Osb's Six Principles to Game Design

osb21313

12/14/2025

Here is my list of the six principles of game design and engagement, suited towards every game developer (in general).

Game Design

1. Make sure the game is engaging and has a catchy game loop.
   This is essentially important because you wouldn’t want your players to present lower retention rates in your game.
   Example: An extremely simplistic game idea.

2. Do not shove microtransactions/DLC in users’ faces.
   This is obvious but extremely important — let users buy products of their own free will. Constant spam/promotion of microtransactions/DLC will deter the user even more.
   Example: A DLC advertised on the main interface.

• 3. Don’t start with a novel game idea; take an existing genre.
     This is a good starting point for making a game, but make sure to add novelty (not begin with) later on in the development process, so it is familiar to users and not a cliché idea.
     Example: A simulator with a twist.

Engagement

1. NEVER take models from online resources unless necessary.
   To make a high-quality game, you should create your own assets instead of lazily stealing things from online resources.
   Exceptional example: If it's an extremely complex model, but still gives credit depending on the license.

2. Add breakpoints to your game to see what players are ‘stuck’ on.
   While not strictly required, this is quintessential because it allows you to identify the average player’s weak points and fix them.
   Example: A tutorial that is extremely long and monotonous.

• 3. Implement security checks in your game for hacking/statistic changing.
     EXTREMELY important. It is recommended to do this because hackers can start changing values in your game with potential ends to server-side scripts (mostly via remote procedure calls).
     Example: A hacker could change their statistic value in the leaderboard and cloud store because of a remote call, making gameplay unfair for other players.