Build It to Understand It: Ludology Meets Narratology in Game Design Space

Building experimental games offers an alternative methodology for researching and understanding games, beyond what can be understood by playing and studying existing games alone. Through a simultaneous process of research and artmaking in the construction of the interactive drama Façade, new theoretical and design insights into several game studies questions were realized, including the hotly debated question of ludology vs. narratology. This paper describes some of the ways that building games can inform researchers about what game scholarship should be focused on and why, and ways that building games can offer new perspectives on existing forms and genres.