Making Deep Games

by Doris C Rusch

Like movies, television, and other preceding forms of media, video games are undergoing a dynamic shift in its content and perception. While the medium can still be considered in its infancy, the mark of true artistry and conceptual depth is detectable in the evolving styles, various genres and game themes. Doris C. Rusch’s, Making Deep Games , combines this insight along with the discussion of the expressive nature of games, various case studies, and hands-on design exercises. This book offers a perspective into how to make games that tackle the whole bandwidth of the human experience; games that teach us something about ourselves, enable thought-provoking, emotionally rich experiences and promote personal and social change. Grounded in cognitive linguistics, game studies and the reflective practice of game design, Making Deep Games explores systematic approaches for how to approach complex abstract concepts, inner processes, and emotions through the specific means of the medium. It aims to shed light on how to make the multifaceted aspects of the human condition tangible through gameplay experiences.

Genres: Game Design, Games, Nonfiction

198 pages, Paperback

Published January 3, 2017

Reviews

[Pietro Polsinelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book provides some structural references, case studies, and hands-on design exercises which can be useful for both commercial and applied game design.

The book describes in detail how to adopt participatory design which fits perfectly with my 10 years of hands-on experience in applied games:

“Create ideal conditions: This is an ideal case and probably very hard to replicate in other PD [participatory design] projects, but it goes to show that the combination of firsthand knowledge of the topic to be modeled, a strong, personal agenda, significant design skills, and time spent honing and iterating on a prototype is most conducive to the creation of powerful deep games.” (Page 154)

The first part that links to existing books and methods concerning designing mechanics in relation to the gameplay experience is I believe the only weak point of the book, as it refers to a structuralist approach that is incompatible with the methods that are actually (and successfully) described in the following chapters.
But on this the author may have been evolving ideas, check out this paper: 21st Century Soul Guides: Leveraging Myth and Ritual for Game Design :

“The other characteristic we observed in mythic games with this soul guiding quality is that they de-emphasize game structure. They are still games, of course, and as such provide frameworks that structure play, but they prioritize contemplation.”

Writing a game design book seems to be incredibly hard. "Making Deep Games" is the best game design book I have read because it brings about the multidimensional aspects of the game designer profession that mechanically oriented guides seem to miss.
One aspect that may need more attention is the relationship with data-driven aspects of applied games.

[Benjamin Hu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not socialized in Western civilization. The book enlightens me the concept of " human experience & condition" which disappears in semantic world of my native society. The concept changes my insight to life & narrative representation of experience. Thank Father praise for your glory