Lemmings
GameBy DMA Design · Released Feb 14, 1991
Documents about Lemmings
Article
Of Mice and Lemmings: Ludic Subjectivity and Interface in a Historical Context
The document analyzes the 1991 game Lemmings, arguing that its design and unique "ludic subjectivity" were deeply intertwined with the historical context of computer hardware and game industry practices, specifically the rise of the mouse-based interface.
- The paper argues that Lemmings (DMA Design, 1991) is inseparable from the rise of the mouse-based graphical interface, and that its design and player positioning emerged from that hardware and industry moment.
- Lemmings sold an estimated 15 million copies yet had limited influence on later games and has received little scholarly attention.
- Lemmings grew out of experimentation rather than established genre conventions, combining a character concept originally designed for Walker with a terrain-tracing algorithm first intended for a missile in Blood Money.
DiGRAJun 2023
Article
A Short and Simple Definition of What a Videogame Is
Nicolas Esposito's 2005 DiGRA conference paper proposes a compact, academically grounded definition of the videogame as a stepping stone toward new design methods.
- The paper proposes a short, reusable academic definition of the videogame as a game played through an audiovisual apparatus that can be based on a story, intended as a foundation for future videogame design methods.
- The author argues that serious videogame studies only began in recent years, even though the videogame industry was already more than thirty years old at the time of writing (2005).
- The definition is grounded in established game theory, drawing on Caillois, Huizinga, Zimmerman, Crawford, Kramer, and Juul's account of automation and rule enforcement.
DiGRAJan 2005
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