Role The features, mechanics, situation and purpose which define an element’s function in a game According to Aristotle, we can claim to have knowledge of something only when we have understood its causes. These causes come in four types: the material cause – the matter of which the thing is made, the formal cause – … Continue reading
Verisimilitude The quality of seeming to be true, of resembling reality Why is Wii Bowling like a Hemingway novel? (Beside the fact that they are each made better by adding alcohol.) They both benefit from the effects of verisimilitude. Authentic characters and believable dialog enhance the reader’s engagement in a story; they do not call … Continue reading
Cadence A pattern of beats and rests that describes a recognizable rhythm and creates a sense of repose or resolution But first, a verse: Roses are red, Violets are blue, Poetry has cadence, And so should your gameplay. What a terrible poem! Any second-grader could write a better one. It isn’t the content; if I … Continue reading
Habituation The gradual reduction in sensitivity to a repeated stimulus I got my teeth professionally cleaned this morning. (One cavity, apparently I need to floss more.) Now I cannot stop running my tongue back and forth over the newly polished enamel. When I woke up today, my teeth were the farthest thing from my mind, … Continue reading
Game Mechanic A single constraint on the possible gameplay actions that determine a part of the player’s experience. According to our working definition of gameplay, the purpose of a game mechanic is to constrain a game’s interactivity so that it guides the player toward a fun experience. Tuning these contraints is one of the most important game design processes. However, in … Continue reading
Game An interactive experience constrained by mechanics designed to reliably satisfy a common teleological aspiration. Merriam-Webster says a game is “an activity engaged in for diversion or amusement” which is hopelessly broad. Try pitching ”Punching My Younger Brother: The Game” the next time you meet with a publisher. Raph Koster claims that “fun is just another word for learning” … Continue reading
If you are not a game designer: Fun (see also: Enjoyable, Cool, I Like It) Something that I think is cool; something that I imagine other people would think is cool, if a designer would just listen to my idea If you are a game designer: Fun (see also: Blah Blah, Nice) A completely meaningless term … Continue reading
Tuned (See also: Polished, Tweaked) A game mechanic can be considered tuned when it correctly constrains the player experience to have the desired effect The opening four bars of “Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple are perhaps the best example of the power chord. Nothing screams sex, drugs and rock & roll like these … Continue reading
Balanced (see also: Fairness, Longevity) A state in which a game can be played indefinitely by its entire community without developer interventions or player conventions. There is no such thing as a “balanced game”. This is not to say that there is no such thing as a perfectly balanced game, but that balance is not … Continue reading
Affordance (Also: Usability, Discoverability, Intuitiveness) The quality of an object or environment that allows a Player to intuitively discern and perform the gameplay action associated with that object or environment. In his most profound philosophical work Being and Time, Martin Heidegger makes a distinction between two types of attitudes that we can have toward an object. First, an object can … Continue reading
