Game Design - Other viewpoints/links with chemistry and game design theory

Just been rereading some posts of the systemisation of game design methodology and practise.

Reading Stephane Bura's "Emotion Engineering: A Scientific Approach For Understanding Game Appeal" article, reminded me of Daniel Cook's "The Chemistry Of Game Design" piece published in 2007. Both further the cause for a common language and empirical reductionism to better codify games design into a system.

As a former scientist, I'm interested in the advanatages and disadvantages of that process. Working on a semi-educational 3D game with a 'chemical' game mechanism it's interesting to read not only about applying a chemical/biochemical template to game design, but looking at how chemical processes can be incorporated into novel gameplay mechanisms.

An important part of chemistry is change or transformation. I've been musing over how it could be linked to in-game transformation. Not only via transformation of objects - materials corroding, withering, decaying, etc, but how the character transforms through the game - which then links to story and emotion.

Stephane's article looks at the game mechanisms and the direct link with player emotions:

This article is not about creating emotions with the content, the subject matter, or the story, but through interactions with the game alone.

Since I'm churning through game choice and consequences at the moment, it's raised some interesting points.


Great table based on Will Wright's Dynamics For Designers lecture at GDC 2003:

Also quoted is Donald Norman's Emotional Design, describing three different levels of experience processing:

• visceral (how it makes the person having the experience feel)
• behavioral (how well it suits its purpose or function)
• reflective (how it affects the person’s self-image). Games can have a behavioral aspect, from being a learning tool to a systemic demonstration of a concept. This article focuses on the other two aspects: how games can have an emotional impact on their players.

Hopefully once the prototype is finished in a few weeks I can playtest it over the next months with schoolkids and teachers and chat with people at Futurelab about learning objectives, etc - which will give feedback on the game's behavioural experience as well as the others.