1.
05

2.
HI, I’M CHELSEA
• Creative Director at EA Mobile, Austin
• Co-founder Queerness & Games
Conference
• Lecturer at California College of the Arts
• GDC Advisory Board member
• Fast Company‟s Most Creative People
1000
• Global Game Jam SF Organizer
• IndieCade Super Juror
• IGF Design Jury
Say hi back!
@manojalpa2
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

3.
I REALLY LIKE GAMES
9 hrs/wk * 52 wks * 22 yrs = 10,296 hrs
3
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

4.
Engagement Economy:
Where attention is currency and
games won the lottery.
GAMES ARE REALLY POWERFUL
4
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

5.
SO WHY AREN’T THEY BETTER?
5
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

6.
“What does it mean?”
“How does it make you feel?”
“What do you think when you see this?”
7
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

7.
“Nice
combo!”
“These
graphics
are
insane.”
“My turn!”8
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

8.
10
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

9.
FLOW
The
“Optimal Experience”
Theory

10.
The Environment
1. Clear Goals
2. Immediate Feedback
3. Balance between
Challenge and Skill
The Experience
1. Action/Awareness
merge
2. Distractions are
excluded from
consciousness
3. No fear of failure
4. Self consciousness
disappears
5. Sense of time is
distorted
6. Activity becomes
autotelic
FLOW: THE BULLET POINTS
12
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

11.
FLOW: THE ENVIRONMENT
Clear Goals
Games vs Toys
Accessibility of Objectives
Immediate Feedback
Progress
Failure
Balance Between Challenge/Skill
Frustration/Boredom
Adaptive Difficulty
13
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

12.
FLOW: THE EXPERIENCE
1. Action/Awareness merge
2. Distractions are excluded from consciousness
3. No fear of failure
4. Self consciousness disappears
5. Sense of time is distorted
6. Activity becomes autotelic
14
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

13.
FLOW: THE EXPERIENCE
1. Action/Awareness merge
2. Distractions are excluded from consciousness
3. No fear of failure
4. Self consciousness disappears
5. Sense of time is distorted
6. Activity becomes autotelic
15
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

14.
FLOW: “SELF CONSCIOUSNESS DISAPPEARS”
We are on automatic
Action without contemplation
Doing without feeling
16
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

15.
YOU CAN’T FEEL WHEN YOU FLOW
17
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

16.
YOU CAN’T FEEL WHEN YOU FLOW
shit.
18
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

17.
WHAT OTHER THEORIES ARE OUT THERE?
Psychology?
Cognitive Science?
Human-Computer Interaction?
“Enchantment” – McCarthy et al, 2006
19
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

18.
ENCHANTMEN
T
“Enchantment is an
experience
of being caught up and
carried away,
in which, although we are
disoriented,
perception and attention
are heightened.
To the extent that it awakens
us to wonder
and to the wonder of life, it is
enlivening.”

19.
ENCHANTMENT: HOW IS IT DIFFERENT?
Deep Engagement:
 Emotional, intellectual, and sensory
Moments that make players go “Wow”
Complex Cognition:
 Elevation
 Revelation
 Wonder
21
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

20.
ENCHANTMENT: THE ENVIRONMENT
“If our first thought on encountering a new interactive system is that
„… it is just like …‟
– just like another system,
just like this other game–
there is little chance of being enchanted.”
22
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

21.
…

22.
ENCHANTMENT: DEPTH
• offer the potential
for the unexpected
• give the chance of
new discoveries
• provide a range of
possibilities
24
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

23.
ENCHANTMENT: SENSIBILITIES FOR IXD
1. A Sense Being in Play
2. The Sensuousness of the System
3. Holistic Player: Desires, Feelings, Anxieties
4. The Transformational Experience
5. Paradox, Openness, Ambiguity
25
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

24.
ENCHANTMENT: 1. A SENSE OF BEING IN PLAY
Systems or objects that challenge familiar categories
and values are more likely to be enchanting.
26
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

25.
ENCHANTMENT: 2. SENSUOUSNESS OF A SYSTEM
Activating and
appealing
to the senses:
compelling styles
visceral textures
tantalizing audio
mesmerizing motion
27
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

26.
ENCHANTMENT:
3. HOLISTIC PLAYERS: DESIRES, FEELINGS, ANXIETIES
Designing for generic players begets generic games.
28
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

27.
ENCHANTMENT
4. THE TRANSFORMATIONAL EXPERIENCE
The Gestalt Shift
29
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

28.
SCALE
CHANGES
ENCHANTMENT
4. The Transformational Experience

29.
SECRET SPACES
ENCHANTMENT
4. The Transformational Experience

30.
BOUNDARY BREAKS
ENCHANTMENT
4. The Transformational Experience

31.
EMERGENT
FUNCTIONALITY
ENCHANTMENT
4. The Transformational Experience

32.
NOVEL I/O
ENCHANTMENT
4. The Transformational Experience

33.
ENCHANTMENT:
5. PARADOX, AMBIGUITY, OPENNESS
35
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

34.
THIS IS MORE THAN ENCHANTMENT
36
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

35.
AMBIGUITY THROUGH MINIMALISM
37
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

36.
OPENNESS
Players project themselves into
the spaces we leave behind.
38
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

37.
ABSTRACTION
39
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

38.
THE LITTLE CIRCLES SERIES + CHALLENGE
The Big Question: Can systems tell stories?
The Big Test: Create a game with no explicit imagery or text. Every actor in
the system is represented with a circle.
40
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

39.
THE RESULTS
I noticed how many of the
nodes created the same
color, just like how many
people feel the same way
even if they have no
connection to one another.
How does this reflect society?
Maybe, this reflects how at one time,
physical distance between two
people faded their human
connection over time. Today, this
fading may be caused by
censorship, digital isolation… the tip
of the iceberg.
Simple yet elegant –
transforming a
network of
individuals to
become whole can
be a life changing
experience.
The pulsing color is a bit like a heartbeat.
You could say on one hand you have a
frozen captive hivemind and others are
pulled in. But what I got out of it is the
idea that if you stop and work on
something, and just keep concentrating
on what you’re trying to build/do… the
magnetism of the project will, eventually,
speak for itself.
I liked that the rules were not
given, but were there to be
discovered. I thought it would be
interesting if the passage of the
mouse could create a current or
stream in the environment, much
like our actions in the world move
and effect people outside of our
direct contact.
Hundreds of
Unique Interpretations

40.
IN REVIEW
Everyone is playing games, a lot, so let‟s make them better: more
evocative, meaningful
Flow is great for immediate engagement, but not for evoking complex
emotions
Enchantment focuses on lasting impact through complex sensory,
emotional, and intellectual engagement
Openness and Ambiguity enable players to create their own meaning
and stories through game systems.
Minimalism and Abstraction let us analyze how interactivity – not
aesthetics – can be as evocative as aesthetics.
42
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

41.
43
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

42.
EVERY TIME YOU FEEL AN EMOTION, IT
SPREADS ON AVERAGE TO 6 OTHER
PEOPLE YOU KNOW.
44
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

43.
THEN TO 36 PEOPLE THEY KNOW.
45
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

44.
AND THEN 216 PEOPLE THEY KNOW.
46
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

45.
Every day, you are changing over
250 lives
– for better or for worse –
just by how you feel.
47
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

46.
Feel Deeper.
Mean Better.
Make Powerful
Games.
48
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E

47.
49
@ M A N O J A L
P A
C H E L S E A
H O W E