#50 Emotional Design

In my pursuit for new aspects to learn about in quest design, this time I’m gonna draw from material on emotions in design.

Emotional Design

The exact source is Donald A. Norman, a well-known designer. His first book, “The Design of Everyday Things” focused – much like this blog did so far – on the functionality of design. One might say it considered function over emotion. To me the main reasons why I didn’t come earlier to this topic are twofold:

• I’m better at understanding functional, clearly distinguishable, mathematical etc. things
• The design discourse I’m drawing on is the same way

But now, let’s start with a simple and important first quote into this topic (so I believe, at least):

happy people are more effective in finding alternative solutions and, as a result, are tolerant of minor difficulties

Don Norman, Emotional Design: Why we love (or hate) everyday things

This tells me, as a designer, that not iterating the guidance to some feature of my more complex design towards perfection is okay – if

1. I manage that my user-audience consistently gets into a positive spirit before using it
2. There is a way to find a solution

So the lesson here is to provide the user-audience with tidbits of joy every now and then.

Skyrim – The Return of Helmdall – QDD

In a way, this very idea is what makes a generic fetch quest something special. The Witcher 3 Quest Designers had the rule of always adding a twist to a quest, which in the end is just a tool to create a feeling/emotion.

This is what I’ve done in a quest design for Skyrim.

Warrior-son Helm Helmdallsson asks the Dragonborn to go onto a quest with him and tells how his life is dedicated to the positive image his dead father, a famous figure in Skyrim’s battles. Upon fighting with Helm through the dungeon he chose they surprisingly find his father alive (there’s a reason why this is no coincidence).

Based on decisions made on the first meeting and now during the confrontation, various narrative and ludic endings are possible.

You can check out the full quest design document here:

You can see how the preparation, execution and aftermath of the twist (Helmdall is still alive) immediately give a whole new level of meaning to the ques, elevating it beyond the generic “Collect 10 roots”.

Feedback Suggestions

• Have you ever concerned yourself with anything adjacent to emotional design? Do you know any sources to dig into?
• Do you agree that twists usually improve a quest? What else might there be that allows for a stronger affective/emotional response to a design?

Conclusion

At the end of one journey, another opens up quite clearly. I feel that – regarding affections and their relation to the more functional aspects of design – I’ve only discovered the tip of an iceberg in my blog series.

But – and well that’s a joy! – the blog doesn’t have to end this year (though my frequency and determination of writing things is surely gonna change).

Have a good time!