How to design around the feeling you want

1 The bottom line

Write one line that names the emotions you want, then keep only the mechanics that produce them. Mechanics create behavior and behavior creates feeling, so a feature that fights the feeling quietly breaks the game.

2 Key takeaways

• Start from a named feeling, role or theme, not a feature list. It gives every later decision a target.
  • Mark Brown and Jonas Tyroller, Game Maker's Toolkit12:26: FTL aimed to make players feel like Captain Picard yelling at engineers to get the shields back online.
  • Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit1:25: Miyamoto built Zelda around the surprise of stumbling on a lake while hiking without a map.
• Write the vision as feelings, so mechanics stay free to change. The same feeling can survive a new set of rules.
  • Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit5:04: Resident Evil 4's pillars included lightning-fast pace and b-movie dialogue, and they stayed feelings, not features.
• Judge every mechanic by the behavior and emotion it creates. Experience comes from mechanics, not plot, graphics or setting.
  • Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:37: Far Cry 4 and Far Cry 2 share a setting and villain type, yet one is a blockbuster rollercoaster and the other a harrowing holiday.
  • Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit1:17: Alien: Isolation's easy auto-checkpoints made players wander carelessly, which undermined its horror.
• Cut or reshape whatever fights the feeling. One off-tone system or set piece breaks the mood.
  • Mark Brown with Roll7, Game Maker's Toolkit5:05: Rollerdrome's team knew which mechanics to pull because the focus was a certain feeling for the player.
• Carry the feeling into pacing, enemies, music and the effort you ask of the player. Everything should point the same way.
  • Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:33: BioShock's Fort Frolic matched its unhinged character with creepy, unpredictable foes instead of stronger ones.

mechanics happen in the code, dynamics happen in the player's actions, and aesthetics happen in the player's feelings.

Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:44

2.1 Name the feeling you want to give the player

A vision starts with a role, a theme or a real feeling, and every other choice follows from it.

• Decide what role the player lives or what theme you explore. Mark Brown and Jonas Tyroller, Game Maker's Toolkit12:26
  • Let the rest of the design flow from that role. Thronefall began as the power fantasy of building and defending a tiny kingdom.
  • Themes work too. Spiritfarer approaches death in a cozy way, and Into the Breach asks what a game about collateral damage looks like.
• Borrow a feeling you have actually lived. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit1:25
  • Miyamoto based Zelda on finding a lake while hiking the Japanese countryside without a map. He then built Hyrule so players feel the same surprise.
  • Miyazaki said Elden Ring's giant landmass was there to give a sense of adventure, so the scale serves the fantasy. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:20
• Design for how the player will feel, not for what satisfies you. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:59
  • Iwatani held that a fun game comes from understanding how the player feels and thinks. Pac-Man's softer ghost waves and forgiving turns came from that view.
• Boil each piece down to a one-sentence theme. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit6:58
  • Sakurai writes a pithy theme for every fighter in the design document. If the sentence is generic, he redesigns the character or cuts them.
  • His themes include 'Puppet Fighter' for Rosalina and Luma, 'Pointed Sword Dancer' for Meta Knight and 'Heavy Weapons Specialist' for Snake.

2.2 Write the vision as feelings, not features

A vision made of emotions lets you change any mechanic without losing the game.

• Make your pillars aesthetics, such as tension or pace. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit5:04
  • That lets you rework how the game plays without changing how it feels.
  • Resident Evil 4's pillars included lightning-fast pace, b-movie dialogue, tackling encounters in different ways, and replayability. The Dead Space remake used 'sci-fi horror, unbroken immersion, and creative gameplay'.
• Keep the sensation when you change the outer layers. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit4:07
  • Capcom's rule for Resident Evil 2 was that players should get the same feeling as back in the day. The fixed camera went away, but hard aiming and a tight camera behind Leon kept the tension and claustrophobia.
  • For Ashley in the Resident Evil 4 Remake, Capcom tweaked her AI, health bar and characterisation instead of making her invincible, which would have changed the original's dynamic. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:01
• Ask what a limitation was doing before you fix it. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit8:34
  • Metroid II's tiny screen, narrow winding paths, no backtracking and no return to the ship served its horror tone.
  • The remakes zoomed out, added colour and added backtracking, and the planet felt welcoming instead of alien.
  • The tiny Game Boy view was like pointing a torch into a pitch black room, which made the player feel insignificant. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit8:06
• Copy the experience a feature creates, not the feature list. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit4:49
  • Spelunky kept Rogue's random levels and meaningful death. It dropped turn-based play, grids and ASCII art, and still captures Rogue's surprise and peril.
  • Mark Brown says Hyper Light Drifter captures the spirit of Dark Souls without copying its ingredient list. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit11:53
  • For nostalgia, aim at memory. Players recall old games as bigger and better looking than they were. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:06

