This thesis was written as half of an honours major project at the University of Wollongong in 2018. This thesis is accompanied by a creative work which takes the proposed hybrid game design principles and applies it to the development of a prototype hybrid game.
“Elysse’s exegesis demonstrates a sophisticated analysis of current research, and authors such as Schell, Costello, and Salen and Zimmerman are continuously engaged in the context of the argument. The thesis argument is structurally coherent, and progresses convincingly from a discussion of the notion of design thinking, to the problematic of designing analogue/digital hybrid games, followed by a concise analysis of important case studies leading to a set of recommended hybrid game design principles.
Elysse’s set of recommended principles is particularly intriguing and promising in terms of future research, especially in the context of the argument in the third and fourth chapters. Another quite original aspect of the thesis is in the conceptualization of hybrid game design as an iterative feedback loop process guided by heuristic rules-of-thumb with no definite end-point. This sets Elysse’s use of design thinking at odds with the established, and highly dogmatic, design theory and practice, and I can only encourage her to continue working along this vector of enquiry.”
THESIS STATEMENT
This thesis is an exploration of key design features present in analogue/digital hybrid games. It provides case study analysis of existing hybrid games using a selection of Jesse Schell’s (2008) principles of game design. This thesis is part of an honours project which has developed a digital/analogue hybrid game idea, however the thesis itself is informed by practice-led research (see: Candy & Edmonds 2018), as it synthesises a set of hybrid game design principles intended for use in further scholarly research and future development of hybrid games.
ABSTRACT
The tabletop games industry is experiencing a renaissance, with annual global sales estimated to be worth more than nine billion dollars (Graham 2016).¹ Typically considered a ‘niche’ creative industry, there has been little scholarly attention to contemporary analogue experiences as most research focuses on digital games. As new media technologies have become accessible over time, tabletop game designers have capitalised on the opportunities afforded by these products, integrating them into gaming experiences. This combination of analogue and digital is a part of a sub-genre of ‘hybrid’ games that has recently begun to experiment with mobile ‘smart’ devices. This thesis contributes to game design research by examining analogue/digital hybridity in tabletop games. It aims to identify key design features of analogue/digital hybrid games, exploring how hybrid games integrate digital technologies into the analogue gaming experience through case studies of three existing hybrid games: Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition (Valens 2016), One Night Ultimate Alien (Alspach & Okui 2017); and DropMix (Hasbro 2017).
¹The terms tabletop games, board games and analogue games are used interchangeably in this thesis.
Elysse Turner 