Gamasutra has just published a fascinating interview with Hirokazu Yasuhara, currently senior design director at Namco Bandai Games America, on the psychology of game design.

During the article Yasuhara explores his theories of fun and game design — something that sits alongside the thoughts of Raph Koster, Will Wright and Nicole Lazzaro, for example — and provides a clear insight into his approach to game design.

The visual approach Yasuhara adopts, provides concrete examples of how theory manifests itself within the design process. The article also includes an exploration of goals within games, which Yasuhara identifies as short, medium and long term. While in itself this was nothing new, it did highlight for me the importance of being able to track these goals and player progression throughout the design process using tools such as “beat sheets”. According to Yasuhara, a short-term goal is about 30 seconds in duration which gives you a good idea of how long he considers a “beat” to be within a game.

What I also found deeply interesting was Yasuhara’s view of the cultural differences between American and Japanese audiences, which tended to focus on “destruction” and “construction” respectively. He backs his claim providing contrasting examples including Pikmin and Gears of War.

Brandon Sheffield, the author of the piece who was fortunate enough to interview Yasuhara, said that “after conducting this interview, I was convinced that [Yasuhara] should write a book based on his theories”. And after reading the article I wholly agree, and I think there may be a few joining me.

So hopefully a book isn’t too far away… but in the meantime, the article does provide a tasty appetiser.

Hirokazu Yasuhara

Links

Game Design Psychology: The Full Hirokazu Yasuhara Interview
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/
3769/game_design_psychology_the_full_.php

GameIndustry.Biz has reported that EA and Maxis have announced that the much anticipated game from Will Wright, Spore, has gone gold and confirmed that the game will be available in Australia (Asia Pacific) on September 7, 2008.

Recently, Maxis unleashed the Spore Creature Creator onto the public (and in Australia you could even receive a copy by forking out just an extra couple of bucks when buying your paper!). The creator lets you design your own creature from the “ground up”, and the game itself will let you play and explore concepts of evolutionary biology. I recall my first experience with Spore when Wright mentioned the ambitious project during a talk at the Game Developers Conference about four years ago. It was something that excited me from a game development perspective, as a player, and for its potential to promote learning in the sciences.

What’s also fascinating from a gamer perspective, is the amount of user content already generated just with the release of the Creature Creator. A recent Age article quoted Will Wight saying that since its release in June, over 2 million creatures had been uploaded to the Spore universe, and that it would take the development team 50 years to make that much content.

I have to admit, that I’m personally looking forward to getting my hands on the full game. In the interim, here’s one of my early attempts with the Creature Creator.

Links
Spore Official Site: http://www.spore.com/

Earlier this year I attended the inaugural Boardgame Designers Forum at Australian Games Expo. Originally, I planned to write a blog entry to wrap up my experience at the event, but I soon realized that entry would be far too long. So I finished up writing a short article last month and now its available for you to read. If you’re interested in boardgame design, and what’s happening in the Australian industry, I’d recommend it as a read for those interested as to what was covered in the forum as I personally found that the the forum generated some quite valuable insights.

Enjoy!

Report
Boardgame Designers Forum: Australian Games Expo 2008
Download (PDF 980Kb)