Analyses
Long-form research analyses of game design repositories
- Design Problem Solving as Katamari DamacyRilla KhaledRe: It is as if you were on your phone
We take for granted that design concepts are linked to their designers, yet everything we know about how design problem solving happens implies a far more complex dynamic at play between designer and design concept. Designers both know and do not know their unmaterialized concepts. Materialization implies a crossover of a threshold between imaginary and real. Materiality introduces material consequences. Designers weigh up material consequences and adopt a most appropriate material form through the course of design activity, which is ever framed by context.
2026-08-06 - Designer as Guest, Collaborating with MaterialsAdrian DemleitnerRe: Ostrakinda
A walk-through of the analytical phase of MDM, based on the analysis of Ostrakinda, a repository of an experimental video game and demarcating the phases involved in the analytical phase of MDM. And the emergent theory formulated concerning the designerly stance during the making of Ostrakinda: the designer as guest.
2026-08-05 - A Tale of Two SiblingsRilla Khaled & Matt BethancourtRe: Lest Ten Horizons Cry
To illustrate our emergent theory, we rely on material evidence from the MDM archives of two projects undertaken by one of us concerning alt.ctrl experience design. We invite readers to open up the archives of these projects and examine some of their materials as our case study progresses.
2025-12-09 - Generative Logics and Conceptual ClicksRilla KhaledRe: It is as if you were making love
We share key Grounded Design Theory (GDT) findings from Love’s archive, to demonstrate the possibilities of MDM and to articulate design knowledge specific to Love and Barr’s design practice
2023-01-01 - It is as if you were doing workJonathan LessardRe: It is as if you were doing work
Work was released by Pippin Barr in July 2017. It presents itself as an application designed to give a sense of purpose to the idle humans of a near future in which all work has been delegated to robots. It takes the form of an early Windows-style desktop environment with modern office-like tasks to be performed through the manipulation of conventional GUI elements, such as sliders, radio buttons, and text boxes (see figure 3). The game was noticed by a number of generalist and specialized publications, most picking up on the game’s social commentary: “A job simulator designed to make you feel useful, chasing your existential anguish. Horrible, isn’t it?” [64], translated from French).
2018-08-07