White Paper: Design Pattern Research and its Applicability to Ecogame Design

Published: April 6th, 2025

Author: Dr Stefan Werning, Utrecht University

What is this white paper about?

This report outlines existing research on design patterns relevant for ecogame design and briefly discusses their applicability within the Design Pattern Library and for the purposes of the STRATEGIES project. The ‘design pattern’ concept, often attributed to Christopher Alexander´s work on landscape design from the late 1970s (Hansen 2024), has been used in a variety of academic and design contexts to introduce shared vocabulary and to acknowledge how recurring patterns, archetypes and solutions to common problems/challenges shape the designer´s imagination. It has been adapted to games by Bjork, Holopainen and Lundgren (2003) in the early consolidation period of game studies as a discipline to inform contemporary game analysis methodologies. Design patterns are usually described in a semi-formalized manner, although not all categories are always present. Apart from the title and a short description, examples from existing games are referenced for illustration purposes. Usually, the ‘implementation’ is discussed e.g. in terms of how the pattern relies on or clashes with specific mechanics or dynamics as defined by the MDA framework (Hunicke et al. 2004). Finally, (both positive and negative) relationships with other patterns are similarly addressed.