The Interactive Empathy and Embodiment (Solarski Studio 2021) method is an innovative, sensory design approach to game design, interactive media and the metaverse founded on traditional craft techniques (and inputs from acting theory, neuroscience, psychology, disability aesthetics, etc.) to heighten the player-audience’s physical experience of gameplay.

You can think of sensory design as working inside-to-outside, which starts by defining the player’s kinaesthetic state (referring to physical activity-based aesthetics) before designing the mechanisms that evoke the desired sensations. Approaching the game development process from a sensory perspective—as opposed to a rules, objectives and mechanics-driven approach—enables readers to actively explore solutions to the following ideology:

What if empathy, not conflict, was the organising principle of game design?

The need for interactive experiences that promote empathy and reconciliation is at an all-time high. The IEE method therefore hopes to nudge the industry in a more artistically self-aware and conscientious direction in a format that is accessible to everybody.