20 Golden Rules of Game Design

[Bjarkmundur]

I just watched a lecture and I think it's pretty amazing that it's available for free. It talks about game design, from the lead designer of Magic The Gathering. It's 20 lessons he's gathered through experience during his 20 years at WotC.

I recommend it, it's pretty amazing.

[Zhorn]

This is a great watch, cheers for digging this one up Bjark.

Time stamps for people wanting to know what lessons they want to jump to

3:33 Lesson #1: Fighting against human nature is a losing battle
4:42 Lesson #2: Aesthetics matter
7:46 Lesson #3: Resonance is important
9:44 Lesson #4: Make use of piggybacking
13:13 Lesson #5: Don't confuse "interesting" with "fun"
16:05 Lesson #6: Understand what emotion your game is trying to evoke
19:19 Lesson #7: Allow the players the ability to make the game personal
23:34 Lesson #8: The details are where the players fall in love with your game
26:59 Lesson #9: Allow your players to have a sense of ownership
30:06 Lesson #10: Leave room for the player to explore
33:28 Lesson #11: If everyone likes your game, but no one loves it, it will fail
36:03 Lesson #12: Don't design to prove you can do something
38:27 Lesson #13: Make the fun part also the correct strategy to win
41:19 Lesson #14: Don't be afraid to be blunt
43:41 Lesson #15: Design the component for its intended audience
47:13 Lesson #16: Be more afraid of boring your players than challenging them
50:30 Lesson #17: You don't have to change much to change everything
53:20 Lesson #18: Restrictions breed creativity
55:54 Lesson #19: Your audience is good at recognising problems and bad at solving them
58:50 Lesson #20: All the lessons connect

[GGambrel]

Thanks for sharing! GDC videos are a treasure trove.

[Old Harry MTX]

Very cool! I will share it with my friends too!