Game Design Quotes

“Gamers can feel when developers are passionate about their games. They can smell it like a dog smells fear. Don't be afraid to hold onto your unique vision: just be aware that it may not turn out exactly how you envisioned.”
― Scott Rogers, Level Up!: The Guide to Great Video Game Design

“The Game gives you a Purpose. The Real Game is, to Find a Purpose.”
― Vineet Raj Kapoor

“I think that in life, as in game design, you have to find the fun. There is joy out there waiting to be discovered, but it might not be where you expected. You can’t decide what something’s going to be before you embark on it, and you shouldn’t stick with a bad idea just because you’re fond of it. Take action as quickly and repeatedly as possible, take advantage of what you already know, and take liberties with tradition. But most importantly, take the time to appreciate the possibilities, and make sure all of your decisions are interesting ones.”
― Sid Meier, Sid Meier's Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games

“People who know how to make games need to start focusing on the task of making real life better for as many people as possible.”
― Jane McGonigal, Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World

“There is only One Man Playing your Game, You!”
― Vineet Raj Kapoor

“It’s a truism in the game industry that a well-designed game should be playable immediately, with no instruction whatsoever.”
― Jane McGonigal, Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World

“I think it's fair to say most video games let players experience only eight emotions: anger, panic, dread, surprise, wonder, satisfaction, joy and disappointment. And some games only disappoint.”
― Scott Rogers, Level Up!: The Guide to Great Video Game Design

“The designer's real goal is to enrich the player's internal experiences. That goal is harder to achieve, and it's damned difficult to measure. But it's the truth. And pursuing that truth makes your designs smaller, simpler, more focused, and more elegant than they could ever get by strategy counting.”
― Tynan Sylvester, Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences

“Humor. Two unconnected things are suddenly united by a paradigm shift. It is hard to describe, but we all know it when it happens. Weirdly, it causes us to make a barking noise.”
― Jesse Schell, The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses

“The “joy of discovery” is one of the fundamental joys of play itself. Not just the joy of discovering secrets within the game, but also the joy of uncovering the creator’s vision. It’s that “Aha!” moment where it all makes sense, and behind the world the player can feel the touch of another creative mind. In order for it to be truly joyful, however, it must remain hidden from plain view—not carved as commandments into stone tablets but revealed, piece by piece, through the player’s exploration of the game’s rules.”
― Derek Yu, Spelunky

“In real life, the value capture process is sometimes deliberately managed by elites to manipulate and control others with game design-like tactics. Gig economy platforms like Uber and Lyft use "badges" and rating systems to manage the decision-making environment of their driver employees. Even outside of work, social media features such as likes, shares, and retweets play the role of points in games. Over time, these simple metrics threaten to distort or take the place of values (say, the wish to meaningfully contribute to discussion or to take pride in the quality of one's work) that might otherwise have inflected our behavior on these platforms.”
― Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics

“For many game players, games exist for entertainment, for passing the time, for fun.
They are a diversionary activity, meant for relaxation or distraction—a “not- work” space where players are free to engage in fantasy narratives, amazing feats, and rewarding tasks. But what if certain games have become something more?”
― Mary Flanagan, Critical Play: Radical Game Design

“You can interact with a refrigerator: open the door and the light inside turns on. Close the door and the little light goes off. But how many people do you see standing in front of their refrigerators, opening and closing the doors, laughing?”
― Chris Crawford

“We have a right to freedom and a duty to curb it some for the common good”
― Vineet Raj Kapoor

“The theory of fun. The less the freedom, more the fun

8 Nov World Quality Day
8 Nov World Tongue Twister Day”
― Vineet Raj Kapoor

“IF YOU WANT TO ENJOY THE GAME, THE BOUNDARIES AND RULES MUST BE COMMON”
― Vineet Raj Kapoor

“The pinnacle of game design craft is combining perfect mechanics and compelling fiction into one seamless system of meaning.”
― Tynan Sylvester, Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences

“Humor. Two unconnected things are suddenly united by a paradigm
shift. It is hard to describe, but we all know it when it happens.
Weirdly, it causes us to make a barking noise.”
― Jesse Schell, The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses

“Fail Faster.

This is our credo. It is our mantra. It is our goal with every waking second of every day.

Fail Faster.

Your ideas can't be precious. Your ego can't need protecting. Every failure is an opportunity for betterment. Every failure is another chance to get it right.

Fail Faster, because failing is how we get it right”
― Daniel Flyod

“A long time ago, I decided that game design is applied psychology.”
― Will Wright