Emergence and progression - Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design - page 23

ChAptEr 2
Emergence and
progression
In the previous chapter, we introduced five types of game mechanics: physics, inter-
nal economy, progression, tactical maneuvering, and social interaction. Of these
categories, the mechanics of progression create what in game studies are called
games of progression . The other four types of mechanics correspond fairly well to
another category, games of emergence . For ease of reference, we will call the other
four types of mechanics mechanics of emergence in this chapter.
The two categories of games of emergence and games of progression are considered
important, alternative ways of creating gameplay. In this chapter, we explore this
important distinction in more detail and provide examples of each category. We also
explore the structural differences in the mechanics that generate emergence and
progression and the problems and opportunities they create when a designer tries
to integrate emergence and progression in a single game.
The History of Emergence and Progression
The categories of emergence and progression were originally introduced by game
scholar Jesper Juul in his paper “The Open and the Closed: Games of Emergence and
Games of Progression” (2002). Put simply, games of emergence are those games that
have relatively simple rules but much variation. We use the term emergence because
the game's challenges and its flow of events are not planned in advance but emerge
during play. Emergence is produced by the many possible combinations of rules
in board games, card games, strategy games, and some action games. According
to Juul, “Emergence is the primordial game structure” (p. 324); that is, the earliest
games were games of emergence, and in creating a new game, many people begin
with emergent designs.
Games of this type can be in many different configurations, or states, during play.
All possible arrangements of the playing pieces in chess constitute different game
states, because the displacement of a single pawn by even one square can make a
critical difference. The number of possible combinations of pieces on a chess board
is huge, yet the rules easily fit on a single page. Something similar can be said of the
placements of residential zones in the simulation game SimCity or the placement of
units in the strategy game StarCraft .
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