On the Intersection of Theory and Practice: Hybrid Multi-modal Game Design as a Medium of Affective Digital Communication

This dissertation explores the relationship between game design and development from both academic and industry perspectives, while attempting to derive a hybrid model for designing and analysing games as multimodal artifacts. The dissertation consists of a research-creation project informed by game design literature from both academia and the industry in order to facilitate the production of the new knowledge and interdisciplinary scholarship that, as noted by Jarvinen and other foundational game scholars like Bogost, is largely missing from academia at the moment. The dissertation aims to delve into intersectional and interdisciplinary knowledge, as well as to provide a bridge between current game design scholarship and multimodal analysis, that has been successfully employed in the media scholarship to analyse multi-media artifacts like websites and digital and print advertising, but hasnt been used as extensively in game design studies. An emphasis is also given to affect and emotion-formation as a part of digital media (and gaming) experience predicated on human-computer interaction principles.
By proving that games are powerful engagement artifacts because they guide behavior-formation, help learning by association, and offer a better, more enjoyable path to behavior correction, this dissertation aims to encourage and invite further experimentation in game design studies and to support scholars and educators pursuing hybrid research-creation based projects.