Ludoforming strategies in small-scale open worlds. The design philosophy of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio

This study examines how the ludoforming strategies of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio (RGG Studio) serve not only as methods for translating real urban spaces into virtual environments but also as core principles within the studio's overarching game design philosophy. By focusing on a small-scale open-world such as Kamurocho—RGG's fictionalized rendition of Kabukicho—, this work develops architectural ethnography, model extraction, and transgressive reading into a three modality analysis framework that encompasses urban translation, street-level transformation, and narrative–interaction coupling.

The research identifies two main design strategies that RGG Studio consistently employs: the cyclical reuse and recombination of urban assets to generate diverse experiential rhythms, and the integration of developers’ lived urban experiences into spatial and narrative design to create non-real realism in (virtual) urban experiences. These strategies position Kamurocho as a hybrid “environmental unit” and “narrative garden,” where virtual urban environment, NPC behavior, and scripted gameplay combine to form a coherent urban ecology. This research contributes to game studies by introducing an architectural framework that reconstructs and reconceives virtual cities as spatial–narrative ecologies, clarifying how architectural logics can systematically illuminate the interplay of space, narrative, and interaction in game design.

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