Gameplay Mechanics

• No Twinkie Database – Even Great Games Can Include Design Errors (Designer’s Notebook)
• Game Design FAQ (Huge Resource by Tom Sloper)
• Gameplay Deconstruction: Elements and Layers (Game Career Guide)
• The 13 Basic Principles of Gameplay Design (Gamasutra)
• The Chemistry Of Game Design (Gamasutra)
• Evaluating Game Mechanics For Depth (Gamasutra)
• Anatomy Of A Game Mechanic (Gamasutra)

• Finishing A Game (Make games)
• Designing Games That Don’t Suck (Gamasutra)
• The Fundamentals Of Game Design (Raph Koster)
• Less Talk More Rock (Boing Boing)
• Indie Gains (Adam “Atomic” Saltsman)
• Minimsed Game Design For Indies (DevMag)

• What Is Game Design? (The Book Of Hook)
• Game Design (The Book Of Hook)
• “Design of Everyday Things” Applied to Game Design (The Book Of Hook)
• Game Design Essentials: 20 Real-World Games (Gamasutra)

Rules For Games: Do & Don’t

• Rules For Games: Do & Don’t #1 (Rock, Paper, Shotgun)
• Rules For Games: Do & Don’t #2 (Rock, Paper, Shotgun)
• Rules For Games: Do & Don’t #3 (Rock, Paper, Shotgun)
• Indie Game Design Do-s and Don’t-s: A Manifesto (Edmund McMillen / Gamasutra)
• Indie Game Design Do-s and Don’t-s: A Manifesto (Edmund McMillen / Indie Games Blog)
• Sid’s Rules (Designer Notes)
• Seven Deadly Sins for Strategy Games (Designer Notes)

How To Not Suck At Game Design

• 5 Types Of Things To Keep Around For Game Designers.
• XBLA Games And The Importance Of Good Game Design
• Big And Scary: The Science Of Size In Video Games
• Game And Swatch: Color Theory For Game Designers – Part 1
• Game And Swatch: Color Theory For Game Designers – Part 2
• Regarding The Gameplay-Vs-Story Bullshit
• From Conversattion To Satisfaction
• Almanac Of Awesomeness: Ninja Part 1
• Top Down Hyrule Over The Ages
• To Kill Or Not To Kill – Part 1
• To Kill Or Not To Kill – Part 2
• Points Of Reference

Videos

• Extra Credits Series [VIDEO]
• Extra Credits – Playing Like A Designer Part 1 [VIDEO]
• Extra Credits – Playing Like A Designer Part 2 [VIDEO]
• Introduction To Game Theory (Lectures about Games in general – not Video Games) [VIDEO]
• Understanding Games (Episode 1-4) (Kongregate) [VIDEO]
• Video Tutorial – Presenting Perfect Puzzles (TIGSource Forums)
• Warren Spector – Master Class In Video Games & Digital Media (ninjadodo.net)

Discussions

• How To Design Games? (TIGSource Forums)
• Games That Made You Laugh (TIGSource Forums)
• Most Unique Games You Know (TIGSource Forums)
• Making A “Classic” Game? (TIGSource Forums)
• In A Perfect World, Every Game Would… (TIGSource Forums)

Genre

• Become A Genre Scavenger (Black Golem)
• Celebrating Frontiers In Game Design – Create New Genre Of Game? (Lostgarden)

Game Polish

• Basic Principles Of Game Optimisation (Cliffski / Positech Games)
• The Art Of Game Polish: Developers Speak (Gamasutra)

User Interface Design

• Video Game User Interface Design: Diegesis Theory (DevMag)

Platformer Design

• Platforming Games 101: Running, Jumping & More (Racketboy)
• Why The Platformer Still Matters (GameInformer)
• A Detailed Cross-Examination of Yesterday and Today’s Best-Selling Platform Games (Gamasutra)
• Game Design Essentials: 20 Difficult Games (Gamasutra)
• Super Mario Bros 101: What SMB Can Teach You (8bithorse)
• 11 Tips For Making A Fun Platformer (DevMag)
• What Made Those Old 2D Platformers So Great? (Significant Bits)
• Super Mario Bros. 3 Level Design Lessons – Part 1 (Significant Bits)
• Super Mario Bros. 3 Level Design Lessons – Part 2 (Significant Bits)
• The Greatest Collectible Of All Time (Significant Bits)

