🎯 Game Design

This section gathers all knowledge about the rules, systems, and structures of a game — the logical brain behind every gaming experience.

Articles in this group

• Game Mechanics: The MDA framework, feedback loops, skill trees.
• Layers of Engagement: Analysis of the 4 layers of objectives and 4 psychological anchors that retain players.
• Game Genres: An encyclopedia categorizing game mechanics from Action to Puzzle.
• Game Themes: A synthesis of storyline context directions (Sci-Fi, Horror…).
• Level Design: The art of directing the player experience through space.
• Narrative Design: Weaving the storyline into gameplay, from linear to branching.
• Hitbox: The invisible collision zones that determine every hit.
• I-frames: Invincibility frames, the classic dodging mechanic.
• Frame Rate: Frame Data and the art of manipulating combat tempo.
• Emotional Design: The philosophy of emotional design — every system must have a clear emotional goal.
• Bartle Player Types: Richard Bartle’s taxonomy framework of 4 player types (Killers, Achievers, Socializers, Explorers).
• Game Experience Breakdown: The anatomy of 15 core game experiences — each experience being the intersection of 2 design elements.
• Game Balancing: The art of managing player time and distributing resources to keep the game ecosystem fair.
• 10 Game Design Rules: 10 immutable principles about player psychology that help navigate all design decisions.
• FTUE: The first 15 minutes of experience that dictate the life or death of a game (First Time User Experience).
• Boss: Definition of Boss mechanics and stratification in combat design.
• Checkpoint: Definition of Checkpoints as progress saving structures in level design.
• Co-op: Mechanics of cooperative multiplayer and social interaction in games.
• Cool-down: Function of cool-down as a pacing and resource control mechanism.
• Creep: Definition and role of Creeps as resource units in combat loops.
• Drop rate: Concepts of Drop Rate, RNG, and loot tiers in game economy.
• Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment: DDA, implicitly changing challenge parameters based on player performance.
• EXP: Experience Points, the virtual unit measuring the progress and growth of the player.
• Emergent Gameplay: Complex intersecting interaction scenarios that automatically form due to colliding interactions.
• Encounter Design: A specialized subsystem of spatial design and combat algorithms.
• Faucets and Sinks: Two pillar concepts in designing a Game Economy.
• Feedback Loop: A cyclical computational loop describing a continuous cause-and-effect process.
• Flow: The Flow State — the perfect channel between boredom and anxiety.
• Frustration Factor: FUUU Factor, a scale measuring the player’s emotional frustration.
• God-view: An omniscient perspective design method placing the display viewpoint from high above.
• Grinding: Player behavior of repeatedly performing a specific action to accumulate resources.
• Leaderboard: A data chart interface directly juxtaposing user stat achievements.
• Narrative: Story / Plot - the manner in which a story is conveyed to the player.
• Obstacles: Environmental technical parameters programmed to hinder the player’s linear movement flow.
• Overpowered: OP, a situation where an entity possesses overwhelmingly superior power.
• PVP & PVE: Player vs Player and Player vs Environment formats.
• Pacing: The distribution chart of impact frequency and event stimulation intensity.
• Pity System: A hidden mathematical design system intended to mitigate bad luck against RNG.
• Progression: The growth and unlocking of power, skills, and system access.
• RNG: Random Number Generation, the core mathematical algorithm generating unpredictable data.
• Retention: The percentage of players who return to an application after installing it.
• Skill Tree: A branching root-like interface system helping describe the player’s progress.