What Makes A Game Fun - 3 Tips To Make A Fun Game 

It goes back to the origins of "play". Children play as a natural way to learn about the world around them. Learning later gets ruined by school, where what you learn is literally dictated by someone else. However when we play games, that control seems to be given back. We're given a situation and some rules, and told to figure things out. Then when those rules are consistent and make sense we learn how we can use those rules to complete challenges and progress forward, and that creates a sense of wonder. I think you hit the nail on the head with your list, but I'd like to add that it should be in the context of learning. These things themselves aren't fun. For example, take a rock paper scissors game against a simple AI. Dispite your choices, whatever option you pick will lead to a win, loose, or tie at random. Even though there is a challenge to beat the AI, you cannot learn from your successes nor failures, and even if there is a progression system, it will leave no impression on you. However once you give that AI patterns that the player can learn from, or once there is a second player, the game gets much deeper and more fulfilling because the player is studying their opponant, and learning and adapting from their choices.

The "flood" twist in Halo was so good, when you get into that room and then the little things start to come from everywhere, that was such a great twist with a great build up.

Great video. I think another point to make a fun game is make rewards according to the difficulty of the obstacles.

What if you start out with something you think will be fun, but after playing it as you make it you get bored of it. I think usually that's a bad sign, but could also be that you've played it so much that it doesn't feel fun anymore to you. The opposite can also happen: you end up spending more time playtesting than developing because your game is addictive.

Hotline Miami works wonderfully on these concepts. It's challenging, there is some little randomness forcing you to keep your eyes peeled, and this on itself creates a sense of wonder, but they went ahead and have a great story complementing this aspect. Progression is rewarded by new bits of the story, and new weapons and masks, which can provide a significantly different playstyle. You have to plan a strategy, though there is more often than not multiple ways of achieving your goals. The scoring system motivates you to try to get combos and a highly aggressive playstyle, which is a lot harder than the alternative, hence increasing replayability.

Thank you so much for this video, this has a huge contribution in my current game specifically the progression

I've been a bit lost in the weeds lately, building systems and features, and needed a bit of perspective. This video provides just that. Thanks!

Might be just me but iam giving my vote for you to remove or at least tone down that intro, its like lets get crazy shits about to go down because i will do 2x360noscopes. IMO its just better if its really subtle or no intro at all, maybe give your logo and stuff at end?

Great video! Delivering the right difficulty is incredibly important. Like the goal, obstacle and bridge example. setting the right challenge, providing enough tools and letting the players have that "ah HA!" moment is very powerful. Players should feel a sense of competence and increasing mastery, that's one of the greatest satisfactions. Players should be able to feel they are in control to some extent, that it's in their power to progress and become better, so randomness has to be reigned in and used in relevant situations, but not abused in such a way that the experience is very unpredictable. Even procedural worlds are not 100% random, there are algorithms cleverly designed to craft the best levels possible. Feedback is also crucial and is delivered in many different ways. Visuals, text, sounds, vibration can all be used to tell the player about pending events, like a boss attack, or how they are performing, and allow them to learn from their mistakes if necessary. Even death can be a good way to give feedback, like the Super Meat Boy. Dying is not a punishing and painful event that sets you back a lot since the levels are short and respawn is fast.

I rarely comment youtube videos but you make good ones, so keep on the good work ^^

Awesome vid. I'm an indie dev and I love your channel. Great game design analysis. Keep it up!

Also I think to make a good game the little details almost matter more then the big ones! And it's always smart to have good AI instead of weak enemy, medium enemy, strong enemy! Have you're NPCs do stuff based on the situation like if they see you make them look closer instead of calling back up in an instant or even stuff like pull out a side arm instead of reloading there gun while you shoot them! One game that really impressed me recently was Days Gone! That games story is amazing

A very interesting video, thank you! I would add personalization, and freedom of choice and tools to use. I just love when I can make my PG's look AND powers the way I want. So I can say "Yes, this is me. This is how I want to solve these challenges."

These points are *priceless*. I am currently at my normal stage of prototyping that I become unmotivated because everything that I worked so hard to implement all comes together to be... nothing; but that's the problem! I have no objective, progression, and wonder. Thank you for setting me on the right track.

You had me at wonder. That's one of my favorite words.

