learn how communicate your ideas effectivly to (and here is the most important part) OTHERS! Have a couple of friends read your posts befor you put them up to make sure you are actually getting your point across.