Jette-Leger, Marc-Antoine (2025) Less: the Praxeology of Minimalist Game Design. Masters thesis, Concordia University.
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Abstract
This thesis investigates minimalism as an aesthetic and a praxeological framework for game design through a research-creation process centered on the iterative development of a minimalist single player puzzle videogame.
Through many iterations of design, testing, and reflection, features like procedural level generation, visual feedback systems, animation timing, and interface simplification were examined in relation to Upton’s heuristics for playfulness (choice, variety, consequence, predictability, uncertainty and satisfaction) and a proposed set of minimalist heuristics (narrow decision spaces, procedural generation, abstraction and wholeness). Each feature acted as a case study in how design and minimalist constraints can influence the player’s capacity to understand, experiment and engage with the game’s system.
Points of convergence and of tension emerged, such as abstraction versus predictability or wholeness versus variety, revealing that minimalist game design is not defined by reduction alone, but by carefully calibrating of what is available for interaction, what is shown and what is left for the player to infer.
In the game design process, minimalism acts as a tool for dynamic balance between clarity and mystery, and between coherence and affordance. The results of this research demonstrate how minimalist game systems can sustain playfulness and player engagement by turning limitation itself into generative design principles.
| Divisions: | Concordia University > Faculty of Fine Arts > Design and Computation Arts |
|---|---|
| Item Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
| Authors: | Jette-Leger, Marc-Antoine |
| Institution: | Concordia University |
| Degree Name: | M.Des. |
| Program: | Design |
| Date: | 18 November 2025 |
| Thesis Supervisor(s): | Lessard, Jonathan |
| Keywords: | Game Design, Minimalism, Interaction Design, Praxeology, Playfulness |
| ID Code: | 996603 |
| Deposited By: | Marc-Antoine Jetté-Léger |
| Deposited On: | 29 Jun 2026 15:02 |
| Last Modified: | 29 Jun 2026 15:02 |
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