• 2D Platformers: A Discussion On The Deconstruction Of A Genre (reddit gamedev)
• Sketching Platformer Mechanics In Flash (How To Not Suck At Game Design)
• The Full Spelunky On Spelunky (Make Games)
• Platformer Level Design In 11 Points (Pixeltao)
• Game Design / Level Design Explained With Mega Man As The Example (Egoraptor) [VIDEO]
• Petri and Martin Explore Platformer Physics [VIDEO]
• Super Mario World Camera Analysis [VIDEO]
• 2D Platformer Design Studies (TIGSource Forums)
• Pressure Techniques in Platformer Level Design (Noble Kale)
• Super Mario Bros. Level Design Lesson: to the right, hold on tight (Auntie Pixelante)
• Difficulty In Platformers (Team Meat)
• 2D vs 3D (Designer Notes)

Difficulty

• Risk / Reward (Team Meat)
• Reward Systems, An Excerpt From Level Design: Concept, Theory, and Practice (Gamasutra)
• Difficulty In Platformers (Team Meat)
• The Difficulty Of Difficulty (DevMag)
• Game Difficulty & Consumer Expectations (Game Tycoon)
• How Complex (Positech Games)
• Challenging Design (Designer Notes)
• Our Cheatin’ Hearts (Designer Notes)

• Action Adventure Level Design, Part 1 (Gamasutra)
• Action Adventure Level Design: Kung Fu Zombie Killer (Gamasutra)
• Action Adventure Level Design: Pacing, Content, and Mood (Gamasutra)

Game Design Documents

• Gamestorm (user submitted doodles and sketches of games!)
• Game Design Documents Tutorial (Studio Eres)
• The Design Document (TIGSource Forums)
• Creating A Great Deisgn Document (Gamasutra)
• Game Design 101 (Sloperama)
• A Practical Guide to Game Writing (McDevitt / Gamasutra)
• The Game Design Process (GameDev.net)
• Game Design Cheat Sheet (TIGSource Forums)
• Moncao Original Design Documents
• Grim Fandango Design Document (ninjadodo.net)
• The Making of Shadow of the Colossus (ninjadodo.net)

• Three Hundred Gameplay Mechanics (Squidi)
• Achievement Design 101< (Gamasutra)
• Achievements Considered Harmful (Chris Hecker)

Game Design Concepts (Ian Schreiber)

• What Is Game Design Concepts?

• Level 1: Overview / What is a Game?
• Level 2: Game Design / Iteration and Rapid Prototyping
• Level 3: Formal Elements of Games
• Level 4: The Early Stages of the Design Process
• Level 5: Mechanics and Dynamics

• Level 6: Games and Art
• Level 7: Decision-Making and Flow Theory
• Level 8: Kinds of Fun, Kinds of Players
• Level 9: Stories and Games
• Level 10: Nonlinear Storytelling

• Level 11: Design Project Overview
• Level 12: Solo Testing
• Level 13: Playing With Designers
• Level 14: Playing with Non-Designers
• Level 15: Blindtesting

• Level 16: Game Balance
• Level 17: User Interfaces
• Level 18: The Final Iteration
• Level 19: Game Criticism and Analysis

• Teaching Game Design (Ian Schreiber)
• My Problem With Gamification

Game Balance Concepts (Ian Schreiber)

• Level 1: Intro to Game Balance
• Level 2: Numeric Relationships
• Level 3: Transitive Mechanics and Cost Curves
• Level 4: Probability and Randomness
• Level 5: Probability and Randomness Gone Horribly Wrong

• Level 6: Situational Balance
• Level 7: Advancement, Progression and Pacing
• Level 8: Metrics and Statistics
• Level 9: Intransitive Mechanics
• Level 10: Final Boss

Game Length

• Game Length And Value (Wolfire)
• Size Doesn’t Matter (Positech Games)
• The Mythical 40-Hour Gamer (Wired)

Character Design

• Visual Clarity In Character Design – Part I
• Visual Clarity In Character Design – Part II
• Character Design: Clone And Customize (How To Not Suck At Game Design)
• Character Design: Left 4 Dead 2 (How To Not Suck At Game Design)
• Create Brief Visual Descriptions Of Characters (TIGSource Forums)

Level Design

• Level Design Primer: Notes on Playtesting
• Level Design Primer: Starting A New Level
• Level Design Primer: Keep It Wide
• Level Design Primer: The Sawtooth
• Level Design Primer: S-Curve Variations
• Intro to Pathfinding (Flash Game Dojo)
• Procedural Content Generation
• Good Level Design… With Kayin
• On Level Design: A Macro Map design and some Ecology!

