Bridging Artistic Expression and Game Design through Cross-Cultural Collaboration: An Educational Framework from a Seven-Year Japan–U.S. Program

Contemporary game development, particularly within the expanding independent game scene, increasingly requires small teams to closely integrate artistic expression with system-oriented game design. However, in many educational contexts, these competencies are cultivated through different pedagogical emphases, creating tension when students attempt to integrate creative experiment with structured design processes focused on formal systems of rules, mechanics, and player interaction. This paper examines how cross-cultural education can function as a pedagogical framework for bridging such differing perspectives. Focusing on a seven-year international collaboration between an art university in Japan and a game program at a U.S. university, we report on an educational program designed to support collaboration between expression- oriented students and game design students who emphasize system design, including mechanics. Rather than assigning fixed disciplinary roles, the program foregrounded cross-disciplinary "translation," encouraging students to articulate artistic intentions, negotiate technical constraints, and reflect on differing assumptions about what constitutes a "good" or "finished" game. Based on qualitative observations from workshops, collaborative game development, and public exhibitions, this study identifies three educational strategies that supported the bridging process: (1) team structures that prioritize disciplinary translation over role division, (2) early-stage design frameworks that foreground expressive intent and the design of player interaction, and (3) the intentional use of cross-cultural differences as educational resources. These findings suggest that international collaboration can function not merely as a site of exchange, but as an effective educational framework for integrating artistic expression and system-oriented game design, particularly within art-based game education