As some recent games like HALF-LIFE 2 demonstrate, emotion - perhaps the final frontier in game design - is beginning to be understood. Other games of the last several years that have tackled the issue, including PRINCE OF PERSIA, HALO 2, THE SIMS 2, GTA: SAN ANDREAS, THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE WIND WAKER, RESIDENT EVIL 4, and ICO, to name just a few. Very thoughtful and innovative game designers have done some wonderful things in these games to touch the heart and soul, and sometimes the humor, of the player. This talk discusses emotional innovations in the above games, but focuses primarily on HALF-LIFE 2 in particular, which uses techniques to integrate emotion and gameplay which might not be apparent at first glance, operating out of conscious view of the player.

A thorough analysis of this game's emotional content, experiences, and systems, can benefit game developers that wish to increase the emotional potential of their games too. This talk not only deconstructs the techniques that were used to evoke emotion in HALF-LIFE 2, but offers many additional suggestions as to how a game designer can manipulate the meaning, feeling and impact of games. The goal of this talk is to give game designers tools and a strategy for how to actually improve the overall emotional power of the games they design.