An Iron Triangle

Before I continue with my discussion of game accessibility I wanted to share an idea I’ve been kicking around about a game design iron triangle.

In software development there is a concept known as the iron triangle. The concept is based on the principle that to develop a quality product three points must be balanced. The three points are: scope, resources, and schedule. Scope refers to size or feature set of a product, schedule refers to the time constraints, and resources are the costs or budget associated with the product. The basic idea is that it’s easy to balance two of the three points, but to balance all three requires careful management.

The iron triangle also applies to game development; a game is just another software product after all. However, what about game design? Design is different from development. The design of a game is only a single part of the overall development process. Personally, I’m not convinced that the standard points of scope, resources, and schedule are sufficient when we start talking about game design.

A game design iron triangle, made up of business, science, and creativity.

So I’ve been kicking around is the concept of a game design iron triangle. Where the three points are: business, creativity, and science. Business refers to design considerations like brand and marketing, creativity refers to the appeal of the design, and the science is our understanding of the design. Like the traditional iron triangle a balance between the three sides results in quality, however it’s design quality rather than product quality.

I need to flesh it out a bit more, but I feel the idea is interesting and might have some legs. I think it's a topic for future discussion.