Idea Network Visualisations in Game Jams & Roguelike Games

Abstract

This thesis aims to conceptualise ideas as a network via a curiosity-driven, reflective, research-through-design process as an approach to address how ideas are connected. It is inspired by John Guare’s Six Degrees of Separation phenomena in social distances, Mark Lombardi’s aesthetically handcrafted financial connection network art, and Eugene Garfield’s scientific citation index. It channels Ted Nelson’s notion of intertwingularity to describe the complex interrelations of ideas as a network, which it calls an idea network. An idea network is systemic epistemology network. It is constructed by strategically observing, documenting, and validating sources of inspiration and influence from a chosen point of view, which sometimes contains multiple, conflicting perspectives. Specifically, the aim is achieved by using two domains within the field of game design, which frequently sees wild and improbable combinations of influences. First, it uses game jams, a type of game creation event where participants form teams to make games in a short timeframe, serving as a research environment for observing brainstorming and idea refinement. Second, it uses roguelike games, a subgenre of videogames that challenge the player with ‘permadeath’, serving as a knowledge domain for constructing real-world idea networks that span over four decades. The contributions are four. 1) Structure of idea networks, 2) Significant properties of idea networks, 3) Visualisations of idea networks, and 4) Design insights extracted from idea networks. Idea networks serve the needs of many disciplines: that of the researcher searching for a starting point, that of the designer seeking new inspiration, that of the consumer exploring related creative works of interest, and that of the archivist documenting and presenting information in a structured way. Future directions hint at open research fields in their applications, translational research, and archival use.