Gaming simulation: A communication tool for architects and designers

In today's technological society, people spend more and more time in built environments that they have little or no control in shaping. There is also a large gap in communication between designers of the built environment and non-designers. The language that non-designers use to communicate specific spatial needs, whether aesthetic or functional, is different from the formal language that designers use to communicate these issues with each other. Gaming simulation, as a communication tool, has a number of characteristics that make it useful for improving communication and increasing participation among designers and non-designers. In this study, a method of teaching the design of gaming simulation to designers of the built environment is developed. This method includes a Game Design Index or cataloging system of gaming tehniques, within the context of a game design process. A questionnaire was used to interview the designers of the most current physical design games about the gaming techniques in their games. Their answers were organized into the Game Design Index and set within the context of a process for designing a game. This process was tested by teaching a course to graduate students in Urban Planning and Architecture. Further testing was done by holding a game design workshop for professional architects. The findings indicate that it is possible to analyze existing games for their gaming techniques and to index them in an organized way. It is also possible to add this index to an existing game design process. By using this process, graduate students were able to design gaming simulations of high quality, although professionals who attended a day-and-a-half workshop, were not so successful. This latter problem was primarily the result of the complexity of the task and the time constraint imposed. This dissertation describes the game design process that was used to teach neophytes to design games as well as the Game Design Indexes for ten existing games. A comprehensive review of games concerned with physical design is included.