Game mechanics and their structural features are not immediately visible in most games. Some mechanics might be apparent to the player, but many are hidden within the game code. We need a way to describe and discuss them. Unfortunately, the models that are sometimes used to represent game mechanics, such as program code, finite state diagrams, or Petri nets, are complex and not really accessible for designers. Moreover, they are ill-suited to represent games at a sufficient level of abstraction, in which structural features such as feedback loops are immediately apparent.
Machinations diagrams are designed to represent game mechanics in a way that is accessible yet retains the structural features and dynamic behavior of the games they represent. The theoretical vision that drives the Machinations framework is that gameplay is ultimately determined by the flow of tangible, intangible, and abstract resources through the game system. Machinations diagrams represent these flows, and they let you see and study the feedback structures that might exist within the game system.
These feedback structures determine much of the dynamic behavior of game economies. By using Machinations diagrams, a designer can observe game systems that would normally be invisible. Figure 5.1 provides an overview of the Machinations framework and its most important components.
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