OMCIFER'S PROFILE

I found these articles on fun game design to be particularly interesting because the theory behind game design and the essence of fun not only hold my attention, but is a realistic and critical point in proper game development. In this community, and many others, we create games to elicit a fun experience, but do we understand any theory that underpins fun in games?

I realize how you reference good game design in Tetris, but I'm not sure if it was entirely clear throughout the article. In a nutshell, Tetris offers the player a low-stakes world that contains a set of rules that governs player action and the environment's respective reaction to those of the player. The simple set of principles are structured into a multitude of possibilities in the game world which requires us to develop patterns which is furthermore rewarded upon success. If the pattern was vague or essentially non-existent, then we would have less of an arousing experience because there's no way to weave our brains into figuring out the game mechanics to blaze through the challenges that're thrown our way. Fun isn't always entirely clear but I think this system of design is an integral part of what it means to be "fun".

Of course, there's much more that contributes to fun game design, and I believe that your case study of Mega Man 5 may have touched based on some of these, so I recommend it to anyone found this article to be useful. Also, if you find the time, keep 'em coming, these articles are indeed a good read to any budding game designer.

EDIT: Whoa, this article is older than I thought, hopefully someone will read this comment!