The wind and rain: using the gardening game framework

Abstract

Procedural content generation in video games is coming into a new spotlight; as such, new theories of procedural content generation in games have been developed, but have yet to be extensively tested. The procedural history game The Wind and Rain was designed using the 'gardening game' framework, wherein players cultivate a procedural artifact rather than having an extractive relationship with the game's procedural systems. A mixed methods study was performed wherein participants played The Wind and Rain and were both interviewed and surveyed about their experience in order to find the effectiveness of the gardening game approach in the game's design. Through this study the gardening game theory of procedural game content was further validated as a useful tool not only for analyzing games, but also for designing them.--Author's abstract