Artificial Intelligence

• Intro to AI (Flash Game Dojo)
• No More Wrong Turns (Gamasutra)
• AI and Designers Discussion (Designer Notes)
• AI Game Dev
• How AI in Games Works (bit-gamer)

Prototyping

• Quick and Dirty Prototyping: A Success Story (Gamasutra)
• Why Prototyping is so important in game development (Jochen Heinzmann / Intermediaware)
• Prototypes – Get Them Right (IndieVision)
• How To Prototype A Game In Under 7 Days (Gamasutra)
• Save Time And Money: Asset Prototyping (Black Golem)

Sandbox & Open World Design

• The History And Theory Of Sandbox (Gamasutra)
• Open World Issues Part 1: The Rockstar Model
• Open World Issues Part 2: The Bethesda Model
• Open World Issues Part 3: Trust And The Player-driven Narrative
• Open World Design
• Making A World Seem Open And Alive (TIGSource Forums)
• Game Design Essentials: 20 Open World Games (Gamasutra)

Popularity

• 5 Minutes Worth Of Observations About AAA Indie Games (Chris Hecker)
• How Some Games Are Getting Popular? (TIGSource Forums)
• A Brief Explanation Of Why Minecraft Matters (Crunch Gear)
• What Indie Developers Can Learn From Minecraft (Mode 7 Games @Indie DB)
• Why Minecraft Is So Damn Popular (Kotaku)
• Minecraft And The Question Of Luck (Gamasutra)
• Minecraft Illustrates the Two Keys to a Sandbox Game (The Game Prodigy)
• How To Make A Roguelike Popular (TIGSource Forums)

Game Accessibility

• Game Accessibility Top Ten (IGDA Game Access SIG)
• Why is Accessibility Important? (IGDA Game Access SIG)
• How to Provide Accessibility in Games (IGDA Game Access SIG)
• Physical Barriers In Video Games (One Switch)
• Resetting Accessibility In Games (Gamasutra)

Free Books

• Playing To Win (Sirlin / HTML)
• List Of Freely Available Programming Books (Stackoverflow)
• The Art Of Computer Game Design (Chris Crawford / PDF from 1984)
• Gamer Theory 2.0 (McKenzie Wark / HTML)
• Ludoliteracy: Defining, Understanding, and Supporting Games Education
• Beyond Fun: Serious Games and Media
• Well Played 1.0: Video Games, Value and Meaning
• Well Played 2.0: Video Games, Value and Meaning
• Toward a Ludic Architecture: The Space of Play and Games

Commercial Books

• Game Design Books… Recommendations? (TIGSource Forums)
• Must Read Game Development Books (Gamedev.Stackechange)
• Good Game Design Books (Gamedev.Stackechange)

Uncategorized Articles

• Learn Game Design
• Game Dev Radio
• How To Make Interesting Games By Accident (Wolfire)
• Why Left 4 Dead Works (Gamasutra)
• Game Design Essentials 20 RPGs (Gamasutra)
• Unabusive Design And Why You Wouldn’t Want To Be Mean To Your Players (Wolfire)

• Testosterone And Competitive Play
• Tutorials: Learning To Play (Gamasutra)
• Tetris is Not The Answer Because You Got The Question Wrong (Octopus Journal)
• Boss Battle Design And Structure (Gamasutra)
• Stealth In Videogames And Why It’s So Fun (Wolfire)

• Game Dynamics And Loops In Game Design (What Games Are)
• Functions Vs Loops Finding Fun (What Games Are)
• Extensible Actions (What Games Are)
• Theme Is Not Meaning – Part I (Designer Notes)
• Theme Is Not Meaning – Part II (Designer Notes)
• Asynchronity (Designer Notes)
• Closing the Loop: Fostering Communication In Single Player Games (Gamasutra)
• Lifting The Designer’s Curse (Gamasutra)
• The Designer’s Notebook: Don’t March, Dance! (Gamasutra)