The Curious Design of Knowledge Based Games | MetroidBrainias
298The Knowledge based game is a new breed of game design that has become popular of late, where games are designed around progression mediated not by new abilities or mechanics, but knowledge. Lets examine this further.
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Knowledge checks in fighting games
https://glossary.infil.net/?t=Knowledge Check
The Aesthetic of Play - Brian Upton
-Game Mechanics, advanced game design
Skill checks vs knowledge Checks
Sequence breaks - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequence_breaking
0:00 Knowledge checks in competitive games
1:13 Knowledge based games vs other progression systems
2:43 The Witness spoilers
3:05 Metroidbrainias and the aesthetics of knowledge
3:50 Toki Tori 2 vs Rain world - Knowledge as mechanic vs theme.
6:11 Knowledge as a mechanic, sequence breaking and Insight
7:55 Outer wilds (spoilers) and unifying theme and mechanics through knowledge based play
10:22 Conclusion
Some additional comments
Knowledge as a mechanic has been thought of in many ways. One place to start is in the book Game mechanics advanced game design, which describes mechanics as the physics, progression elements, social elements, internal economy or tactical maneuvering. In the book aesthetic of play, there is an elaboration about knowledge based play and constraints in the environment as well,. If you are reading this, heres a link to a exclusive video about what game mechanics are to help contextualize this. • What are Game Mechanics?
An Example of a game that leverages insight to examine a theme is bloodborne, which has a mechanic of the same name that accumulates based on things you encounter and see in the world. This reveals new things about the world, and feed into its lovecraftian themes, and the pursuit of truth and knowledge that mediates that games conceit.