Game design

This article is about analog game design. For digital game design, see video game design.

Game design is the process of creating and shaping the mechanics, systems, rules, and gameplay of a game. Game design processes apply to board games, card games, dice games, casino games, role-playing games, sports, war games, or simulation games.

Charles Darrow's 1935 patent for Monopoly includes specific design elements developed during the prototype phase. Prototypes are common in the later stages of board game design, and "prototype circles" provide an opportunity for designers to play and critique each other's games.[1][2]

In Elements of Game Design, game designer Robert Zubek defines game design by breaking it down into three elements:[3]

  • Game mechanics and systems, which are the rules and objects in the game.
  • Gameplay, which is the interaction between the player and the mechanics and systems. In Chris Crawford on Game Design, the author summarizes gameplay as "what the player does".[4]
  • Player experience, which is how users feel when they are playing the game.

In academic research, game design falls within the field of game studies (not to be confused with game theory, which studies strategic decision making, primarily in non-game situations).

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference neyfakh was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference wadley was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Zubek, Robert (18 August 2020). Elements of Game Design. The MIT Press. ISBN 9780262043915. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  4. ^ Crawford, Chris (2003). Chris Crawford on Game Design. New Riders. ISBN 978-0-88134-117-1.