This article introduces a few ideas on how you can keep your players motivated to continue playing your game.

(todo list)

• introduction of mechanics and the mental algorithm
• Introduce a mechanic that seems to upset the mechanics currently known (experimental)
• Achievements
• Gradually increasing challenges

Introduction to Mechanics and the Mental Algorithm

Game mechanics. Part of the essence of game design. Without them, you have no game. But, what are game mechanics? This section will answer that question.

Stop. Reload. Shoot. Jump. Anything you can do in a video game is a game mechanic. But wait, there's more:

Think deep.

Game mechanics are based on something else. For lack of a better term, game mechanics are built on the fundamental units of the game universe. Therefore for every thing you can do in a game, there's at least one other thing that allows you to do it. If the universe has no bullets, you can't reload. Jumping in a universe without gravity might be interesting for a second… but then what?

Think wide.

For every game mechanic, there are several things that it affects and several other things that go along with it. Shooting something requires both a gun and ammo. Shooting helps you defeat various obstacles in the game. Enemies, other players, sometimes a lock. In platform game, jumping allows the player to defeat the primary platform game obstacle: those gaps in between platforms. Jumping also can help the player move left, right, upwards and, heh, downwards.