Movement-based game guidelines

TLDR

Movement-based digital games are growing in popularity, yet comprehensive design guidance remains scarce. The study introduces guidelines for designing movement-based games derived from research-based development practice. The guidelines were refined through input from 14 experts in academia, independent, and commercial game development, and contextualized with recent research and design venue findings. The result is a generative, intermediate-level knowledge base that is accessible and actionable for future movement-based game design.

Abstract

Movement-based digital games are becoming increasingly popular, yet there is limited comprehensive guidance on how to design these games. We present a set of guidelines for movement-based game design that has emerged from our research-based game development practice. These guidelines have been examined and refined by 14 movement-based game design experts with experience in the academic, independent and commercial game development domains. We contextualize the guidelines using current findings about movement-based game and interaction design, taken from both published research papers and game design venues. Our primary contribution is a body of generative intermediate-level knowledge in the design research tradition that is readily accessible and actionable for the design of future movement-based games.