Contents

Introduction

1 Universal Principles for Game Innovation

A/Symmetric Play and Synchronicity

Aces High; Jokers Wild

Bartle’s Player Types

Cooperative vs. Oppositional

Fairness

Feedback Loops

Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

Howard’s Law of Occult Game Design

Information

Koster’s Theory of Fun

Lazzaro’s Four Keys to Fun

Magic Circle

Making Moves

MDA: Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics

Memory vs. Skill

Minimax and Maximin

Nash Equilibrium

Outcomes: Pareto Optimality

Payoffs

Prisoner’s Dilemma

Puzzle Development

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Seven Universal Emotions

Skinner Box

Social Ties

Tragedy of the Commons

Transparency

VandenBerghe’s Five Domains of Play

Volunteer’s Dilemma

2 Universal Principles for Game Creation

The 80/20 Rule

Brainstorming Methods

Consumer Surplus

Core Gameplay Loop

Define the Problem

Design by Committee

Environmental Storytelling

Experience Design

Flow

Four Ways to Be Creative

Game Genres

Game Pillars

Game Tropes

Gestalt

House Rules

Iteration

Magic Wand

Metagames

Objects, Attributes, States

Ooh, Shiny!

Paper Prototyping

Pick Two: Fast, Cheap, Good

Play Testing

Problem-Solving Obstacles

Prototyping

Risk Assessment

Supply and Demand

Synergy

Theme

Time and Money

User-Centered Design

Wayfinding

3 Universal Principles for Game Balancing

Addiction Pathways

Attention vs. Perception

Balancing and Tuning

Details

Doubling and Halving

Economies of Scale

Errors Players Make

Errors Without Punishment

Hick’s Law

Interest Curve

Learning Curve

Loss Aversion

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Min/Maxing

Punishment

Sandbox vs. On Rails

Ten Minutes of Sustained Attention

Variable Rewards

4 Universal Principles for Troubleshooting

Advance Organizers

Affordance Cues

The Buster Principle

Cognitive Biases

Dominant Strategy

Fitts’ Law

Fundamental Attribution Error

Golden Ratio

Griefing

Hype

Instant vs. Delayed Gratification

Krug’s First Law of Usability

Music and Dopamine

Pacing

Problem-Solving Approaches

Satisficing vs. Optimizing

Sense of Accomplishment

Spatial Awareness

Time Dilation

Working Memory

Zero-Sum Game

Appendix

About the Contributors

Index