> [!cite]- Metadata > 2025-07-12 15:33 > Status: #secondary #article > Tags: [[Game Design]] [[Systems Engineering]] [[Interaction Design]] [[Motivation Design]] `Read Time: 4m 5s` Because game design is such a young discipline, and also because games are generally viewed as not serious, its essence is not clearly established, making it a confusing path to follow and grow in. This article describes the difficult situation in which designers find themselves when not properly driven, offers a workable set of responsibilities and skills for them to own and develop, and defines a role for the game designer in the grand scheme of a project. ##### Design is Misunderstood Game design is not as established as programming and art. Its academic status is in its infancy, which makes it difficult not only to execute, but also discuss, since we lack a proper vocabulary to describe it. It is only natural then, that a designer, whose main measure of success is how many of his decisions are being accepted, evolves towards the producer position, making the game designer even more devoid of essence. ##### What is Game Design? Can we deconstruct games and determine what skills can help design them? ###### Rules, math and logic: Systems Design In its most basic form, a game needs goals, rules, and general conditions that control the way the game unfolds, and establish processes for players to play and try to win. Because of the mathematical/logical nature of rules and conditions, it seems clear that analysis, logic, and algorithmic creation will be relevant skills. As these skills will also help create systems, state machines, and AI trees, we will call this branch of game design System Design and we will be set to design most of the rules and mechanical parts of games. A typical example of the use of mathematics for game design is found in all games that rely on randomness. It's obvious that the calculation of probabilities is required in that case, either for payoffs or for odds of occurrences. In fact, an understanding of mathematics is going to help in most aspects of a designer's job across the board. ###### Interface, controls and readability - Interaction Design Now that our game has rules and that they are stated clearly so that our player can understand them, we need to communicate the game state to our player so they can make decisions based on their understanding of the rules, and then input their decision back into the game world, basically "play their move." The discipline that studies these aspects is ergonomics, and while less absolute to grasp, ergonomics is a well covered field that can help design interfaces, which give the right information to players, as well as controls that make it easy, even enjoyable, to input back into the game. Of course, depending on the type of interface considered, knowledge of biomechanics and cybernetics come in handy. For lack of a better word, let's call this second branch Interaction Design, as it focuses on the output/input loop between the game and the player. When dealing with human-machine interfaces, knowledge of the principles of human body operation at the mechanical and psychological level leads to efficiently designed interactions. It is key, not only when trying to adapt a mouse-based interface, like FPS controls, to a gamepad, but also now that we're dealing with touch-based controls and gesture-to-full-body-movement interfaces. Ergonomics was created to focus on making work tools and environments as comfortable and as efficient as possible. Now that we are applying its conclusions to entertainment, we have to learn to design enjoyable interfaces. Working in conjunction with human expectations like inertia, gravity, rhythm, and the action-reaction loop can give more of a natural and this enjoyable, experience, through what Steve Swink (Shadow Physics) described as "virtual sensation". ###### Reward, frustration and learning – Motivation Design The last, but very essential, branch is the one that ensures players are so engaged that they actually want to play. Our motivation is largely based on chemical neurotransmitters that reward our brains and body through pleasure, generally in response to behaviors that help develop our evolutionary selected traits. Endorphins make us feel good after physical exercise, dopamine rewards us when we understand something new, or establish new social relationships and so on. Psychology, the neurosciences and cognitive sciences are obvious fields that will bring insight into these aspects and will strengthen an approach to the third branch of game design that I call Motivation Design. The emergence of casual games was made possible by improving the perception of benefit to a type of player that was not motivated by the benefits of core games. Nintendo's Brain Age series is definitely a typical example of this. --- Now it is my belief that because the three branches of *System Design*, *Interaction Design*, and *Motivation Design* are quite orthogonal and also constituted of established and academically studied disciplines, it becomes possible to use existing literature to improve in each, create a workable vocabulary and even establish a career path for designers that would want either to specialize or diversify in each. Note: I'm leaving level design out of the scope of this paper; this is not because it is of less importance, but for simplicity's sake. Similarly to mise-en-scene, level design can be argued to be of a higher level than game design, as it aims to build a directed experience for the player, using elements of other technical fields in conjunction. Historically, level design has been considered as game design's little brother, but recent blockbuster games have clearly showed the importance of thinking otherwise. A similar analysis could be done for that design discipline, also leading to better specification and understanding. *System Design* = Math/Logic , Algorithmic , Game Theory *Interaction Design* = Ergonomics , Biomechanics , Proprioception *Motivation Design* = Psychology , Learning Theory , Cognitive Sciences --- ### **References** [Lifting The Designer's Curse](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/lifting-the-designer-s-curse)