Game Design and Yin Yang Theory

Incidentally here at K-Tech studio we have become rather familiar with Chinese philosophy. Despite what would seem to be a very different topic, philosophy actually has a lot to do with game theory. Making games is primarily a matter of manipulating human thought in order to give people an enjoyable experience. Philosophy is the study of human thought and our interpretation of the world around us. Philosophy is a way to help us understand how people think and as game designers this helps us discover what makes something fun, rewarding, and constructive to play.

Probably the most fundamental Chinese philosophical theory is referred to as Yin Yang theory, and this theory has become central to the way we think about game design. Most of anyone reading this is probably familiar with the Yin Yang symbol, or the Tai Ji, two intertwined crescents, one black and one white, each having a dot of the opposite color at their thickest point. You probably are also familiar with the basic idea that this symbol represents opposites in harmony. It sounds like nice idea, but to most of us its seems too vague and perhaps too unrealistic to have any sort of value as a part of our thinking process. Here I invite you to take a fresh and deeper look at Yin Yang theory, hopefully helping show that this is a truly useful concept for game designers and not just a fun concept to put in cartoons.

I will start with a warning that the Chinese system of thought is a bit different than most of the western world. Often times Chinese thought is more pattern based than event based and that can throw many people off before they begin to grasp the actual benefit of the theory. Yin Yang theory is way to understand the patterns that are common in the world rather than a scientific explanation of the world’s literal functions. As you read, don’t worry if you are feeling confused about how this can be used for game design, we will be giving some great examples of how Yin Yang theory applies to actual situations later on.

What is Yin Yang Theory?

Yin Yang theory is, at it’s core, merely the concept that when opposites are balanced they produce harmony. As simple as that is, this is fundamental. That doesn’t mean that everything automatically has harmony, but that an object is in it’s proper state when it’s opposites are balanced. Yin originally meant the shady side of a hill and is associated to such qualities as being dark, cold, quiet, feminine, and still. Yang meant the sunny side of a hill and is associated to such qualities as being bright, hot, loud, masculine, and active. Any attribute can be categorized into being either Yin or Yang, and typically it is rather intuitive to know which is which if you look at the pattern of the attributes listed above. Here we will use six simple rules to describe the behavior of Yin and Yang and how they interact with each other.

Yin and Yang are relative to each other

Yin and Yang exist in a relative state to each other. Each is made distinct by it’s opposite and cannot exist without the other. Without Yin we cannot define Yang and vice versa. We can say something is high only because their is something lower than it. Something is quiet because there is something loud. This relative nature is the core of all Yin Yang behavior. The following rules all stem from this rule but are useful in understanding the patterns that arise from the relative Yin Yang relationship.

Everything has a Yin and a Yang

In Yin Yang theory everything must have it’s opposite. High and low, heavy and light, difficult and easy, inside and outside. There is a Yin and a Yang component to everything and these opposites define the natural characteristics of everything. Because Yin and Yang are relative as we already learned, we know that we do not have Yin without Yang, nor Yang without Yin, so there must always be both.

Yin and Yang become each other

The Tai Chi symbol gives the appearance of the two crescents in motion as they revolve around each other. Yin and Yang are always in motion, and one will always become the other. It is like the movement of a pendulum which is Yang as it rises and swings high, but in turn becomes Yin as it falls and becomes low, only to rise and become Yang on the opposite side again. If something were to be Yang all the time it would be missing Yin, and this would break the previous rule. Because of this Yin and Yang must always be in motion, one becoming the other.

Yin and Yang control each other

As Yin and Yang cycle they must always effect their opposite. When one becomes stronger the other must become weaker. In order for something to become hot, it must become less cold. Likewise if something becomes more low it will inherently become less high. Not only are Yin and Yang relative in existence they are also relative in strength, so in that way they control each other.

Yin and Yang can always be divided into smaller Yin Yang aspects

Because Yin and Yang are relative we can always break down any Yin or Yang aspect farther into smaller Yin Yang aspects. We may have wet and dry, but within wet we can distinguish between damp and drenched. Hot could be broken farther into warm and sweltering. The amount of subdivisions that can be made are endless. The opposite is mostly true as well, we can zoom out just like we zoom in. This allows us to think about every object at the level of detail that is most useful to us.

When Yin and Yang are separated they die

As we know, Yin and Yang rely on each other to exist. If ever they become separated, they are said to die, and along with them the object that they composed. In a living thing it is fairly obvious what this means, but it also applies to non-living things. For example if a building collapses because the pillars were destroyed, in other words if there is no longer a “low” for the buildings “high”, then the collapsed building can no longer serve it’s function and can be regarded as “dead.” So this could be rephrased, “when Yin and Yang are separated an object ceases to function.”

