Game Design

4. Specific components of a game, the processes, systems, and games that describe player/system interaction (ie: deck building, dice rolling, shooting, platforming).
5. A state where a person loses themselves in the act being performed. There is a perfect balance of challenge and mastery.
8. A model that explains what drives players to play games.
14. An element of design that relies on a player’s past experience to provide them with the understanding of how to interact with a given part of the system.
15. Safety tool in LARP or TTRPG where a group decides that something may happen off screen but not in game and not discussed in depth (A character may have a history with spiders that is not critical).
16. Safety tool in LARP or TTRPG where a group decides is not allowable anywhere in the game to any extent (ie: spiders).
18. When emotions, thoughts, physical states and relationships are transferred between the player and played character.

1. The study of games and play.
2. How players interact with the game components.
3. Guidelines for design often used to evaluate software/usability/playability.
6. The state of a game’s responsiveness where the response (sound, visual, framing) makes a user’s input feels impactful and fun.
7. In MDA, it is the emotional response experienced by the player
9. A cyclical process in which one plans, builds, evaluates and repeats.
10. A playable version of a game that demonstrates specific elements. May be representational or only partially complete.
11. The “hallowed space” where a game takes place. A game space separated from reality.
12. The study of narrative.
13. Different questions and perspectives through which Jesse Schell suggests approaches design.
17. The act of play in a physical sense. The tangible interaction between a person’s body and the game and/or the construction of meaning through play.