This is the second post of a series on practical game-design techniques. Here’s the first. In my years designing games, my methods have evolved from Games-Randomly-Emerging-from-the-Inchoate…
Game design is simple, actually
So, let’s just walk through the whole thing, end to end. Here’s a twelve-step program for understanding game design. One: Fun There are a lot of things people call “fun.” But most of them are not u…
The 10 Best Animation and Game Design Podcasts | 2022 Ed.
See the very best in game design podcasts with our curated list of The 10 Best Video Game Design Podcasts. Both beginners and experts are guaranteed to learn something.
Clockwork Criteria: 6 Guidelines for Ideal Strategy Game Design
What are the criteria that make something a good “Clockwork Game”? The Clockwork Game Design model is something I have been working on for the last five years or so. It is specifically …
10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design
Jakob Nielsen's 10 general principles for interaction design. They are called "heuristics" because they are broad rules of thumb and not specific usability guidelines.
Game Programming Patterns
I’m here to help! Game Programming Patterns is a collection of patterns I found in games that make code cleaner, easier to understand, and faster.
Game Balance Isn't Real
Nudges, Biases & Heuristics for the Age of AI
45 interactive field cards covering nudges, biases, heuristics, and AI phenomena. A practical reference for designers, researchers, and product teams building with AI.
GameSpot's SIMply Divine: The Story of Maxis Software
GameSpot action adventure driving puzzle role-playing simulation sports strategy hardware
“The Triangle” tool for your game design purposes
I think that game design theory often has the issue of “seeming cool” while not being terribly practically useful, or only having very narrow utility. Of all of the game design theory I’ve worked o…
Playbooks — Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovation
Christopher Alexander’s A Pattern Language defines 253 methods for constructing beautiful and practical designs at every scale, from cities to rooms.
100 Little Ideas
A list of ideas, in no particular order and from different fields, that help explain how the world works…
Four Corners · Game 101
Play Four Corners — Game 101 (Oct 12, 2026). Sort twelve words into four categories around the board — four corner words belong to two at once.
Four Corners · Game 99
Play Four Corners — Game 99 (Oct 10, 2026). Sort twelve words into four categories around the board — four corner words belong to two at once.
The Math of Idle Games, Part I
Originally published October 4, 2016 I’ve given a few talks in the past about the appeal and general mechanics of idle games, but what if you actually wanted to make one? Theory and patterns are nice, but there’s some complicated math running behind it. And how on earth
4-Layers, A Narrative Design Approach
Introduction This blog post will be about a new way to approach narrative design in games - the 4 Layers Approach. It is based on a GDC ...
