Welcome to the July 2014 edition of www.onegameamonth.com

Every month we choose an optional theme word, designed to encourage your creativity. A theme is also a form of constraint. It might sound counterintuitive but adding limits to your imagination tends to give you MORE ideas, not less. A blank canvas can be paralyzing, especially if you have every colour of the rainbow to choose from.

To paraphrase Orson Welles, "The absence of limitations is the enemy of creativity". So don't think of a theme as something that gets in your way, think of it as a helping hand. Besides, it's totally optional here. You're always allowed to make any kind of game you like.

This month, the optional theme word is FLAGS.

Whether you're celebrating your favourite country's birthday, or just want to proudly escort your banner into battle, flags and emblems can be central to all sorts of stories. Think of heraldic devices or "standards" used by medieval houses and kingdoms fighting over territory. Think of how important flags can be in good natured international sport.

Flags are symbols of home. Of your team. Of your family. Who do YOU fight for?

The word FLAGS doesn't have to be taken literally. Imagine a spy infiltration or border patrol raising a flag of suspicion. Imagine a hacker using boolean logic to trigger true or false flags in the right order. Imagine a traffic cop flagging over cars. Imagine using flags to signal orders in a noisy battlefield. Imagine using flags or "semaphores" to communicate on the high seas.

Flags are also another word for keys used in cryptography. They're are also used to show where the water gets dangerous for swimmers, or by referees to signal a foul. Train engineers watch for a signalman's flags to know when it is safe to proceed, or when to stop. Pirate ships know when to fly the skull and crossbones, and every New Yorker knows the best way to flag down a cab.

You can make any kind of game in any genre around the concept of flags. If you're making a first-person shooter, capture the flag is an obvious choice. If you're making a puzzle game, symbolism and symmetry are great mechanics to play with. If you're making a platformer, it goes without saying that at the end of a level people love to try to jump to the top of a flagpole like in Super Mario Brothers games.

The possibilities are endless. So don't fly the white flag this month - raise your banners high, don't fall prey to flagging enthusiasm, study up on your "vexillology" and proudly march into the fray.

Good luck and have fun!

- Christer Kaitila aka McFunkypants
- twitter.com/McFunkypants