2.3 Trace each mechanic to the emotion it creates

Test every rule by following it from code to behavior to feeling.

• Analyse each mechanic in three steps: mechanics, dynamics, aesthetics. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:44
  • Mechanics are rules, systems and numbers. Dynamics are how players respond. Aesthetics are the emotions, not the art style.
  • A high ammo cap makes players shoot wildly and feel reckless and powerful. A tiny cap makes them cautious and fearful.
  • Low ammo makes players weigh every shot, avoid enemies and hunt for supplies, which yields disempowerment, fear and caution. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:14
• Credit mechanics, not setting, for the way a game feels. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:37
  • Far Cry 4 is fun because you have loads of ammo, can track enemies and can permanently wipe them off the map.
  • Far Cry 2 is harrowing because weapons jam, the jeep breaks down, malaria strikes and death sends you back to the last save station.
• Check that the consequences match the emotion. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit10:54
  • If you want players to feel scared, you probably need a consequence for failure. Tomb Raider's tower climb has none, so Lara is terrified while the player is not.
  • Alien: Isolation began with invisible auto-checkpoints because they were standard. Death cost a couple of minutes, so players wandered the station carelessly. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit1:17
• Pick mechanics by the experience, never because they are trendy or dated. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:55
  • Leaderboards, lives, roguelike saves and fixed cameras each suit some games and not others.
  • Just Cause 3 lets you absorb dozens of bullets so you feel like a reckless action hero. Hitman kills you in a few shots so you stick to the shadows. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit1:18
  • Sunset Overdrive rewards combos for bouncing and grinding, and swarms you if you fight from the ground. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit1:18

2.4 Tune the levers that shape the feeling

Information, resources, friction and control are the dials that turn a mechanic into a mood.

• Decide how much the player sees. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit4:06
  • Balatro hides its score preview, so players act faster and each hand carries suspense and drama.
  • Reigns first showed exact stat numbers, and testers optimised them and ignored the text. Vague bars got players reading the story and deciding emotionally. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit11:59
  • In Alien: Isolation, fear comes from your shaky knowledge of the Xenomorph's senses. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit11:06
• Tie a key resource to the action that expresses the fantasy. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit1:44:31
  • Doom (2016) does not regenerate health behind cover. Glory kills shower you with health, so you run toward enemies in a genre that favours retreat.
  • Doom also drops aim down sights and speed penalties, so you can circle enemies and fire at full speed. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit0:39
• Add friction on purpose, or remove it, depending on the feeling. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit55:06
  • Far Cry 2 rusts and jams your weapons, demands malaria medication and makes the map a paper you hold while the game runs. You feel outgunned, underpowered, scared and alone.
  • DON'T NOD wanted a peaceful Jusant, so you cannot die, invisible walls stop falls and the rope catches you. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit13:06
• Shape how in control the player feels. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit0:50
  • Resident Evil 4 stops you moving and aiming together, uses a poor camera, limits resources and cramps the inventory. You still feel intense fear holding a shotgun and a grenade.
  • Thief took its power dynamic from the submarine sim Silent Service: very strong when unseen, very weak when spotted. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit8:26
  • Stealth games give you strength on every axis except brute force, which is why they rarely hand over machine guns. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit5:54

2.5 Cut or rework what fights the feeling

Once the feeling is fixed, every system, pacing choice and set piece either serves it or goes.

