It may go into a rewrite or second article.
The original post here was merely about the mechanical aspects of game design. You people have opened up the pandora''s box of game design psychology on me, thanks . Hmmmm.
quote: By Morbo
Under this model, we could monitor player inputs to see if we''re getting the desired reaction, maybe?
Morbo, this already occurs in games i believe. Its where game design and ai intersect. Ai could also be part of the "Axle" of game design, have to think about it - i''m putting it in the backburner.
The way i''m percieving External is as a product produced by the game internally then outputed to the player. eg the player spends 2 game credits on a sword. The swords properties are an external game element(because they are on the players plate). Now the game know that''s the player is using a good sword and it comes up with a better one but doesn''t show it for 1/2 an hour. This better sword and the act of creating it is Internal. The act of the game creating things is always Internal but the item or what created becomes External when it gets placed on the players "Plate" (plate = video monitor, speakers, smellovision etc in the usual forms text, graphics, sound (data)).
I''ve got to think some more about this before i continue with this raving. Please feel free to ignore what i''ve said so far. I''m only thinking about the mechanical aspects of game design not psyc stuff.
I guess the players actions could or should be considered part of the game design. That''s a tough one.
A designer doesnt need to know everything about code, they just have to have an appreciation for its limitations and how those limitations affect features they may wish to include in their design. - Drew