Machinations

[Shaderman]

I've just read about a Flash tool called Machinations and thought it's worth to share.

Machinations is a theoretical framework and an interactive, dynamic, graphical representation that describes games as dynamic systems and focuses on closed feedback loops within them. The intention is to find a way to express and investigate (recurrent) game structures methodologically. Machinations offers a new lens on the intuitive and delicate practice of game design and balancing.
At the heart of the frame work is a graphical notation designed to capture the dynamics of games. This notation is used in an online application that allows you to create interactive, dynamic diagrams of games.

The author of this tool also wrote a book about game mechanics.

Click here to start Machinations (Flash).

Cheers

[broozar]

i saw an article about that in the latest c't magazine, it certainly looks interesting and is easy to use, yet i wonder how useful it really is. do you have any experience with it, esp. in connection with shiva?

[Shaderman]

No, I didn't use it myself yet, but I guess it could be useful for any game with multiple levels, items, secrets and such things.