¶ Finding the Secret Sauce!
So what turns a good game into a great one?
The short answer here will typically be that it needs to be fun. However, this is of course problematic in the sense that we all like different things.
¶ Dopamine in Games
Dopamine is the brain's reward system and is known as the feel good hormone. It is released when we do something enjoyable or beneficial.
It is associated with feelings of pleasure, satisfaction, and motivation.
On a fundamental level in gaming, when we learn something new, complete a challenge or earn an achievement, we get a boost of dopamine.
Understanding dopamine’s role significantly influences all the experiences you have in games and thus, in your game design.
Crafting your games to balance learning, challenge and rewards will promote a steady release of dopamine and keep your players engaged.
Through thoughtful design of your gameplay mechanics, progression systems, and reward structures, you can fine-tune these dopamine releases to sustain player motivation and satisfaction.
¶ Creating Patterns to Learn
As humans, it’s also in our DNA to be pattern learners, it’s in our nature on an evolutionary, survival, level and this helps us make sense of our world.
Games tap into this teaching us the unique patterns we create, we enjoy this learning process.
This is also a critical factor in why we stop playing games that we once loved and played all the time.
It’s just the case that the game has not delivered any new patterns for us to learn, or are too simple or too difficult, explained too quickly or worse too slowly, we become bored or disinterested as we’re no longer stimulated.
This pattern learning trait is one of the major factors in the success of the mobile game aquapark.
The game revolves around a familiar scenario of an aquapark slide race. However, the key factor and unique selling point is that you are encouraged to cheat, or at least, it feels like you are.
By flying off the slides so are able to bypass the standard route of the slide and free fall and take shortcuts, giving you an unfair advantage.
Essentially the game makes you feel like you’re cheating and breaking the pattern. This makes you feel smart, skillful and powerful. This gives you a significant boost in dopamine.
¶ Creating Games for the Audience
So whilst we know that dopamine delivery is one of the the driving forces behind hooking players into a game, does it inherently make it good?
Well, what would be fun for one person will often not be fun for others.
Some might enjoy spending hours grinding mindlessly in an arcade Idle game, whereas others might hate this experience and prefer challenging their brains in figuring out complex puzzles.
So at the same time, we can say that both of these games are fun at the same time. Both games are ‘good’.
And here lies the crux of the matter:
Making a good game is all about your target audience and what are the key triggers of dopamine for them.
What do players who enjoy these ‘types’ of games really enjoy about them?
Therefore, we should really reframe the question to, what makes a good “type” of game.
We need to get into the minds of our players and look subjectively from their perspective. What is it that they really love about them?
¶ Key Ingredients to consider
Most successful games typically consist of several key elements, each contributing to an engaging and rewarding experience for their players.
Some of those key elements include:
¶ Engaging Gameplay
A strong core loop that is fun, easy to understand but difficult to master.
¶ Well-Designed Challenges
Striking the balance between difficulty and the player's skill.
¶ A Strong Story or Theme
Immersive for the player and lets them experience a fantasy or transports them thoroughly.
¶ Meaningful Choices
A sense of agency where their actions and decisions influence the game direction.
¶ Pleasing Aesthetics
Polished visuals, audio and music along that is appropriate for the audience and theme.
¶ Replayability
Promoting multiple play sessions and creating the want to return.
¶ Rewarding Progression systems
A sense of accomplishment and a well designed progression systems.
¶ Smooth Controls and Performance
Buttery smooth and intuitive game controls to promote fun not frustration.
¶ Innovation on familiarity
Being unique and bringing fresh ideas to familiar concepts and mechanics.
A combination of these factors, tailored directly to the target audience, is often what makes a good game, great.
Of course, some games can be overwhelmingly classed as good on several levels even if you disagree, and that’s totally ok.
A general consensus that a game is technically good or aesthetically pleasing is common and is very normal.
¶ So what makes a good game great?
It’s a game that fully understands the player who loves to play that type of game and leans heavily into delivering dopamine triggers at the right pace.
What’s important is that your target audience loves the game you made for them and they want to play over and over again.
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¶ Game Scope & Feature Creep
We dive into the concept of "game scope"—the size, complexity, and boundaries of your game project.
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¶ Related Topics
Watch Us Build Series Game Design Foundation How to Get Game Ideas Game Scope & Feature Creep Game Scope Example What is a Core Loop in Games Playtest and Pivot Core Loop Example How to Design Game Mechanics