Statement of Originality Author Declaration This signature certifies that the thesis is of my own research. Where other materials and assistance are involved, due acknowledgement is made with clarity. No parts of this thesis is submitted for another degree or award. It is within the accepted maximum thesis length, and meets the University of Sydney research ethics, protocol 2013/982. Name Ching-Yun “Xavier” Ho Signature Date 29 September 2018 Supervisor Declaration This signature confirms that the statement of originality above is correct and true. Name Martin Tomitsch Signature Date ___ 1 Author Attribution Statement This thesis comprises published conference and journal papers where I am the corresponding author and the main contributor of the research work. The section “Selected Publications” identifies each published work. At the beginning of each chapter containing published work, I provide attributions to the published work. Name Ching-Yun “Xavier” Ho Signature Date 30 September 2018 Supervisor Declaration This signature confirms that the author attribution statement above is correct and true. Name Martin Tomitsch Signature Date ___ 2 This thesis is dedicated to many beautiful things that inspired us From who we were to who we are and who we will become We are travelling on a journey of discovery full of curiosity To create many beautiful things that inspire others ___ 3 Acknowledgement Countless people have been a part of my research journey to this point. All of them have my wholehearted, honest-to-earth gratitude and timeless appreciation. Thank you so much for helping me when I need you the most, celebrating those small wins and milestones, and giving me timely criticism when my mind wanders off paths. I am able to return to post because you are my guiding stars. I want to highlight some names, because these people played a major role in my development of this thesis, removed critical obstacles that meant my thesis can finish on time, or by being my favourite humans that encouraged me without getting tired of cheering me on. Seriously, you are the very best. Associate Professor Martin Tomitsch, thank you for being the most supportive supervisor I have ever had in my entire life. Your feedback and guidance is measured, well-placed, and meaningful. Without your supervision, this thesis would have been very difficult. Associate Professor Tomasz Bednarz, thank you for being my co-supervisor and friend all these years, and for giving me many opportunities to shine. I remember every moment you helped not just me, but everyone around you, and lending them a hand. Dr Marcus Carter, thank you for jumping on board in the final parts of my thesis writing journey, and for editing one of my journal papers before you joined the supervisor party. Your pointers improved my writing at an accelerated pace. Hanley Weng and Julian Wilton, thank you for being great friends and colleagues, always experimenting with new technology. I had a blast collaborating with you at game jams as a team. Lachlan Hardy, Cathy Lill, Alex Collins, Justin Baker, and all of my colleagues at CSIRO ​ and Data61, thank you for your gentle support and understanding that doing a PhD ​ ​ part-time while working full-time meant some sacrifices, and I needed work flexibility. ___ 4 Luis Aranguren, thank you for being the loveliest and wonderful boyfriend who supported me in the time of need. We spent so much time going out on ‘work dates’. Let us explore the wilderness some more, or play heaps of videogames at home. Giselle Rosman and Associate Professor Foaad Khosmood, thank you for organising the Global Game Jam 2017 Research Committee with me as a Special Contributor for the ​ ​ 2017 Global Survey. Foaad, I look forward to being on the Program Committee with you for the Foundations of Digital Games Conference 2019. ​ ​ Hugo Santos, thank you for organising many of the Hectic Games Jams (and NSI Game ​ ​ ​ Jams) at the Northern Sydney Institute, now called TAFE NSW, Northern Sydney. I still can’t ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ believe Hanley, Julian and I won the top prize at one of the events. Thank you for helping me sending out the post-event surveys. Assistant Professor Jay O’Toole, thank you and the Global Game Jam 2014 Research ​ ​ Committee for providing me with the anonymised version of the post-event survey results. Dr Andrew Rock, thank you for pointed out the delightful similarity between my influence arc diagram and the work on time travel by science fiction author Robert Heinlein. Darren Grey and Santiago “Slashie” Zapata, thank you for spreading the word for Roguelike Universe, maintaining the International Roguelike Database, and growing the ​ ​ ​ roguelike community. To the study participants who contributed to the surveys, interviews, observation