Finding the Fun in Game Design: A Practical Guide for Developers

Part 1: Deconstructing Fun — It’s Not a Single Target

The first lesson: stop treating fun as one monolithic concept. As one designer put it, the real goal is to “envision what you want people to feel.”

Fun has many dimensions. Here are just a few that emerged:

• Interesting Decisions: Meaningful choices with consequences (Sid Meier’s “series of interesting decisions”).

• Mastery & Improvement: The satisfaction of getting better at a mechanic.

• Scaling & Growth: Progression that feels powerful, like in RPGs or automation games.

• Puzzle Solving: The “aha!” moment when a problem finally clicks.

• Sensory Feedback: The juice — satisfying visuals, sounds, and responsive controls.

• Novelty & Surprise: Keeping experiences fresh, the essence of roguelikes.

👉 Takeaway: Before you can measure fun, you must define it. Pick 2–3 experiential goals and make them your design pillars. This aligns with frameworks like the MDA Framework and the 14 Forms of Fun widely used in game development.

Part 2: The Foundation of Fun — A Problem to Solve

One of the most profound insights I came across was this: the core of sustained fun is giving the player a problem to solve.

• An entertaining activity (like popping bubbles) may provide brief delight.

• A compelling problem creates agency, creativity, and replayability.

• This idea echoes Sid Meier’s definition of games as “a series of interesting decisions.”

Ask yourself: Is your loop just an activity, or is it a recurring problem players can solve in new ways? That’s the line between a novelty mechanic and a truly engaging game system.

Part 3: The Search Process — 3 Steps to Finding Fun

Step 1: Prototype Early and Ugly

Don’t wait for polish. Build the core gameplay loop as quickly and roughly as possible.

• Does tapping, jumping, or shooting feel good even with placeholder art?

• If the ugly prototype isn’t engaging, polish and monetization won’t fix it.

👉 This is a cornerstone of game prototyping best practices.

Step 2: Decode Player Feedback

Players know if they’re having fun but often can’t explain why.

• “It’s too hard” might mean pacing, unclear UI, or clunky inputs.

• Like the elevator analogy: people complained elevators were too slow, but the solution wasn’t speed, it was mirrors to distract them.

👉 Designers must observe behavior, not just listen to words. This is a critical skill in playtesting strategy.

Step 3: Iterate Relentlessly

Every piece of your game should reinforce the core fun you defined in Part 1. If a mechanic doesn’t serve that experience, cut it. This process of refine, test, repeat is how successful studios discover what truly works.

Part 4: Measuring the Unmeasurable — Art + Science

Can you measure fun? Not directly. But you can balance quantitative data with qualitative observation.

The Science (Quantitative Data)

• Retention curves

• Session length

• Playtime spikes

• Feature adoption rates

The Art (Qualitative Data)

• Smiles, laughter, and visible frustration in playtests

• Community discussions and emergent behavior

• Emotional beats tracked during specific gameplay moments

👉 Example: A spike in replays might mean joyful mastery, or player frustration. Numbers show the “what,” observation reveals the “why.”

Conclusion: Fun Isn’t Added, It’s Discovered

If there’s one truth about game design, it’s this: fun isn’t polish you add at the end. It’s the foundation.

Finding it is not about luck, it’s about discipline. Define your experiential pillars. Prototype early. Observe behavior, not just surveys. And be willing to call your own baby ugly when the core loop isn’t working.

The most successful games don’t stumble into fun. They engineer it deliberately, through iteration, testing, and relentless focus on the player experience.