Videogames and their material representations: Prototyping interactive experiences for social and cognitive purposes

• Main Authors: Feichin Ted TSCHANG (or F. Ted TSCHANG), D’IPPOLITO, Beatrice, CHABOUD, Mathieu-Claude
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2022
• Subjects: video games; paper prototyping; formative era; prototype conception; video game design; content mapping; locations; events; logics of player interactions; player experience; interactive prototypes; social roles of prototypes; cultural knowledge; design coordination; boundary object; design of experiences; Organizational Behavior and Theory
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/7402
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This article explores a formative era of video games during which paper prototyping was widely used. By examining a range of paper prototypes, we extend the conception of a prototype to involve types that incorporate multiple aspects of video game design, including the mapping of content, locations and events, and the logics structuring player interactions. The prototypes integrate multiple dimensions in order to help designers structure the player experience. Such prototypes are critical antecedents to the construction of working interactive prototypes, as they represent layers of the player’s experience. We find that paper prototypes fulfill different social roles, including: conveying past cultural knowledge and embedding it into the design; coordinating and reconciling different views on the design; and elaborating the design (potentially to instruct other developers). In explicating these roles, we draw on the notion of boundary object to discuss the range of prototypes and their uses for uniquely describing the design of experiences.