How Games Speak - Learn the Language of Design - Extra Credits

games are an art form just like novels or films great games can explore life's issues in ways that can help us grow and change like sculpture or music they can use structures in new and inventive ways to demonstrate their beauty but how do they do this how do games speak James was recently discussing this very question with Evan Hill a designer who has worked at heart machine and in Exile so today we thought we would bring him in to explain his take [Music] game design is a language just like English cinematography or music and if we are to understand this language we have to start at the most fundamental level what is a language for this let's define a language as any system which uses arranged parts to communicate ideas and experience we can describe the beauty of nature by arranging words into a novel arranging Strokes onto a canvas or by arranging visuals sound and

mechanics into a game so games are made up of numerous Elements which work together to communicate an idea or an experience to the player and every one of those elements the visuals the sound the narrative and the gameplay all of them speak but how how do all of these jumbled parts and pieces come together into something that's even comprehensible much less something moving or impactful well using what we know about language and literary Theory let's sketch an outline of how a game becomes a meaningful ho like other art forms games can speak on more than just the surface level communicate far more than what is just directly said or shown to the player games can communicate in multiple layers of subtext simultaneously so let's dissect these different layers we'll call them isolated meaning associative meaning and dynamic meaning starting from the top and working our way down let's begin with isolated meaning this describes what each element of a game means in isolation these are the elements that

are going to inform the player's first impression of a game every superficial component the color palette musical style narrative premise and gameplay features they each lend a certain energy and flavor to the work and these elements can combine to create radically different Impressions just as an example here are some screenshots from two mechanically similar games even with motion sound and gameplay removed these screenshots give different Impressions if you put these on an art gallery wall and showed them to people who have never played games these images would still convey something different heck we could even go one step further and turn both of these into a set of color swatches even when isolated from the full game experience limbo's colors are still Bleak and menacing while Mario's colors are bright and toy-like and this applies to every element in your game your leveling system your Jazz sound track your cat collecting mechanic whatever components your game may have they each carry some intrinsic meaning so it's

important to be constantly aware of these initial Impressions you're creating because while this may be the most superficial level of your overall design these elements are the starting point of the player's experience these are the raw ingredients that you're bringing to the table and selecting the best ingredients is just as vital to game design as it is to cooking but just as a grocery list isn't a meal a list of features and an art style is not a game going back to our definition of language we need to look at how each of these elements are arranged and that brings us to the second layer associative meaning when two or more elements combine or contrast be they chocolate and peanut butter or Jazz and Space Cowboys the unique relationship between those elements creates an experience distinct from their separate isolated meanings this is what we call their associative meaning you can see this happening in simple combinations like the contrasts and harmonies between colors but a more concrete and easy topot gaming example is in gameplay feel the components of a

gunshot the flash of the muzzle the loud bang The Recoil animation and the Damage dealt in isolation these elements are all kind of weak but put them together and Bam you get an experience that's way more potent than any of those parts in isolation and this goes Way Beyond direct experiential elements too game mechanics and narrative are just as important to this associative process take fire emblem's perade Death mechanic it combines numerous elements the Vivid characters the stat progression and your personal play history and double underlines the importance of those things by threatening the player with their loss perade acts like a high contrast filter for the entire game so we now have an idea of how players directly interact with game elements starting with isolated Impressions and then developing Associated meanings between them to form a coherent experience just like the flavors in a bite of well-cooked food but to get the full picture the complete meaning that a game is capable of communicating we need to go go one layer further as developers

we can understand that a player is experiencing something specific hopefully by design a particular emotion an opinion of the characters or an expectation of what's going to happen next and once you know what the player is thinking and feeling then you can use that knowledge to tap into the deepest layer of meaning that a game can possess Dynamic meaning change is the final and most powerful tool of communication in game design in fact all the other tools interest curves threea structures Heroes Journeys these are all just Frameworks for delivering change when a game changes the experience it creates changes as it removes adds or modifies elements new isolated and Associated meanings are fed to the player but these variations on the experience aren't just a series of snapshots each moment combines with the others to create the dynamic layer of meaning this process takes the ideas and the emotions developed in the other layers and it links them together like words in a

sentence sometimes it's hard to notice just how drastic these changes can be while playing often because they feel so natural and that's why I think this layer to be so powerful when done right when done with the player's thoughts and expectations in mind this Dynamic layer of meaning can honestly feel like a conversation the game is actively listening and speaking back to the player through these changes in the experience sometimes these changes may come from the developers simply creating very content like the narrative twists and turns of a Telltale Game but it can also come from the game itself reacting to the player like the system driven possibility spaces of Rim world or Crusader Kings what's more this Dynamic meaning can even come from the player actively learning about the game over time as you master new techniques in Street Fighter or uncover New pieces of the intricate lore of a Dark Souls game that too changes the player experience of a game using all of these methods we can use the D Dynamic layer to have

conversations about the traumatic nature of inflicting violence or share the experience of an awkward First Love or explore the messy nature of Truth and this goes beyond the high level themes of a game too Dynamic meaning can help us see the joy found in exploring beautiful systems or help us focus on sensory experiences when all of these layers of meaning are used to their fullest games come alive every decision that goes into building a game affects the player's experience and what that game says but when the weight of those decisions are undervalued what the resulting game mistakenly says might be regrettable these processes I've described they are at play in every single game intended or not there's no real way to opt out of them this is just how art Works no matter what we do as developers our games will speak to our players and it's our job our challenge to find things worth saying see you next week

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