Game Design as it applies to Application Design

What does successful game design say about application design?


 #code #design #problem solving #thinky thoughts

I play a lot of computer games. I'm not a 'mainstream' gamer but I play a lot of computer games. I have literally spent thousands of hours playing games. Particularly the ones that are made up of simple, clear systems that allow for emergent gameplay. I love the systems in simulations. I love tinkering and modding those games to push the systems to their limits. I love watching systems interact with each other. Sometimes I think of it as a digital ant farm.

At some point the, obvious-in-hindsight, idea occurs to me that game design and application design borrow from each other heavily. There's probably a heap of value to be gained by understanding game design. Like many software developers and engineers I know, I got into software to create things. Simulated systems and games were definitely on that list. I simply never studied game design before. To that point, I've barely scratched the surface of studying application design.

I've decided to really live in the space of life-long learning. This week I picked up a copy of Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences by Tynan Sylvester. If you've never heard of Tynan Sylvester that's alright. The internet is a big place. He's the author of a game called RimWorld which is rife with the simple systems that lead to emergent gameplay I mentioned earlier. I've held off on getting this book for years, honestly. I kept thinking it was going to be a how-to guide to game engines or something along those lines and that's not what I'm looking for. I'm much more interested in the philosophy of design. Turns out philosophy and psychology of game design is exactly what Tynan has written. I've only just skimmed chapters at this point but I'm so excited to dig into this material and continue to refine my understanding of humans, their needs, and how to serve them better as a software engineer and developer.