Game Design Chronicles

Metaphors in Design

January 11, 2008 at 23:26

Metaphors is a simple and effective way to make a game design understandable to both the player and the developers. Especially if the concept being used as a metaphor is familiar to them. I believe though, that familiar metaphors can be a dead weight destroying an otherwise great design. You see, familiar metaphors are intrinsically boring - there is nothing new to learn, no novelty and no surprise. We get bored. Pick a novel, exotic metaphor if you want to excite. Or pick more than one.

I see two ways to use metaphor in design. Either the metaphor comes first, or the metaphor comes last. If the metaphor comes first, you have a thematic concept and begins describing it in terms of a game. A novel metaphor can make this approach work. If the metaphor comes last, you have a game design - game mechanics and rules, challenges and end conditions - and only then do you use a metaphor to explain how it works. In this case, a fitting metaphor is extremely hard to find and often you will be better of by using several loosely connected metaphors instead of one grand super metaphor.

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