Yin Yang Theory In Practice

Harmony and Balance

While it is theorized that everything in the world follows the Yin Yang pattern, we will be concerning ourselves primarily with the patterns of people’s thoughts and the patterns in game design. Earlier we talked about how when Yin and Yang are balanced they produce harmony. Harmony is a good thing. All it really means is that something is functioning properly or as intended. But what does balance mean?

Balance could be interpreted to mean equal parts Yin and Yang, equal strengths, equal frequencies, or even all of the above at once, but this would be a big mistake. Harmony can be achieved with many different proportions of Yin and Yang. So how do we determine when something is balanced? The answer to this question comes from you as the game designer. In order to determine the proper balance for a given scenario you have to decide what goal you are intending to accomplish. In other words you have to define, or at least have some idea of the harmony you are trying to create.

Finding The Harmony To Create Balance

Let’s take a look at a couple examples. Pretend that you are trying to organize a debate between two people. As the event organizer you know that it will be most interesting for your audience if both debaters get roughly the same amount of time to present their argument, so you plan accordingly and block out an equal time window for them both. Now imagine you are instead organizing an educational talk by a professor. In this instance you want to spend most of the time allowing the professor to explain the topic, but still have a short amount of time at the end for the audience to ask a few questions and engage with the speaker.

Both of these situations are good examples of a harmonious pattern despite their significantly different balances. In each case the goal, or intended harmony, guided us to the most effective balance of time spent between speakers. However, it is up to you to determine the best way to serve your audience, Yin Yang theory can’t do this for you. You have to provide the vision, then Yin Yang concepts can help you balance the elements involved to support that vision.

Putting It To Use

Let’s now take a look at more examples of applying Yin Yang theory, but actually use some real video game design situations. Imagine you are making Mario Bros. and need to decide on how difficult to make the levels in each world. As a general rule we know that levels should slowly get harder to provide bigger challenges for the player, but the best pattern isn’t necessarily for things to always get more difficult in a linear fashion. Often times we want a fluctuation that gives the player something easier to enjoy without the rising intensity taking up most of their thought. The first level of each world is a great place to bring the difficulty down a couple levels from the intensity of the boss level that they were just required to beat, before ramping up again. This Yin Yang flow of harder and easier is typically more enjoyable than something that only ever gets harder.

Zooming in to a single level, let’s consider how we want to design that level. Our brains work on a constant flow of think, then act, think then act. To support this in our level design it is a good idea to design an obstacle as being a section of challenge, then one of rest to give our player a chance to think about their next move. If we make the player have to move and react at a non-stop pace, it can quickly lead to mental fatigue that can make playing much less fun. Obviously non-stop action can be used as way to make things more challenging, such as auto-scrolling levels in Mario Bros., but there is a good reason not to make every level auto-scrolling for the same reason that it is good to have rest points in an individual level. It doesn’t usually produce the best harmony.

But what about a runner like Bit-Trip or Raymen? Those are fully auto-scrolling platformers. Are they bad games because of it? Certainly not! This points out once again an important concept, that the vision doesn’t come from Yin Yang theory, it comes from you. There are many harmonies that can be created for all different preferences. If you think that you have an audience that enjoys fast paced platforming, then Raymen might be just the ticket. If you think that you have an audience that enjoys relaxing experiences, perhaps a farming game like Stardew Valley would be appropriate. Some people like puzzles, some action, others a good story, and there is nothing wrong with any of these directions so long as people are out there to enjoy it.

What is most important for you as a game designer is not the type of game you make, but knowing what it is that you want to make. You need to have a vision. Once you have that vision then Yin Yang theory can become a useful tool in helping you accomplish it.

Putting It To Use For Real

At this point some of this probably sounds a lot some game design concepts that you are already familiar with. At the same time some of it might still sound a bit vague in terms of how you might use it. Our final suggestion here will be to start practicing applying these concepts to real situations yourself. Over time the Yin Yang pattern will become more familiar, more intuitive, and more useful to you as result. This doesn’t mean that you have to start making video games in order to start using Yin Yang Theory, as mentioned before Yin and Yang are said to be a part of everything, certainly not just games. But if you do want to apply it to games, you can also start using it as a lens for evaluating other peoples’ games. What are games that you like? What sorts of useful patterns can you find in them? How about games you don’t like? Try using Yin Yang Theory to evaluate what is good and bad about different games and how you might improve them.

Wrapping Up

We hope that this introduction to Yin Yang theory has been concise enough not to be overwhelming, but thorough enough to allow you to start experimenting with the concept for yourself. After all, experience is the best teacher. Although so much more could be said about Yin Yang Theory, we can only go so far here. However with just this foundation and a willingness to experiment, you are perfectly capable of diving deeper into the patterns of Yin and Yang as well as discovering new ideas that build on top of it.

Until next time, keep your Yin and Yang active.

Written by, Harsulin: Lead Artist at K-Tech Studio