Masahiro Sakurai defines the four elements behind the meaning of ‘Play’

Masahiro Sakurai is back with another installment in his game development video series. This time around, he shared a video that fits into the ‘Game Essence’ category, where he defines the four elements of the meaning behind ‘Play’, which are:

• Agon (competition), which includes things like sports and competitive games
• Alea (chance), which includes things such as randomization in games (think of random items in Smash Bros. that can change the outcome of the game)
• Mimicry (imitation), this includes simulator or job-based games
• Ilinx (Vertigo), which includes high-speed scrolling games or a roller coaster

Super Smash Bros. includes parts of all the elements. The agon (competition) is the core of the game, while alea (chance) is when items appear in the game, and mimicry (imitation) is used to increase the density and richness of the information such as the texture of the stages or how painful the hits sounds to make it lean more to reality. Finally, ilinx (vertigo) is when you knock your opponent out, and you see them fly across the screen.