1. What makes games fun? Sara Jensen Schubert IGDA Microtalks August 2014

2. I’m a senior systems designer at Spacetime Studios Previously, Design lead on Pirate101 at KingsIsle Primary designer for rewards and advancement on DC Universe Online at SOE Worked on a canceled space shooter at Spacetime (again) Live lead designer on Shadowbane at Ubisoft About me Pirate101

3. DC Universe Online

4. Blackstar

5. Shadowbane

7. Games are puzzles that have patterns

8. “Cheating” is finding the optimal path, even if it’s not intended Players seek to make the gameplay “as predictable as possible”

9. Raph Koster’s Theory of Fun All games are “edutainment” “Play is about learning life skills” Most games only teach a few things: “mostly they are things that were useful to us when [we] were first evolving”

10. Nicole Lazzaro’s Keys to Fun 4 Keys 2 Fun, 2004

11. Hard fun “personal triumph over adversity”

12. “Emotions from meaningful challenges, strategies, and puzzles”

13. Easy fun What happens if I do this?

14. “Grabs attention with ambiguity, incompleteness, and detail”

15. Nicole Lazzaro’s Keys to Fun Serious fun “relaxation and excitement” “enjoying changes in their internal state during and after play” The flow state Serious fun “relaxation and excitement”

16. “enjoying changes in their internal state during and after play”

18. People fun “amusement”

19. Teamwork and camaraderie

20. It doesn’t have to be multiplayer

21. For more, see xeodesign.com

22. Conclusion We should strive to create puzzles that delight; that offer meaningful challenges, mystery, flow, and social play; before we start to think about the story or the context of the game.