ABSTRACT
Patterns in Game Design should be required reading for any new game designer because it succeeds at its primary goal of creating a useful and extensive vocabulary of game mechanics. Adams and Dormans are experts in mechanical game design, so, unsurprisingly, their patterns focus on this strength. That limited scope is not necessarily a problem for a group of patterns intended to be the seed for a much larger language. However, they define only 16 patterns and present them as a nearly complete language, only suggesting that designers should keep their eye out for additional patterns. The article “Developing a Pattern Language for Flow Experiences in Video Games” attempts to take a conceptual idea from game design and develop a pattern language focused on producing that concept in games. The Interactive Institute Swedish ICT houses a vast collection of more than 700 game design elements that maps their relationships to each other.
