Most humans like games. But what are games, exactly? Not in a philosophical sense, but in the sense of “what exactly are their worky bits, so we know how to make them?” [Raph Koster] aims to answer that in a thoughtful blog post that talks all about game design from the perspective of what, exactly, makes them tick. And we are right into that, because we like to see things pulled apart to learn how they work.
On the one hand, it’s really not that complicated. What’s a game? It’s fun to play, and we generally feel we know a good one when we see it. But as with many apparently simple things, it starts to get tricky to nail down specifics. That’s what [Raph]’s article focuses on; it’s a twelve-step framework for how games work, and why they do (or don’t) succeed at what they set out to do.
[Raph] says the essentials of an engaging game boil down to giving players interesting problems to solve, providing meaningful and timely feedback, and understanding player motivation. The tricky part is that these aren’t really separate elements. Everything ties together in a complex interplay, and [Raph] provides insights into how to design and manage it.
It’s interesting food for thought on a subject that is, at the very least, hacker-adjacent. After all, many engaging convention activities boil down to being games of some kind, and folks wouldn’t be implementing DOOM on something like KiCAD’s PCB editor or creating first-person 3D games for the Commodore PET without being in possession of a healthy sense of playfulness.
Many discoveries first began as a curiosity, then as a game, later as a weapon of war, and finally they found use in the civilian world.
drones fit perfectly into that cycle of curiosity → play → war → civil use. Let me show you how it unfolded in American English:
🛸 Drones (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles)
Curiosity: Early experiments in remote-controlled aircraft during the 20th century were mostly scientific trials.Game: Hobbyists and model airplane enthusiasts began building and flying small remote-controlled aircraft for fun.
Weapon of war: Militaries quickly realized their potential for reconnaissance and precision strikes. Modern warfare has made drones a central tool.
Civil use: Today drones are everywhere — aerial photography, agriculture, package delivery, infrastructure inspection, even search-and-rescue missions.
Thank you for calling ChatGPT for us. We couldn’t have done it ourselves.
Fact of the matter is, the first remote controlled UAVs on record were commissioned by the military.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Low
Some games (like Habbo Hotel) are not about gameplay but meeting children online.
Is that an actual game or some sort of euphemism?
Yes ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
It’s the original Gacha MMO. The game is to find your parents’ credit card and use it to buy virtual collectibles, then chat with middle aged men in a virtual room.
ive been working on a game engine for a newtonian combat space sim for some time now. started before rent-an-engine really became prevalent. it started as a freespace 2 mod, but i ran into the limits of the engine. the engine is open source but it became quickly apparent that the engine was not suitable, so many nan exceptions meant a lot of low level stuff would have to be redone. so i started writing an engine in c++ and lua and figured i could port over the mod scripts when i got enough systems down. renting an engine kind of feels like cheating, and would probibly be a detriment (this is why kitten space agency is not using unity). but so far i dont think i have enough systems in place for that. i usually get hung up on one algorithm or another and then take a couple years off the project. i have some serious doubts about completing it though.