Game Design

Decisions about what makes a game fun and how players grow through it. The throughline: prove fun by playing, not by planning.

The Core Loop

The 30-second test

If a game isn't enjoyable in a tight repeating cycle, no amount of content saves it. The cycle:

Act → Get feedback → Earn a reward → Go again.

The player does something, the game answers clearly, that answer feels good, and they immediately want another go.

How it looks per genre

The Design Document

Sections worth having

How to treat it

• Keep it alive — revise it as the game changes; a stale GDD lies.
• Show, don't just tell — diagrams and reference images communicate faster than paragraphs.
• Stay small early — scope down first; expand only once the core proves out.

What Drives Players

Motivation archetypes

Reward timing

Difficulty and Flow

Keep the player in the channel between boredom and panic:

• Too hard → frustration → they quit.
• Too easy → boredom → they quit.
• Tuned right → flow → they stay engaged.

Ways to hit the channel

Progression and Pacing

Kinds of progression

Pacing that holds attention

• Hand out early wins to hook players fast.
• Ramp the challenge gradually, not in cliffs.
• Insert rest beats between intense stretches.
• Offer choices that genuinely matter.

Mistakes to Avoid

Fun isn't drafted on paper — it's discovered through iteration. Build it, play it, then change it.