Chapter 5.2. Techniques for Creating Fun

Chapter 5.1. Introduction

After this book

was finished, instead of feeling the satisfaction that usually comes when a large project is finally put to rest, I was left with a disquieting, unsettled yearning.

I then realized it was because I was hungry. I made myself a sandwich and the yearning went away.

Nonetheless, it did strike me that there were a few odds and ends that I thought belonged in the book. You'll find them here.

Chapter 5.2, "Techniques for Creating Fun," is designed to give you a few tools to help power up your own creative warp drive.

Chapter 5.3, "Gatherings," is the strangest chapter in the book. It's where I invite you to eavesdrop on my own twilight thoughts as I abandon my linear shackles and allow my mind to explore the nooks and crannies of some very disconnected creative landscapes. Some of these thoughts have to do with games. Some don't. One has to do with a mouse.

These chapters have one thing in common: I couldn't figure out anywhere else to put them.

A slippery little chapter that first skirted the main body of this book, and then hot-footed it right out of the addendum as well, was one called "Cool Stuff." After all, cool stuff definitely ignites player excitement and engagement in a game. Therefore, it seemed a bit sacrilegious to turn my back on such a powerful immersive tool.

"Coolness" is hard to nail down because it's culturally determined. Whether you're talking about games or sneakers or music, what's cool today is unlikely to be cool tomorrow; what's cool in L.A. might not be cool in New York or Paris. The cultural factors that go into making something cool are countless. Since coolness is so culturally relative, I'm skeptical that there will ever be hard and fast techniques to create "cool stuff."

The chapter called "Cool Stuff" listed what I and a few of my game designer friends thought were some of the coolest features, moments, and gameplay mechanics from scores of games. But since it didn't really offer any specific techniques, at the end of the day it seemed appropriate to kill the chapter, which I did with wistful remorse. I was guided, however, by a Hindu-Buddhist intuition that the chapter would reincarnate on my website. And, in fact, that's just what it did. You're thus invited to www.freemangames.com, where you can click on "Participate" and add your own favorite cool game experiences and mechanics to a provocative and steadily growing list.

So following are two bonus chapters, as a thumbs-up for your high-dive into the world of Emotioneering.

If this book is a balmy July, then these final chapters are its farewell Indian summer.