This document discusses the roles of game designers in predicting and improvising. Game designers must analyze player behavior through scientific methods like hypotheses and testing while also being adaptable to changes. Designers are encouraged to notice more details, use diverse tools and materials, get out of their thinking and just act, treat everything as potential resources, and combine simple elements to create living game worlds. The document was presented at the annual Game Happens festival in Italy to discuss game design, interaction design, and virtual reality.

1. THE ROLE OF A GAME DESIGNER:
PREDICT AND IMPROVISE
FEDERICO FASCE @KURAI
MARINA ROSSI @MARINAPONDERS

2. VILLA BOMBRINI, GENOVA
PROJECT
DATE PLACE
JUNE 24-25, 2016
GAME HAPPENS!
THE ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL IN ITALY WHERE GAME DESIGN,
INTERACTION DESIGN AND VIRTUAL REALITY COLLIDE.

3. PREDICT
HAROLD ANCHEL, FORTUNE TELLER (1935) – MET MUSEUM

7. Analysis Paralysis
Analysis paralysis or paralysis by analysis is an anti-
pattern, the state of over-analysing (or over-thinking)
a situation so that a decision or action is never
taken, in effect paralysing the outcome.

8. SCIENTIFIC
METHOD
GALILEO GALILEI

9. OBSERVATIONS
RESULTS
HYPOTHESES
CORRECTIONS

10. BE CONSISTENT
FOLLOW YOUR RULES
EVERY DAY • EVERYWHERE
CHARLES L. PHILIPPI, THE LINCOLN
FUNERAL TRAIN, PHILADELPHIA (1865)

11. ADAPT
CHANGE YOUR RULES
ADJUST AND CONFORM
JOSEF MARIA EDER, CHAMÄLEON
CRISTATUS (1896)

12. FILE NAMING

13. TOOLS
SET OF SEVEN PRUNING TOOLS (1575–1600) – MET MUSEUM

14. FILE NAMING

15. BASECAMP

16. TRELLO

17. AIRTABLE

18. EVERNOTE

19. SLACK

20. IMPROVISE
VASILY KANDINSKY, IMPROVISATION 27 (GARDEN OF LOVE II), (1912) – MET MUSEUM

21. Stream of Consciousness
A narrative mode or device that depicts the
multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass
through the mind.

22. JACKSON POLLOCK
ONE: NUMBER 31, 1950 (1950) – MOMA

23. FRANK GEHRY
GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM, BILBAO

24. FRANK GEHRY
GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM, BILBAO

26. NOTICE MORE

27. LISTEN
FREDERICK GEORGE RICHARD ROTH, PERFORMING ELEPHANT (1902) – MET MUSEUM

28. USE EVERYTHING

29. YES, AND…

30. A Penny for My Thoughts
She pauses before speaking
again. “Yes, I remember now.
I said, ‘No, I want to come
with you.’”
She hands her penny to the
man. “And I had a fantastic
time. It was so thrilling, so
wonderful. That’s when I knew
what I wanted to do with my
life. And that is what I
remember.”

31. LET GO

32. LET GO

33. Don’t Think
"UCB’s motto is Don’t think. It
started as a directive from Del
[Close], transformed into a
comment on corporate
doublespeak, and now serves
as the guiding principle for our
school and theater. Don’t think.
Get out of your head. Stop
planning and just go. The
theater belongs to the people."
– Amy Poehler, Yes Please (2014)

34. EVERYTHING IS AN OFFER

37. “It’s important to accumulate
many, many jigsaw pieces,
since the more you have
available, the more things you
can build.”
– Derek Yu, Spelunky (2016)

38. When games improvise
“I applied a similar principle to
Spelunky: Combine simple
behaviors to give the
impression that the monsters
are working together. This not
only creates challenging
situations, but it also makes
the world feel more like a
living, breathing ecosystem.”
– Derek Yu, Spelunky (2016)

39. THANK YOU!
– SEE YOU AT GAME HAPPENS!
GENOVA, JUNE 24-25 2016
FEDERICO FASCE @KURAI
MARINA ROSSI @MARINAPONDERS
GAMEHAPPENS.COM