This document provides a brief introduction to game design concepts. It defines a game as a system where players engage in an artificial conflict with rules and a quantifiable outcome. Games exist within the "magic circle" and have formal elements like players, objectives, and resources. They also incorporate dramatic elements such as challenge, play types, character, and story. Challenge must match a player's abilities to create a state of "flow." Play can take competitive, chance-based, make-believe, or vertigo forms. Character and story engage players and drive games forward through objectives, choices, and emerging narratives.

1. BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO
GAME DESIGN
DR. LENNART NACKE, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

2. LENNART NACKE, BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO GAME DESIGN
ONE DEFINITION OF A GAME
▸ A game is a system in which players engage in an artificial
conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable
outcome.
▸ The key elements of this definition are the fact that a game
is a system, players interact with the system, a game is an
instance of conflict, the conflict in games is artificial, rules
limit player behaviour and define the game, and every
game has a quantifiable outcome or goal.

3. LENNART NACKE, BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO GAME DESIGN
GAMES AS SYSTEMS
▸ The Magic Circle
▸ A space that exists as a subset of reality with boundaries and rules
▸ Four main system elements
1. Objects
2. Attributes
3. Internal relationships
4. Environment
▸ Formal, cultural, or experiential systems

4. LENNART NACKE, BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO GAME DESIGN
FORMAL ELEMENTS OF GAMES
1. Players
2. Objectives
3. Procedures
4. Rules
5. Resources
6. Conflict
7. Boundaries
8. Outcome

5. LENNART NACKE, BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO GAME DESIGN
DRAMATIC ELEMENTS
1. Challenge
2. Play
3. Premise
4. Character
5. Story

6. LENNART NACKE, BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO GAME DESIGN
CHALLENGE
▸ A sense of accomplishment and enjoyment
▸ Determined by the abilities of a specific player
▸ Individualized
▸ Dynamic
▸ Flow

7. LENNART NACKE, BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO GAME DESIGN
PLAY
▸ Roger Caillois’s 4 types of play
1. Agôn (Competitive Play)
2. Alea (Chance-based Play)
3. Mimicry (Make-believe Play)
4. Ilinx (Vertigo Play)
▸ Along the dimension of freedom
▸ Ludus (Rule-based Play)
▸ Paida (Free-from, improvisational Play)

8. LENNART NACKE, BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO GAME DESIGN
PREMISE SETS…
▸ Time
▸ Place
▸ Main character(s)
▸ Objective
▸ Action that propels the story forward
▸ Makes a game’s formal system playable for the user

9. LENNART NACKE, BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO GAME DESIGN
CHARACTER
▸ Empathy propels their movement toward a resolution
▸ Protagonist (main character) ↔ Antagonist (main opponent)
▸ Methods of characterization
▸ Wants
▸ Needs
▸ Hopes
▸ Fears
▸ Round characters ↔ Flat characters
▸ Agency ↔ Empath

10. LENNART NACKE, BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO GAME DESIGN
STORY (AS A DRAMATIC ELEMENT)
▸ Uncertain outcome fosters engagement
▸ Often backstory for
▸ Setting
▸ Main Conflict
▸ Story points in game progression
▸ Player choices affect game outcome
▸ Branching storylines
▸ Limited scope
▸ Story can emerge from gameplay

11. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR ATTENTION
THANK YOU
Contact me:
len@uwaterloo.ca
@acagamic (Twitter)
hcigames.com