The Research On Rules In The Design Of Digital Games

The society gradually accepts the digital game as an art form,which leading a rapid development on digital game design.Thousands of games are being produced and promoted to the market.During the production process,various genres learn from each other,copy with each other,and design based on the iteration,caused the homogenisation,also bring the problems of plagiarising.Since the art explanation and design method have not been studied thoroughly,rules’ art study is covered by rich image analysis and narrative theory.The academic research on game rules form design focuses on design practices;it lacks systematic design theory and method.This dissertation proposes the assumption from the design perspective that the force is the aether in the interaction between player and game rules form.It argues the force theory based on the description,explanation,and analysis,force is transforming from rules form to a player,and the construction of force is the rules form design itself.The force theory also unfolds the critical reason that digital game is fun on interaction,beauty on implication,and rich of cultural influence.The first chapter introduce the concept of digital game rules.Based on the design perspective,it constructs the concept with basic elements,pattern classification,and contradiction structures,which clarifies the reactive force structure and active force structure.In the second chapter,this study explores the development history of the digital game rules,concludes that the three early modes,which is the abstract sports simulation,the stage war simulation,and the purchase behavior simulation.The early modes either focus on the narrative of the game,or the rules challenge of the game.In the end,the digital game rules converge with the narrative,form the three parts of it,which is the interactive rules,the mechanic rules,and the narrative rules.Each of them shows a feature,the interactive rules give player feedbacks,the mechanic rules set player in a dilemma,and the narrative rules attract player step by step.The third chapter explore the function and the specialities of the digital game rules.It discovers that the rules are also function in the art creation and product design,that bring inspiration and joy when people break the limitation of the rules.The result indicates that the relationship between the reactive and active force is widely used not only in games,but also in arts.In the fourth chapter,this research keeps analyzing the construction of the digital game rules,and reveals the contradiction in the interactive rules,mechanic rules,and narrative rules.In the interactive rule form,the media characteristics of the rules form are in conflict with the embodied experience of players.In the mechanic rules form,the diagram nature is in conflict with the free drawing with force in canvas by players.In the narrative rule form,the linear narrative structure is interrupted by the player’s rhetoric.The contradiction between the rules forms and the players’ interaction reflects the basic property of force,which represents the contradiction between the reactive force and active force.In the last chapter,this research argues the contradiction relationship between the two forces.On the one hand,reactive force is generated by the rules,using time element,space element,and avatar’s empathy drives the player to act and select in the game.On the other hand,active force generates from the player;they master the game rules and use rules to serve for their purpose by the rhetoric function,the imagination peculiarity,and the Utopia idea.It also elaborates that player percepts the rules from the from,the visual,and the feeling of control,which can appreciate the reactive force and the active force.To sum up,this dissertation points out that the design of the digital game rules should start with the reactive force design,and set the purpose of active force transformation.It creates the contradiction,transforms the contradiction,and take the process that people percept the rules’ force as the core elements,so that it will find the beauty of rules contradiction,break the rules’ limitation,and innovate the rules’ design,construct the fresh experience of force.