Doris Rusch--DePaul University

making games with a
purpose
Dr. Doris C. Rusch, DePaul University,
CIM
Monday, August 26, 2013

key questions to deﬁne a vision and stay on
track during development

games about the human
experience...
...and emotional health

a game about addiction

Seer (based on Oedipus Rex)

a game about depression

emotional empowerment

ﬁnancial literacy

games...
• about something
• with a purpose beyond fun
• tackling tricky (abstract) concepts
• different approaches to achieve their goals
• message communicated through rules and
game mechanics

game design =
decision making

developing a vision...
...and minimizing the gap between intent
and outcome

1. question:
what’s the theme / core concept?
what shall the game be about?

Abe likes Sophocles

what to focus on?

http://gambit.mit.edu/loadgame/seer.php

“Your sole responsibility is know what the game is about
and to ensure that the game teaches that thing.
That one thing, the theme, the core,
the heart of the game,
might require many systems or it might require few.
But no system should be in the game
that does not contribute towards that lesson.
It is the cynosure of all systems; it is the moral of the
story; its the point.” (Koster, 2005, p. 126)

student exercise: ﬁnd the theme
• pick a (children’s) book, comic,
movie, artwork, or album that
moved you profoundly
• identify its theme & express it in one
word
• design a card game about that theme
that makes the theme tangible
through gameplay.

“this game is about...”
“this game deals with...”
“this game explores...”
“this game teaches...”
“this game simulates the experience of...”
(see also Brenda Brathwaite & Ian Schreiber’s book:
“challenges for game designers”

2. question:
what is the purpose /
communicative goal of your game?

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/591565
Dys4ia by Anna Anthropy
self-expression

raising awareness / making a statement
Gonzalo Frasca: September 12th

object to think with / training

change perception & behavior
Tiltfactor Laboratory, Mary Flanagan

“Way” by Coco and Co

Gamiﬁcation

lots of different purposes; be clear about yours
before you settle on a design.
check your design constantly against its purpose.

purpose needs to be integrated into the rules and
gameplay
if players can ignore it, they probably will!

3. question:
literal or metaphorical approach?

theme: depression
depression quest: (mostly) literal
metaphorical

literal
• player-side: message is often clearer
• easier to relate to “real life”
• design-side:
• more accessible source system
• danger of getting stuck with the
obvious
• danger of confusing action with
experience

metaphorical
• player side:harder to
understand
• needs great interface
design / feedback
systems
• design-side: hard to
keep coherent
• inaccessible source
system

4. question
modeling “how it works” or
“what it feels like”?

literal; emphasizing “how it works”

(mostly) literal: “what it feels like”

6. question:
what’s the focus?

“zooming in”: an exemplary situation is used
to draw attention to an underlying issue.
“zooming out”: allows the player to explore
the complexities of the issue itself.

“zooming in” tends to focus on a subjective
experience of the modeled situation
(“what it feels like”)
“zooming out” tends to focus on understanding
the bigger picture (“how it works”)

6. question:
from which PERSPECTIVE will the player
interact with the system?

waiter, cook, manager, customer?

Rod Humble’s “the marriage”
abstract concept:
perspective of “force of love”
“how it works”

procedural expression
• partners have different needs
• for the marriage to work, the needs of
both have to be satisﬁed
• the game is hard = marriage is hard
• equality of partners is crucial
• a bad marriage is not an option

wha...?

design exercise:
shift perspectives
• challenge assumed “logical”
perspectives and explore non-obvious
choices
• what kinds of statements would it
allow you to make about the source
system?
• how would it change gameplay
experience?

7. question:
What is the player-avatar relationship?

OCD game

the most important meta question:
is it working?
does the game achieve its goals?
testing, testing, testing

summary of questions
• what is the game
about? (core concept)
• what’s the game’s
purpose /
communicative goal?
• literal?
metaphorical?
• what it feels like?
how it works?
• perspective from
which player relates
to system?
• player-avatar
relationship
• test: does the game
achieve its goal? If
not, check if you
ended up modeling
what you actually
wanted to model.

thanks, questions?
drusch1@cdm.depaul.edu

Doris Rusch--DePaul University

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