Emergent gameplay prototype

Made for prototyping class.

I've been a bit unhappy with the direction while(Game)'s gameplay has been going.

The plan for while(Game) was to create a heavily emergent experience.

As it stands, the game suffers from gameplay that rewards/requires slow elaborate calculations/”simulations in head”. In addition, the energy system and general number crunching slogs this down even more, and restricts creativity.

I'm looking to explore these questions:

How can the game reward more creativity? How can the game become less about “proof-reading”, and more about problem solving?

• Does removing the energy system help?
• Does streamlining the numbers help?
• Does the planning phase become less daunting/taxing if the entire game happens on an evolving board, as opposed to separate levels?