It takes just as much effort to build and ship a crappy game as a great one. We make the descisions that make our games approachable, rewarding, fun. The following is not a guaranteed recipe, but guidelines to help steer design and development towards greatness.

1. Make it Fun. There are plenty of game mechanics (sorting, run/jump, aim/shoot, calculating odds, pattern recognition, etc.) and story themes (rescue the princess, vanquish evil, save the empire) but it takes more than a mechanic or a story idea to be a fun game. Take the story or mechanic and build a fun game around it. Compare a slot machine from the 1970s to one in Las Vegas today. Both have the same core mechanic, but which one will you (or your mom) spend hours (and dollars) in front of?

2. Keep it Simple. The UI, story, feature set, scoring, win conditions, EVERYTHING. Boil everything down to its lowest common denominator, and build back up. Every aspect of your project will benefit from simplicity: from your vision, design, assets, implementation, schedule, and budget through to your end users’ experience.

3. The First minute. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Eliminate all possible friction between the user launching your app and having fun. Once the user is in the game, give them immediate feedback and intuitive controls to get their bearings. Why hold back all the cool events and effects until level X? The user may never realize the cool stuff is there. In fact, make your first level LAST ONE you build, so it can benefit from the experience that went into making the rest of the game.

4. Rewarding Learning curve. Ramp up the challenge. Teach the gameplay by rewarding player’s early for trying skills. Put a gold coin on the far side of an empty pit before you have the player jump over a spike pit. The level boss can require all the skills used on the previous level, but it is not a good time to introduce a new skill or widget.

5. Interesting Decisions. Sid Meier said, “A game is a series of interesting decisions.” Make sure all the decisions your player makes are interesting. Cause/effect, guns/butter, fight/flight, bank it or let it ride.

6. Big moments. We can assume the player is rewarded as they play the game, and at the end when they’ve won, but Big Moments are an important part of keeping the player happy and hooked. These can be every few minutes, and apart from the regular reward sequence. Moments can include fanfare for a rare combo or event, earning or using a powerup, a story twist, a shift in mode, visual reward, or anything else the player can look forward to earning and enjoys seeing.

7. Play to win, not to lose. Losing is not fun. Trial and error is not fun. Getting killed and repeating levels is not fun. It is OK to let the player advance, and to win the game. Beyond feeling good, finite win conditions put a time limit on the experience. Think of Tetris, you have the game of your life, twenty minutes long, highest score ever, but the only way to end the game is by losing.

8. Easy to play, hard to master. Even a simple game can be fun for novices and experts alike. It is a wonderful thing when Wal-mart Grannies and Hardcore Grognards can enjoy the same game. As a bonus, being easy to play/hard to master brings with it built in replayability, again and again and again.

9. Relevant subject matter. On paper the plain game can be theoretically perfect, but the theme is what brings the play to life for the user. Whether it is tied to a summer blockbuster movie or has a “generic nautical setting”, the abstraction layer applied to the game will help users understand, identify with, and explore the game. Some subjects are innately more fun, approachable and compelling than others. Pick a theme that suits the gameplay and the market.

10. Quality. When all is said and done, the quality of the entire package will cement a game in the hearts and minds of users. An easy launch, fast running, bug free experience with top notch sound, art, interface, help text, packaging, and marketing will work in concert with clever design and implementation to make a great game.