studies, and online discussions, thank you for being part of this line of inquiry and having some fun making and exploring videogames. To the game developers who created all of the playful experiences and awfully fun challenges, thank you for adding to the world a great gift of joy. Your works have a special place in my heart. To my mother and father, Li-Hua Lai and Lien-Fang Ho, thank you for supporting and encouraging me to get an education of my own. To all my friends, thank you for your kind words. ___ 5 Abstract This thesis aims to conceptualise ideas as a network via a curiosity-driven, reflective, research-through-design process as an approach to address how ideas are connected. It is inspired by John Guare’s Six Degrees of Separation phenomena in social distances, Mark ​ ​ Lombardi’s aesthetically handcrafted financial connection network art, and Eugene Garfield’s scientific citation index. It channels Ted Nelson’s notion of intertwingularity to describe the complex interrelations of ideas. To achieve the aim, the thesis proposes and investigates idea networks. An idea ​ ​ network is systemic epistemology network. It is constructed by strategically observing, documenting, and validating sources of inspiration and influence from a chosen point of ​ ​ ​ ​ view, which sometimes contains multiple, conflicting perspectives. The current body of knowledge suggests ideas are connected, but does not yet offer how ideas are connected in a mechanised or visual structure that can be used by designers and researchers. Specifically, the aim is achieved by using two domains within the field of game design, which frequently sees wild and improbable combinations of influences. First, it uses game jams, a type of game creation event where participants form teams to make ​ ​ games in a short timeframe, serving as a research environment for observing brainstorming and idea refinement. Second, it uses roguelike games, a subgenre of ​ ​ videogames that challenge the player with ‘permadeath’, serving as a knowledge domain for constructing real-world idea networks that span over four decades. To strengthen the conceptualisation of idea networks, it surveys a collection of brainstorming toolkits, as well as the motivation of jammers—game jam participants—to develop the design ​ ​ affordances of idea generation. The thesis seeks to address the gap of idea networks, and contributes to the current literature on design research and games research through the lens of game jams and roguelike games. Idea networks, like citation networks, provides an advantageous utility to efficiently browse intellectually related creative works. Its contribution is structured in four parts: ___ 6 1. Structure of idea networks. The structure of idea networks are conceptualised ​ by examining a large collection of brainstormed game design ideas. Idea networks can provide an intertwingled scaffold for organising and documenting creative works. 2. Significant properties of idea networks. Three cognitively significant and ​ useful properties of idea networks are observed from reflecting on their designs and conceptualisations: aiding hierarchical and network thinking, intuitive browsing of ideas, as well as observing the small-world effect phenomena. 3. Visualisations of idea networks. Three visualisations of idea networks are ​ created as the primary artefacts of research through design, illustrating the complex influence chains and providing many ways to navigate in. They also provide a cultural and temporal view into roguelike influences and roguelike games. 4. Design insights extracted from idea networks. Six design insights are ​ generated by observing the dialogue among game developers who used idea networks: thinking in networks, insights on data consistency, insights on accessibility and usability, insights on visualisation preferences, exploring related games, and data contributions from the community. Idea networks serve the needs of many disciplines: that of the researcher searching for a starting point, that of the designer seeking new inspiration, that of the consumer exploring related creative works of interest, and that of the archivist documenting and presenting information in a structured way. Future directions hint at open research fields in their applications, translational research, and archival use. ___ 7 Contents Statement of Originality 1 Author Attribution Statement 2 Acknowledgement 4 Abstract 6 Tables and Figures 11 Selected Publications 13 Glossary 16 Preface 17 1 Introduction 18 1.1 Motivation 18 1.2 Aim and Questions 20 1.3 Methodology 22 1.4 Thesis Structure 24 1.5 Thesis with Publication 28 2 Background 30 2.1 Citation Index: an Association of Ideas 31 2.2 Game Design Influence 34 2.3 Game Jams 37 2.4 Roguelike Games 38 2.5 A Network