• Let the target feeling decide what gets cut. Mark Brown with Roll7, Game Maker's Toolkit5:05
  • Rollerdrome wanted a super high intensity, dangerous, bloodsport feel. That feeling guided which skating and shooting mechanics stayed.
  • The Forgotten City is built around talking and investigating, and its wonky Bethesda combat from the mod jars against that. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:42
  • Add destruction only when it supports a clear goal, such as denying cover or opening lines of sight. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit17:47
• Keep the series' tone across set pieces and side content. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit13:57
  • Metroid is played for exploration, solitude and adventure. Prime 3's linear corridors and cinematic explosions make it feel like any other sci-fi shooter.
  • Prime 3 drops its allies, then brings a voice back through Aurora, so it never commits to the isolated feel. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit0:27
  • Doom (2016) has collectibles and platforming that can send intensity from 11 to 0 in whiplash fashion. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit5:27
• Match pacing to the genre. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit6:37
  • Dead Space 3 spends about five hours in the same three research rooms. Repetition adds oppression in survival horror but grates in an overpowered shooter.
  • Dead Space 2 jumps from combat to set piece to cutscene with little breathing room, so it startles more than it scares. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:25
  • A spectacle cutscene after a gothic church burns off the mood, so the creepy corridor that follows cannot work. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit1:48
• Swap the mechanic, keep the emotion. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:17
  • Firaxis used XCOM 2's turn timers to make players rush and take risks. Mario + Rabbids rewards fast play, and Invisible Inc ramps challenge with its alarm system, with less annoyance.
  • Breath of the Wild points freedom, exploration, cryptic clues and surprises at one purpose, adventure. An open world is not an excuse to chuck in random features. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:31

2.6 Carry the feeling into presentation and the learning curve

Music, enemies, zones and difficulty should all say the same thing as the mechanics.

• Match sound, art and enemies to the target mood. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit1:24
  • Breath of the Wild wakes Link in a ruined kingdom, so it uses quiet, slow, subdued piano.
  • Splatoon's ink is like spraying graffiti, which gave it punk rock music and a 90s look. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:49
  • Fort Frolic's plaster splicers spawn in static poses behind you, often where you already cleared. A safe space feels unsafe again. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit4:55
  • Tarrey Town's full-bodied theme contrasts with the melancholy elsewhere and shows hope that Hyrule can thrive. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:36
• Make a different zone play differently, not just look different. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit6:13
  • Metroid Prime 2's Dark Aether is claustrophobic, full of enemies and drains health with radiation outside light bubbles.
  • Halo 3: ODST changes the tone, but its soldiers play much like Master Chief, so the change feels superficial. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit11:44
• If the feeling is power, say up front whether the player must earn it. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit10:13
  • Skate casts you as a lowly amateur, which matches its steep learning curve. DOOM Eternal sells a demon-slaying bad-ass who then falls to basic demons.
  • Let the fantasy grow with skill. Forza Horizon 4 cuts XP when assists are on, and Hades rewards weapons you have not used lately. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit12:35
  • Miyazaki wants accomplishment from overcoming tremendous odds, so removing the challenge shrinks every kill and boss victory. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:35

2.7 Where designers disagree

The right answer depends on which feeling you chose, so the same tactic can help one game and hurt another.

• Give the power fantasy away, or make players earn it.
  • Batman Arkham's simple inputs and forgiving systems let you spam punch and look awesome, per Troy Skinner of WB Games. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit1:39
  • Mass Effect starts Shepard as a commander, because BioWare wanted players to feel special from the beginning. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit5:04
  • Mark Brown counters that Arkham's tiny effort can feel patronising. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:09
  • Spider-Man's combat makes you look like a bumbling fool early, so living the fantasy is a reward for being good. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:14 Hitman's trailer shows a perfect assassin, and you only become one by learning the level. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit1:35
• Keep enemy perception ambiguous, or make it predictable.
  • For fear and tension, uncertainty keeps the player on the cusp of being found, as Thief programmer Tom Leonard described. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit11:06
  • For an apex predator feel, predictable senses let players stop guessing and plan traps. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit11:27
  • Mark of the Ninja's producer Jamie Cheng was more interested in building an elaborate death trap than in guessing whether a guard would hear him.
• Judge a mechanic by what the developer intended.
  • Tomb Raider and Uncharted climbing is simple downtime between combat, so criticising it for lacking realism misses the aim. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit15:03
  • Insomniac wanted every player to feel like Spider-Man immediately, not to master a complex swinging system. Treat the rest as room for a developer with different intentions.