Character-Driven Game Design

In a recent dissertation, Petri Lankoski looks at character driven game design and how this approach affects players and engagement. The study also looks at various design patterns and how character aspects can strengthen overall design. In a recent review, I discussed Katherine Isbister’s book on making better characters and these writings seem to go together fairly well. While I do not necessarily agree with the lack of quantitative data collection, Petri’s dissertation is worth the read. I tend to prefer a more mixed-methods approach, but this dissertation serves as foundation for future research.

Character-Driven Game Design