Can you make a video where you create a game or just program from like a livestream or something? I'd love to see that

If games are too complicated theyre not fun too. Im a fan of oldschool NES or SNES games like for example TLoZ. Its simple, its fun and it works. Its pure exploring. And I would like to make games like that

Heres my opinion: Game like minecraft or GTA V are fun because you never run out of things to do. Games like leauge of legends or CS:GO is fun because its competitive. Games like dark souls is fun because it challenging and you feel good when you beat it

Humour and characters play a big part too

I think player customization is a big part of the fun aspect for me in video games, even if it’s small.

4:15 I disagree with based on how you view life... I feel in real life, even in failure you still level up in the sense that you're still gaining "experience" aka xp... leveling up in real life occurs when you gain enough experience of life situations to "wake up" and understand and embrace what needs to be done to have a better quality of existence.

Mine is ironically both just tapping and very challenging at the same time, based on flappy bird but with different physics simulation look music, obstacle and level design + points system and bonus stages.

You know your game is fun when you get stuck playing it after what was supposed to be a quick test.

TIP: for solving a first person maze, put a finger on one wall, never let go, and keep walking.... At least you can't get lost that way

Thanks you that helped !

thanks for sharing your experience here are some of my experiences related to the game SFX sound and music : bensound.com for music and freesound.org for finding music and SFX you can also try some apps to make music, I recently tried an android app named super pad lights "Bosca Ceoil" software, i don't like it too much! anyways, in some cases it may help you, whatever it could be a little weird XD there are videos about both mentioned app and software anyways by spending some time you probably can find many better resources and tutorials to access/make music and sound effects for your game good luck

Ok! I will add a bridge to my game then if that's what makes the game fun.

0:56 well it starts with F is for fun...

The sense of accomplishment is one thing, but the way I like to think about challenge in games, is that challenge leverages the game's systems more than a game that is easy to overcome. When a challenge can be won with less decision making, less strategy, less knowledge, less utilization of your ability (whether that's player skill or in-game tools), the game becomes more shallow, and thus less engaging, EVEN IF all the "interesting" mechanics are in place. Take Zelda: Twilight Princess for example. A decently lengthy game, with a ton of items, health upgrades, and special moves. An average-level player may only get Game Over a few times in the whole game. Enemies simply don't do much damage, and the reaction times aren't very strict. Every attack is heavily telegraphed and there are many "safe" moments to land hits with no consequences. Of course, when fighting multiple enemies, most will simply stand near you and wait their turn to attack. I LOVE that game, but not for its challenge. It's a real shame too, because the combat is really fun at its core, and learning a new Hidden Skill is awesome. But the fun runs out quickly, because half of them don't get used much because there is no incentive; no leverage. It's a much better strategy to just run up and hit. Occasionally there is an enemy that requires a specific move, but that's not interesting, it's simply plugging a square hole with a square peg. Looking at more combat-focused games, like Dark Souls or Devil May Cry, you get to plug any hole with any peg, but it's up to you to figure out how and pull it off. That's where a lot of the fun comes in; making strategic decisions. Being creative and experiencing the payoff. A lack of challenge disincentivizes decision making, because it's usually more trouble than it's worth to make use of more game mechanics than you need to. The game doesn't leverage them; it doesn't give you a scenario where you have to make use of them. Which is why Breath of the Wild was a lot more fun with its combat, in my opinion. Enemies had more HP, were a lot smarter, and did a lot more damage. The game purposely gave you many valid options in combat (interestingly through the environment moreso than moveset), and it paid off to make use of your options because running up and attacking was not always the best strategy; especially when fighting multiple enemies. It would often leave you unsafe and close to danger. Even if you did, there were stricter reaction times and more enemies to account for, on top of resource management and higher punishment for failure. This made most combat encounters require a lot more thought, reflex, and strategy than Twilight Princess. It took combat and turned it from adequate, decently fun, but somewhat mundane, into something exciting the vast Majora-ty of the time. Now imagine BotW with properly implemented Hidden Skills... I'm drooling over the prospect. :D

What happens to the fun factor if what's fun for me isn't fun for other players necessarily? For example, I love The Club (arcade TPS + combo system, like resident evil mercenaries), but the majority of the players trashed this game. If I follow what I think it's fun, I'm pretty sure my game is doomed.

