The Engineering of Fun: How Games Mirror Real-World Technical Challenges

At our company, once a month, someone hosts a Lunch & Learn session to share a topic they’re passionate about—from robotics to food chemistry to music composition and more. These sessions are a window into what inspires our colleagues and how those passions influence their work. Recently, software engineer Derrick Miller shared his love for gaming and how it connects to engineering—and even improves the world around us.

Gaming is a vast world that touches nearly everyone in some way. Let’s break it down by exploring who’s playing and creating games, what makes up a game, and how gaming mirrors the engineering and social challenges that we face every day.

Who’s Playing and Creating Games?

Gaming spans all demographics, with nearly everyone playing something—from mobile games to tabletop RPGs (Role Playing Games) to the latest console hits. But what’s truly fascinating is how many people are also creating games. Beyond professional developers, hobbyists craft custom tabletop campaigns, mods, and even indie games. By that definition, many of us in the Lunch & Learn audience are also game-makers!

Breaking Down Game Design

From a systems perspective, games are made up of four key components:

1. Pieces of Play: These are the physical or digital elements of the game, such as pieces, boards, or character models. In digital games, this includes assets developed using modeling, art, and audio tools.
2. Rules: The logic that dictates how the game operates, from turn-based mechanics to physics engines. In digital games, this is built through code and game engines; in tabletop games, it’s found in rulebooks.
3. Controls: The hardware or interfaces players use to interact with the game—whether it’s a game controller, keyboard, or a deck of cards.
4. Narrative and Theme: This is the creative layer that gives context and meaning to gameplay, inspiring players to engage. Writers, artists, and visionaries work together to craft this immersive experience.

How Gaming Mirrors Engineering Challenges

Gaming offers a unique lens for understanding technical challenges. At its core, every game represents a socio-technical problem—a blend of technical systems and human expectations. This is strikingly similar to the work we do as engineers.

Take a look at these examples and see how gaming development drives innovation and creativity and how close gaming comes to hardcore engineering.

1. Game Components Are Similar to Engineering Practices
   Consider how game design components align with engineering practices:

• Controls as UI/UX: How players interact with a game mirrors how users navigate software interfaces. (more on this below)
• Rules as Code and Mechanisms: The logic behind game mechanics parallels the algorithms and systems we design.
• Narrative as User Stories: Just as game narratives guide players, user stories guide our understanding of customer needs.
• Content as World Models: Building a game world isn’t so different from modeling real-world systems in projects like CFD (computational fluid dynamics).

2. Games Push Technical Boundaries
   Games drive advancements in software and hardware, from cutting-edge graphics rendering to the evolution of processors and embedded systems. Each new game pushes the boundaries of what’s possible. Similarly, in our engineering work, we build upon previous innovations and solutions to push boundaries of every new project.

3. Games Require Iterative Problem-Solving and Prototyping
   Game development, much like engineering, thrives on iteration. Designers test mechanics, receive feedback, and refine gameplay—just as engineers build prototypes, gather data, and improve their systems. For instance, creating balance in a multiplayer game involves tweaking variables like health, damage, or speed to ensure fairness, echoing the optimization processes we use in designing client systems.

Consider the famous game, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The developers spent months iterating on its physics-based gameplay to ensure players could interact with the world in unexpected, yet functional, ways. Similarly, in a client project, engineers build prototypes early and often to see how users interact with design. This feedback drives new design thinking and updates.

4. Resource Management and Optimization
   Many games require players to manage resources effectively, whether it’s collecting in-game currency, optimizing character abilities, or balancing time constraints. This parallels engineering processes where resource constraints—time, budget, materials—are constant challenges. Both demand creative problem-solving within defined limitations.

Consider games like StarCraft, in which players optimize resource gathering while building an army, prioritizing actions for efficiency. Similarly, engineers must decide how to allocate resources efficiently when designing a system, such as balancing cost and performance in selecting materials for a machine.

5. User-Centered Design (UI/UX)
   A well-designed game prioritizes player experience, ensuring controls are intuitive and the interface is easy to navigate. Similarly, engineering projects focus on user-centered design to create accessible and functional products. Both disciplines require empathy and a deep understanding of user needs.

Anecdote: Consider the Portal series, where intuitive mechanics and a clear progression of challenges ensure players learn naturally through interaction. This mirrors the iterative process of designing a user-friendly medical device, where engineers test interfaces to ensure ease of use for healthcare professionals.

6. Fostering Human Connection
   Games bring people together, enabling novel forms of digital and social interaction. Whether building virtual worlds in Minecraft or strategizing in tabletop games like Warhammer, gaming encourages collaboration, problem-solving, and creativity – much like our engineering goals.

Leveling Up Your Perspective

Gaming isn’t just a pastime; it’s a powerful tool for learning and innovation. Whether you’re solving a boss fight or debugging code, the skills and mindset you develop through games can make you a better engineer—and maybe even a better collaborator. When you’re playing, you’re engaging with a microcosm of the socio-technical systems we build every day. By applying this “gaming mindset” to your next technical challenge, you can better balance human needs with technical constraints.

Take a moment to reflect on the systems behind the game and bring that same curiosity and creativity to your projects. What lessons have you learned from gaming? Share your insights—we’d love to hear them!