Midjiwans Game Design Principles

What the talk is about

Felix af Ekenstam shares seven game design principles he worked out on his own while creating the turn-based strategy game The Battle of Polytopia. The first is a reason to exist: make a game that does not exist yet and that you want to play yourself. Then come "smart and pretty": the logic should be engaging even without graphics and the visuals pleasant even without logic; "temptation and desire": give the player a problem first and the solution afterwards; challenging choices between equally good options; and maximising happiness instead of punishing, so randomness can range from good to amazing. The last two are informative art, where an object's look reveals its properties, and reduction to the essence: remove everything the game stays fun without, which is how he turned the Civilization experience into a mobile game. Useful for game designers, especially indies.