ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to develop a model for the modular paradigm. Modular design has an extensive presence across the genealogy of game systems. Craft modules that assemble into desirable gestalts, and design an assembly mechanism to manifest them. The assembly mechanism is the player's choice of equipment, within the constraints prescribed by each piece's coupling to a particular body part. A gestalt space is the set of all possible gestalts that can be assembled from a set of modules, by a given assembly mechanism. In the context of a modular design and a set of game mechanics, orthogonality refers to the partitioning of the design into modules that do not overlap and whose gestalts span the space of gameplay prescribed by the mechanics. Designs that use mechanics as shared substrates and adhere to the principles of orthogonality and equivalence of impact tend to form elegant, symmetric systems.
