design protocol analysis game design: art vs science simon ferrari

1. design protocol analysisgame design: art vs sciencesimon ferrari

2. problem space • game design still considered a “dark art” • game design heavily non-disclosed • game designers attempting to break into the white cube

3. zach gage

4. antagonistic books

5. killing spree

6. lose/lose

7. halcyon

8. bit pilot

9. test one: personal design • self-motivated, “personal” design • 90 minutes • record speech, sketches, and code prototypes • find patterns in 4 activity modes • 3 previous + “thinking”

10. test two: contract design • simulation of contract design work • 90 minutes • design specification provided by me • mobile (iOS), OpenFrameworks, popular genre • record speech, sketches, and code prototypes • find patterns in 4 activity modes

11. analysis • cross-analysis of contract vs personal design • identify modes during “novel design decisions” • predict speech from cold viewing of sketches

12. hypothesis • contract and personal design will not significantly differ • even if the designer thinks/says that they are • goals may differ, but methods/tasks will remain the same

13. motivations • Daniel Fallman (CHI 2003) • “Design-oriented Human-Computer Interaction” • “romantic” • design as art • “conservative” • design as science

14. motivations • Omer Akin and Chengtah Lin (Design Studies) • “Design protocol data and novel design decisions” • “activity-based model” • thinking, drawing, and speaking • data interpolation experiment

15. motivations • Ellen Do and Mark Gross (C&C ‘07) • leonardo model • an artist/designer who can code • “owning the problem” • personal, self-motivated design • emphasis on prototypes

16. motivations • Andrea Goncher (C&C 2009) • “Creativity under Constraints: The Affect of Problem Space on Design Learning among Engineering Students” • how do constraints contribute to decision-making • goal constraints vs. task constraints

17. thank you