Le véritable voyage de découverte ne consiste pas à chercher de nouveaux paysages mais à avoir de nouveaux yeux. — Marcel Proust
(Translation: The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. - Marcel Proust)
What does this mean for [game] design?
It means that there is more than one way to look at our work: the aesthetics, the color, the shapes, the lines, the contrasts, the composition, the interest curves, the results of user tests, the emotions, the memories, each and every model invented to formalize a theory… Each tool is a prism that allows us to observe a section of our work, a small sub-part indeed, but a part that allows us to draw conclusions about its quality and information to improve it and prepare its next iteration.
The more we learn to see new things, the more tools we have to observe our work, and the more capable we are of taking it far.
Source: This wisdom is inspired by Jesse Schell's Art of Game Design. Gathering multiple lenses is the premise of the book, and it gives a bunch of them.
Before diving in, I'd like to share with you some collections of game design resources to illustrate how wide and overwhelming the field can be.
- A YouTube playlist of game design talks (bangers only):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMXf0e8n2Oc&list=PLYnfu9d0mzDu9LJjg0XrTec8aAJIOMfUf - A YouTube playlist of game development talks (no less inspiring):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmwbYl6f11c&list=PLYnfu9d0mzDuo5bX74Vleq8p9YxCz5ZmO - A curated list of articles, books, talks, podcasts, and videos:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QhFyPfYSjHv7PjibGrslF3mNW_CIDXWv9o-iQgLbu1o/edit#gid=1632070911
There are many, many lenses to discover, and I plan to share with you the ones that have been crucial to my games or even changed my perception of the world.
I'll go one by one, because we can walk only one step at a time, and the first lens is: there are many lenses, "reading prisms". Each one is an opportunity to enhance some part of your games. You should be looking to catch them all.
Takeaway: There are many ways to look at something. Finding more ways to percieve leads to richer conclusions and deeper nuances.
As Jesse Schell's "Book of Lenses" demonstrates, each new perspective can unlock fresh insights. Is there a lens that has already changed your perception? Please let me know, I'll share the important ones!