Article
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Application of Pattern Language for Game Design in Pedagogy and Design Practice
Version 1
: Received: 19 July 2021 / Approved: 21 July 2021 / Online: 21 July 2021 (11:11:15 CEST)
A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.
Barney, C.A. Application of Pattern Language for Game Design in Pedagogy and Design Practice. Information 2021, 12, 393. Barney, C.A. Application of Pattern Language for Game Design in Pedagogy and Design Practice. Information 2021, 12, 393.
Abstract
Existing implementations of game design patterns have largely been confined to theoretical or research settings. Weaknesses in these implementations have prevented game design patterns from being properly evaluated as an educational and practical development tool. This paper examines these weaknesses, describes a method of developing and applying patterns that overcome the weaknesses, and evaluates use of the method for game design education and practice.
Weaknesses in existing pattern implementations are: omission of design problems, presumption of functional completeness at the level of pattern languages, narrow topical focus, and lack of a concise, repeatable method for pattern production. Several features of the proposed method were specifically built to address these weaknesses, namely the pattern template, the process for connecting patterns into a language and assessing the language’s scope, a rubric for assessing pattern confidence and interconnectivity confidence, and pattern-building exercises.
This method was applied in a classroom setting. Results, as assessed by the evaluation of student work, suggest that creating patterns/pattern languages is an effective pedagogical approach. De-signs produced using designer-created patterns closely align with existing design theory and are clearly understood by students.
The above results may indicate that the path to gaining wider acceptance of pattern theory as a design framework within game design is not to produce a universal pattern language but to facilitate the creation of case-specific languages, by students and professional designers, that use a shared ontology and thus can be combined easily to solve the diverse sets of problems faced by these groups.
Keywords
game design, design patterns; pattern language; design pattern application; design pattern creation
Subject
Computer Science and Mathematics, Software
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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