Hacking Games and Making People Happy: A Conversation with a Game Designer

Summary

In this Q&A session, we delve into the world of game design with a professional game designer. The designer talks about his experience hacking a game and the subsequent response he received from the public. He shares his thoughts on using games to make people happy and how to create games that have a deeper cultural impact. We learn the importance of staying true to personal motivations and creating games organically, rather than designing them on paper. The designer also touches on the significance of prototyping and the ultimate goal of making people happy through game design.

The inspiration behind hacking a game

The designer speaks about the process of hacking a game and the unexpected response he received from the public. Although he didn’t intend to send a message with the game, he learned a lot in the process. He discusses how this experience made him consider how he can apply his learnings to future games and hacks. He received emails from people sharing their stories of how games affected their lives, and he is exploring ways to create games with a more profound impact.

Learning from the experience

The designer explains how he realized the significance of games in people’s lives after the response he received from the public. He shares his thoughts on how video games have the potential to help people and make them happy. He emphasizes the need to find ways to make games more than just prescriptive medicine but instead create a deeper cultural impact. He discusses the danger of trying to make games that teach people or preach to them because such games can lack sincerity.

Creating games with a deeper cultural impact

The designer talks about his approach to making games that have a deeper cultural impact. He emphasizes the importance of focusing on what is meaningful to oneself and finding the genuine elements that will attract people. He shares a specific example of a game that they built without prescriptively deciding what key features to include. Instead, they built the game, found out what was interesting about it, and allowed the heart and soul of the game to emerge organically.

Personal motivations in game design

The designer shares that motivation and creativity in game design come from personal motivation, making it a challenging task to create games to teach people. He believes that when people build games based on their personal and meaningful experiences, it has a more sincere and genuine approach. He explains that the goal of game design is to make people happy and how happiness is the driving force behind prototyping.

The importance of prototyping

The designer talks about the importance of prototyping in game design, adding that it is a form of hacking. He explains that they hack whatever they have to do to put happiness at the center of the game. The designer shares that the ultimate goal of game design is to make people happy, and prototypes help the designer see the players’ emotions and gauge the response.

Conclusion:

Creating a game is more than entertaining people; games can have a deeper cultural impact and create emotional connections with people. Designers must focus on what is meaningful to them and create games based on personal experiences, rather than creating a list of prescriptive features it should have. Happy players become loyal players, and designers need to build games that make people happy.