Gameplay Evolution: A Game Design Method Based on Evolutionary Theory

The current video game industry faces soaring development costs and intensified market competition, underscoring the critical demand for more systematic game design methodologies. While existing approaches (e.g. MDA framework) provide analytical tools at the theoretical level, they lack sufficient operational guidance during the transition from conceptual design to prototype development. This study proposes Gameplay Evolution (GE), a novel methodology inspired by inheritance, variation, selection, and adaptation mechanisms from evolutionary biology theory. Through a standardized five-stage operational process, including evolutionary direction research, gameplay genes identification, iterative refinement through inheritance and variation, randomized selection validation, and adaptive propagation, GE systematically bridges the transitional gaps in traditional methods. To validate its practicality, this research integrates historical case analyses and experiments across specific game genres. Results indicate that GE enables designers to efficiently generate gameplay variants with enhanced playability while optimizing market adaptability.