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The Art of Play.

Good games begin with a good question. Follow yours, try a tiny experiment, and see what happens.

Start with the first spark →Browse the lectures ↓

01–06 · Build a foundation07–12 · Deepen your practice

Follow the first six lectures to build a small game, then explore six deeper workshops in any order. Set aside 45–60 minutes per foundation lecture or 30–45 minutes per advanced workshop, plus time for your own prototype.

We follow Night Mail, an original tiny courier game. Keep a notebook and apply its problems to your own idea. Every lecture pairs an explanation with an experiment and a practical next step.

Pick a lecture. Play with an idea.

Choose your path

Find an idea

12 lectures to explore

What makes a game worth playing?

Describe the experience you want a player to have.

45–60 min workshop

Try it: Learn a signal pattern

Give the player a decision worth making

Identify a dominant option and an uninformed guess.

45–60 min workshop

Try it: Choose a courier route

Small rules, surprising games

Trace how a rule changes behavior and player experience.

45–60 min workshop

Try it: Change an economy

Teach the game without a wall of instructions

Separate learning a control from applying it under pressure.

45–60 min workshop

Try it: Arrange a teaching sequence

Build the smallest thing that can teach you something

Choose a prototype that can answer a specific design question.

45–60 min workshop

Try it: Plan a tiny prototype

Watch a player. Change your mind. Make a better game.

Run a focused session without coaching every decision.

45–60 min workshop

Try it: Sort playtest notes

Deeper practice

See your game through a different lens

Inspect one moment from several perspectives.

30–45 min workshop

Try it: Switch design perspectives

Deeper practice

Make an action matter beyond the click

Distinguish immediate feedback from a lasting consequence.

30–45 min workshop

Try it: Plan two deliveries

Deeper practice

Build a ladder of discoveries

Name the knowledge a challenge asks for.

30–45 min workshop

Try it: Reorder discovery rooms

Deeper practice

Tune the space between intention and motion

Describe a control complaint as an observable behavior.

30–45 min workshop

Try it: Park a delivery cart

Deeper practice

Give your game room to breathe

Sketch a sequence of intended pressure and recovery.

30–45 min workshop

Try it: Draw a pacing curve

Deeper practice

Turn a hunch into a useful playtest

Match a prototype’s fidelity to an uncertainty.

30–45 min workshop

Try it: Match a test to a question

Big ideas. Small experiments.

Learn from five influential design books, then put the questions to work. The lessons and puzzles here are original; you do not need the books to take the course.

The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses

Look at the same design from several perspectives.

Explore the book ↗

Tracy Fullerton

Game Design Workshop

Prototype, observe players, and revise around an experience goal.

Explore the book ↗

A Theory of Fun for Game Design

Ask what the player is learning to recognize.

Explore the book ↗

Katie Salen & Eric Zimmerman

Rules of Play

Connect a readable action to its place in the larger game.

Explore the book ↗

Game Feel

Inspect the relationship between control, space, and feedback.

Explore the book ↗

Look closely. Then make something.

See these questions in games you know. Play by Play connects a specific design decision to an original interactive experiment you can try.

Explore Play by Play →