Perhaps I'm just doing a bad job of searching, but I'm having a hard time finding information about what makes a knowledge-based game, core design principles of one, what makes one good or bad, examples, etc.
I decided to start working on a game where the player is designing the track of one of those kinetic gumball machines that used to be everywhere in the 2000s. Simple enoigh concept. The player gets access to pieces which may or may not be adjustable and their goal is to make a fun track to get the gumball from the dispenser tank to where it's collected.
My problem is about rewarding player behavior, and it may simply be a problem of trying to make an everything bagel. I want to encourage both players who want to go for maximum efficiency and players who want to make big, complex, fun tracks.
On top of that, I'm not sure how I could encourage the player for making complex tracks aside from rewarding them for using more and different types of track pieces.
I'm trying to go into game psychology research, and as part of that I've naturally been trying to comb through research papers. Most of what I'm looking at isn't technically game design specifically but rather how games and game designs can impact players psychologically in and out of play sessions. If I were to post papers I read, would people here care to read and discuss with me or would I likely be wasting my time? If this isn't a good place for this, is there a better place?