Designing Games
by Tynan Sylvester · first published 2013
83% recommend17% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Approachable look at the psychology behind game design: motivation, rewards, timing, goals, and emergent stories. Suits newcomers and non-developers, and it is not very technical.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…handful of heuristics with some calls to random() thrown in. From the perspective of a player who does not know how the simulation works, the latter can _seem_ like the output of a complex system. See: _Designing Games_ by Tynan Sylvester, developer of RimWorld (https://tynansylvester.com/book/). Dwarf Fortress, I think, is the exception which proves this rule. Anyway, I think simulations like this are really cool…
on “Citybound – A city building game using actor-based distributed simulation” ↗Tynan Sylvester (creator of Rimworld, and author of "Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences") has some great thoughts on this in the early part of his GDC talk on building a 'story generator' rather than a game. He talks about 'apophenia' - the propensity of players to ascribe narrative meaning…
on “Games that emphasize emergent narrative” ↗> I don't consider myself a person that good at writing stories (or anything other than programming) Read a book https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Games-Guide-Engineering-Exp... > often find my games bland and boring pretty fast. Art of screenshake https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJdEqssNZ-U
on “Ask HN: How do I get started to game devevelopment/design?” ↗Another good one on the game design side of things: Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences by Tynan Sylvester (RimWorld)
on “Books for Game Developers” ↗I've been reading Designing Games by Tynan Sylvester (http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920026624.do, eBook is $10 if you use coupon code DEAL). It's been really interesting so far. Game design is not about art, writing, or programming.…
on “Richard Garriott on why “most game designers really just suck”” ↗…events that makes it. This book by Tynan (RimWorld) is a great read, you /really/ delve into the psychology of games. Even if you're not a game designer, I recommend reading it. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Designing-Games-Guide-Engineering-E...
on “A Year-Long Undercover Plot to Blow Up Eve Online's Most Notorious Space Station” ↗"Designing Games" by Tynan Sylvester (creator of Rimworld), and "Game Feel" by Steve Swink, are both more recent books about high-level game design concepts, though they don't specifically focus on world building.
on “Richard Bartle releases his classic “Designing Virtual Worlds” book for free” ↗…Here are a few that I own: The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, by Jesse Schell Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design, by Scott Rogers A Theory of Fun for Game Design, by Raph Koster Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences, by Tynan Sylvester Game Feel: A Game Designers Guide yo Virtual Sensation, by Steve Swink Designing Virtual Worlds, by Richard Bartle Here are a few more that I haven’t read and don’t own, so don’t…
on “Foundations of Game Engine Development” ↗…that aren't linked together into a cohesive theory, so I’m kind of disappointed. I think this industry talk about monetization (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNjI03CGkb4) and Tynan Sylvester’s book “Designing Games” were a lot more informative. For example, the blog post says this but then doesn't really elaborate on what any of the clauses mean ("repeatable design levers", "without compromising the core gameplay…
on “How Mihoyo's monetization works” ↗not sure if this perfectly addresses your question, but "Designing Games" by Tynan Sylvester is a great resource
on “Standard patterns in choice-based games (2015)” ↗What I found helpful: 1. The book "Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences" by Tynan Sylvester the creator of Rimworld. 2. Jonas Tyroller has some great videos on Game Design like this one: https://youtu.be/o5K0uqhxgsE 3. Some game marketing content from Chris Zukowski is…
on “Ask HN: Recommend resources that helped your game dev journey?” ↗…this. Start small. If you think it's small, start smaller. I think a lot of people fail in their quest to learn game development because the scope of their initial ideas are huge. Edit, I also recommend Designing Games, by Tynan Sylvester (RimWorld creator)
on “Ask HN: Recommend resources that helped your game dev journey?” ↗…ball rolling, here are mine: Fiction: Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu — I’m late to the party, but this was an enjoyable read. I’m looking forward to reading the next two in the series. Nonfiction: Designing Games by Tynan Sylvester — I’m not a game developer, but I thought the book was really thought provoking about designing products in general. Plus, I love Rim World. Fiction Audiobook: Dungeon Crawler Carl…
on “Ask HN: What are your top reads and listens of 2025?” ↗…addressing the actual problem? A game such as Rimworld, with much lower details in graphics / looking less realistic, feels much more like it has a "soul". Can highly recommend Tynan Sylvester's book "Designing Games" which also goes a bit into why Rimworld looks like it does. I'd rather more games move into more abstract directions for portraying game elements, the majority of games should not try to look "realistic".
on “City building games have a Soul Problem pt.2” ↗…knock-off. The developer, Tynan Sylvester, put a ton of thought into the game mechanics and created a simulation masterpiece--made even better by the extensive modding community. Tynan also wrote a book, "Designing Games," which is worth checking out. Also, the similarities to Prison Architect are coincidental. I've played and followed both games for a long time, and neither is a clone of the other. (However, I do wish…
on “Steam Sales 2015” ↗