Awesome video! Hopefully this title I'm working on pans out.

Can you please make the intro music softer in your videos it's too loud comparing to your voice.

I’m having trouble finding a game you made. Do you have a link?

1. Tutorial 2. Progression 3. wonder. Pretty basic stuff, but it's good for someone to articulate it.

Amazing video! Thanks!

I think Rockstar Games have the sense of wonder because nobody could remember there newer games fully in one play through! They have alternate ways of doing missions and such! Especially GTA 5 with its Chiliad Mystery keeps me coming back for sure!

I think games like prototype and just cause 3 are some of the most fun games alone but mario kart and rainbow 6 seige are fun with friends

Where can we find your games and play them?

Like and subscribe just because you mentioned halo!

binding of isaac was like the first thing i thought if when i saw this video

​ @Game Dev Underground Another great vid! Would it be alright to post some Steam keys here in hopes of getting feedback for my game on some of the things you talked about in the video?

1:26

3:27 I see those too, but they seem to be sucssessful 😔

Thank you

I'm in 2024 guys... Aliens invaded earth, I'm among the few survivors..

3:22 well that's a problem because everyone has a different set of skills and abilities. I am very good at combat based games but I'm horrible at dating sims and more socialized games. Hell some people are straight up horrible at games and to be honest I'm not good at games. I find a hard challenge fun; something I keep dying to over and over like Dark Souls until I figure out how to defeat the problem.

I would also add an unique gamemechanic to the list.

Awesome intro and useful information

So many different types of fun - Doom shotgun? Fun. Quake rocket-jump / quad-damage? Fun. Finish a level of Pac-man - fun? Finish Dark Souls? fun? The larger scale goals are satisfaction or relief from stress, the smaller scale goals are entertainment.

Hi man! You have a drill besides you. What it's for ?

You rock!

youre talking about flow theory thanks to the Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi we can apply this theory

This is such an amazing topic, I would like to see more content about it. Great video.

One of the best things about Halo was quick-saving the game with a full stack of sticky grenades, then sticking them to all your marines feet and laughing your ass off as they exploded and got thrown around.Then you quick-reload and do it again and see what happens. While the 'Halo' ring is a nice concept, the plot did not move me. If you want a plot, read a book.

Too many good videos! 🤤

my game(streak pong) has a few downloads but us Aly people quickly uninstall it

When you talked about maze games i tuned in alot more (i was making art for my game on the side) because my game is actually a first person maze, I just want to quickly ask you/the people in the comments. Would a maze game be fun if it had a story and more obstacles? I have monsters in my maze that move through the walls so making a wrong turn can be horrible for you, and a whole story planned. Would that game really be fun, or am i just telling my self it will be?

Rare should have seen this.

Your Rad-acikel Your a cool dude 😎

Watch this video it's about what makes things fun but it's about video games ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-5LScL4CWe5E.html Fun isn't the only bridge to get players to completion, compelling story or mystery or etc, combine with at least adequate fun IMO will keep players engaged.

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Didnt really like this video progression is not fun, "wonder" as tip 3...and forgot tip 1 already. Maybe helpful to someone completely new to games

Graphics

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1999 anyone?

When I make games, if it has no progression -> I don't classify it as a game.

Destiny is a fun game, however with no story it was badly lacking after the strikes, raids and extremely short ambiguous story. It was like eating half a cookie, where's the other half? It gave no purpose for why anything exists or why I should care. I also think there was bad progression system for guns and armor even though the guns were fun. Now for Halo , 1 - 4 was fun and good story. Halo 5? Too much damn microtransactions which almost completely eliminates the point of continuously playing for unlockables. Also the story was bad, it was a lie for all who bought the game hoping Master Chief was going to fight Locke. But eh, getting into clans always makes games more fun because they can give you the purpose when there is not.

talkilking bout someone in front of the camera without showing an example xd

That intro is... Quite obnoxious.

I would show pictures of videos instead of just showing your face

Graphics and animation is what I like about games. Gameplay comes second because it's a combination of programming and animation so if your animations are A1. Your gameplay is going to have either a responsive or unresponsive feel. In between is possible but difficult.