Intuition is a quiet wisdom that guides us when logic hesitates. It is a direct influence on our perceptions that cannot be explained why. Psychologist Daniel Kahneman defines it as ‘System 1 thinking’ – fast, automatic, emotionally driven – as opposed to slow, thoughtful reasoning (System 2). Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio adds that intuition stems from emotional memory: the body remembers what the mind forgets.
In the first phase of the keyword exploration, ‘intuition’ was a relatively abstract word, very close to everyday experience. Unlike Chase and “Puzzle”, which are more easily understood through images or structures, “intuition” points to a feeling, a judgemental way or a process of making choices without clear rules or information. The audience is not usually told directly ‘what to see’ or ‘what to do’, but rather the attention is subtly directed through various relationships in life. There are times when people are naturally drawn to certain areas of thought or react to certain elements.
Another thing I have noticed is that it is difficult to express the meaning of the word intuition in pictures, because the visual material associated with intuition is usually more restrained. Intuition is different in every person’s mind and can manifest in different places. It then leads to the difficulty of defining the word intuition, and despite the fact that many famous people have explained intuition, everyone has a different level of intuition, and different sensitivities to different things, which I think is an amazing thing.
Then in the process of exploring this keyword, I came to realise that intuition is not completely devoid of logic, but is a way of judging based on experience and feelings. Even in the absence of clear rules, people try to find their way and make choices. This state of affairs constitutes the core connotation of intuition. So different people have different intuitive sensitivities to different things.
In the first stage, by using this keyword, I can focus more on how people make decisions in the midst of uncertainty and how images convey information without interpretation.
Cognitive perspective
Intuition is pattern recognition in action. Game masters or chess players don’t think about every move; they ‘see’ what works because experience shapes their intuition. It’s a shortcut to psychic understanding.
Emotions and Neurological Perspectives
Our emotions provide intuitive guidance. They signal comfort, danger, or opportunity before we even put it into words. In games like Dark Souls, players rely on their intuition to avoid, adapt, and survive – learning through feelings rather than instructions.
Creative Perspectives
When data runs dry, designers and artists rely on intuition. They get a sense of what’s right. In Journey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, players learn exclusively through experience – guided by environment, light, and pacing – rather than through words. As Shigeru Miyamoto puts it: ‘A good game teaches you everything without having to say a word.’
Philosophical perspectives
Philosophers such as Henri Bergson and Martin Heidegger believe that intuition is our deepest connection to existence. Logic describes the world; intuition allows us to feel the world. It is a bridge.
References
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Damasio, A. R. (1994). Descartes’ error: Emotion, reason and the human brain. New York: Putnam.
Miyamoto, S. (n.d.). Quoted in interviews on game design philosophy.