In this master’s thesis, we investigate how game mechanics can contribute to emotional experiences in digital games. The project began with a relatively simple assumption: that mechanics alone could be used to evoke specific emotional states, without support from narrative, characters, or cinematic techniques. To explore this, we developed and tested three playable prototypes through a Research through Design process.

The prototypes were based on three different forms of emotional friction. The first manipulated the players’ input to explore powerlessness. The second used spatial uncertainty and ambiguous feedback to explore the feeling of unease. The third made the game space disappear behind the player to explore loss and melancholy. Playtesting showed that the mechanics did affect the experience, but not in the direct way we had initially imagined. Manipulated input was often interpreted as frustration rather than powerlessness. Spatial uncertainty could create unease, but also curiosity or analytical problem-solving. The loss of game space was not necessarily experienced as melancholic until the player had been given a reason to care about what was being lost.

This changed the direction of the project. We moved away from the idea of mechanics as isolated emotional devices, and instead began to understand them as part of a complex system. Players interpreted the mechanics through space, sound, visual style, goals, pacing, feedback, and expectations. Even when we attempted to remove narrative, meaning emerged through what the game allowed the player to do.

The insights from the prototypes were carried forward into the development of the final concept, “Progress Pending…”. The game consists of three levels that engage with uncertainty, doubt, and stagnation. Here, mechanics, atmosphere, visual progression, and a narrative framework are used as an integrated whole rather than as separate parts.

The thesis does not conclude that specific mechanics reliably create specific emotions. Rather, it shows how mechanics can gain emotional significance when placed within a clearly designed context, and when the player is given room to interpret what is happening. The project’s contribution lies in this design-oriented understanding: emotional game feel cannot simply be planned as an effect, but must be developed, tested, and refined through playable experiences