ABSTRACT
Designing computer games or game-based virtual worlds is a challenging problem (Bartle 2004). Such a problem has the complexity of both software systems design and designing the fun interactive play experiences (Fullerton et al. 2004; Howard 2008; Schell 2008). For the software engineering specialist new to game development, a clean-sheet game design can be a daunting challenge. Therefore, developers are wise to first start by examining the existing games and game play experiences as a basis for designing future games. Such an approach relies on some form of informal domain analysis (Prieto-Diaz and Arango 1991) to identify recognizable game features and capabilities, and game objects; functional operations; game play rules; and relationships between objects, operations, rules, features, and capabilities, as game play mechanics (Sicart 2008).
