Designing Games

1. Game design is about crafting engines of experience

A GAME is an artificial system for generating experiences.

Experiences, not objects. Games are unique in their ability to generate a wide range of emotions and experiences through player interaction. Unlike other media, games don't just present a story or spectacle; they create a system that produces countless variations of play. This system combines mechanics (rules and interactions), events (outcomes of those mechanics), and emotional triggers to create a meaningful experience for the player.

Emotional engagement is key. The goal of game design is to evoke emotions in players. These emotions can range from excitement and triumph to fear and sadness. Designers use various tools to create these emotions:

• Anticipation of rewards
• Challenges that test skills
• Social interactions
• Narrative elements
• Aesthetic experiences

Balancing act. The art of game design lies in balancing these elements to create a cohesive and engaging experience. This requires understanding how different components interact and how players perceive and respond to them.

2. Elegance in game design maximizes depth while minimizing complexity

Elegance happens when mechanics interact in complex, nonobvious ways. But this same complexity and nonobviousness makes elegant design very difficult to achieve.

Simplicity breeds complexity. Elegant game design creates deep, engaging experiences from simple, easy-to-understand mechanics. This is achieved through:

• Mechanics that interact with many other mechanics
• Rules that are simple to learn but difficult to master
• Systems that can be used in multiple ways

Emergent gameplay. The key to elegance is emergence – when simple rules combine to create complex, unexpected outcomes. This allows for:

• Strategic depth
• Replayability
• Player creativity

Balancing act. Designers must carefully balance the desire for depth with the need for accessibility. Too much complexity can overwhelm players, while too little depth can lead to boredom.

3. Skill and balance are essential for engaging gameplay

To cause emotion, an event must change some HUMAN VALUE.

Skill creates engagement. Games that challenge players' skills create more engaging experiences. This involves:

• Clear feedback on player performance
• Gradually increasing difficulty
• Opportunities for mastery

Balance for fairness and depth. Well-balanced games provide:

• Equal opportunities for players of different skill levels
• Multiple viable strategies
• Interesting choices with meaningful trade-offs

Emotional investment. When players feel their skills are being challenged and their choices matter, they become emotionally invested in the outcome. This emotional engagement is what makes games compelling.

4. Narrative in games is a unique blend of scripted and emergent storytelling

WORLD NARRATIVE is the story of a place, its past, and its people. It is told through the construction of a place and the objects within it.

Multiple narrative tools. Games can tell stories through:

• Scripted events and cutscenes
• Environmental storytelling
• Player choices and consequences
• Emergent narratives from gameplay systems

Player agency and storytelling. Unlike traditional media, games allow players to influence the story. This creates unique challenges and opportunities:

• Balancing player freedom with narrative coherence
• Creating stories that adapt to player choices
• Using game mechanics to reinforce narrative themes

Environmental storytelling. Game worlds can tell stories through:

• Architecture and layout
• Objects and artifacts
• NPC behaviors and dialogues

5. Decisions are the core of player engagement and emotional investment

To feel a possible future, the player must sense and understand it.

Meaningful choices. Engaging games present players with decisions that:

• Have clear consequences
• Offer multiple viable options
• Align with the game's themes and mechanics

Emotional weight. Decisions in games create emotional engagement by:

• Presenting risks and rewards
• Tapping into human values (e.g., survival, loyalty, power)
• Creating anticipation and suspense

Balancing information. Designers must carefully control the information available to players:

• Too little information makes decisions feel random
• Too much information removes the challenge
• The right balance creates tension and engagement

6. Interface design is crucial for seamless player interaction

The goal of input design is to achieve synchronization between a player's intent and in-game action.

Intuitive controls. A well-designed interface allows players to focus on the game, not the controls. This involves:

• Consistent and logical button mappings
• Clear visual and audio feedback
• Customizable options for different playstyles

Information presentation. Interfaces must convey crucial information without overwhelming the player:

• Use of visual hierarchies to prioritize information
• Contextual displays that show relevant data at the right time
• Intuitive icons and symbols

Accessibility. Good interface design considers players of all abilities:

• Colorblind modes
• Adjustable text sizes
• Alternative control schemes

7. Iterative development is key to refining game mechanics and player experience

ITERATION is the practice of making short-range plans, implementing them, testing them, and repeating.

Rapid prototyping. Iterative development allows designers to:

• Test ideas quickly
• Identify and fix problems early
• Refine mechanics based on player feedback

Flexibility. Iteration promotes adaptability in game development:

• Allows for changes based on new insights
• Helps identify unexpected player behaviors
• Facilitates the discovery of emergent gameplay

Playtesting is crucial. Regular playtesting throughout development:

• Reveals issues not apparent to designers
• Provides insights into player behavior and preferences
• Helps refine difficulty and pacing

8. Market positioning and value curves determine a game's success

A VALUE CURVE is a graph that compares games by rating them on the different kinds of market value that they offer to players.

Unique selling points. Successful games offer something unique or superior to competitors:

• Novel mechanics or combinations of mechanics
• Exceptional execution of established genres
• Unique artistic or narrative experiences

Target audience. Understanding the target market is crucial:

• Identifying underserved player segments
• Tailoring game features to specific player preferences
• Balancing niche appeal with broader accessibility

Value proposition. Games must offer clear value to players:

• Entertainment value
• Social experiences
• Intellectual or emotional stimulation
• Sense of achievement or progression

9. Knowledge creation and testing are fundamental to game development

The purpose of playtesting isn't to find technical problems or gather marketing data. It is to understand how the game design works when put into action.

Diverse knowledge sources. Game designers draw from various disciplines:

• Psychology and human behavior
• Systems theory and economics
• Art and aesthetics
• Technology and programming

Playtesting methodologies. Effective testing requires:

• Clear objectives for each test
• Diverse groups of testers
• Methods for gathering both quantitative and qualitative data

Iterative refinement. Knowledge gained from testing should inform design:

• Identifying and addressing pain points
• Amplifying successful elements
• Balancing difficulty and pacing

10. Understanding dependencies helps prioritize design elements

A DEPENDENCY is a relationship between two parts of the design such that changes in one part would force changes in the other.

Identifying core mechanics. Designers should focus on establishing the fundamental gameplay loop first:

• Essential mechanics that define the game experience
• Systems that other features will build upon
• Elements that are most likely to remain stable throughout development

Managing complexity. Understanding dependencies helps:

• Prevent wasted work on features that may change
• Identify potential ripple effects of design changes
• Plan development schedules more effectively

Flexibility in design. Recognizing dependencies allows for:

• More efficient iteration
• Easier integration of new ideas
• Better adaptation to unexpected challenges or opportunities

Last updated: February 26, 2025