Mechanics toolbox
An interaction is an action taken using a mechanic. For example, the mechanic of Use Item
could be used to pull a lever, push a button, or use a phone. Those three examples are interactions; the mechanic allows the player to interact with the items through a button press. If we only had the ability to interact with something in this way, we would have very few genres to play with. Luckily for us, there is a broad world of mechanics available for us to use to make interactions. Using interactions, we can design amazing experiences!
To begin this chapter, we thought it would be a good idea to provide a list of mechanics and some interactions that come from those mechanics. We will not be able to go through every mechanic, but we will be going over some primary concepts to get a good feel for the mechanics landscape.
What we will be providing here is an understanding of mechanics and how they can be viewed. If this interests you, take some time to read through...