✦ primoh.coGame design course

The core loop

Connect actions, feedback, and changed situations across seconds, sessions, and longer journeys.

Lesson 2 of 149 min + exercise

A loop is a way to describe recurring play: perceive a situation, act, receive feedback, and encounter a changed situation. Not every loop needs currency or a prize. The change may be knowledge, a new position, a narrative response, or simply a pleasurable sensation.

Concepts

Verbs
Name what the player does: move, inspect, vote, trade, rotate. Be specific enough to sketch an interaction. “Explore” may involve several different verbs.
Nested loops
Distinguish a moment-to-moment interaction from the arc of a round or level and from changes across sessions. A run can reset equipment while the player retains knowledge.
Why repeat?
Explain what changes between passes. Opponents, new information, a chosen goal, expressive possibilities, or a developing story can renew an action. Repetition alone is not a defect.
The stripped-down test
Remove one layer to learn what it contributes. Placeholder art is useful, but sound, movement, and visual composition may be essential to the hypothesis. A rhythm game without music is testing a different experience.

In games

Hades ↗

Separate combat inputs, choosing a chamber reward, and returning after a run. Ask how changes at each scale influence the next decision.

Stardew Valley ↗

A crop task can contribute both to today’s plan and to a longer investment over the season.

Common mistakes

  • Describing the shop rather than the play that makes earning resources worthwhile.
  • Assuming every reward must be a numeric upgrade.
  • Demanding that every isolated part be enjoyable without the context that gives it meaning.

Draw three nested loops

  1. Pick a familiar game and draw a four-step moment loop.
  2. Sketch a session with a beginning, change, and ending.
  3. Name what persists between sessions and why you would return.

Done when: Each loop names an action, feedback, a change, and a reason to continue.

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Check your understanding

Is “earn coins → buy upgrades → earn more coins” enough to explain a core loop?

Show answer

It describes an economy but leaves out the activity. Specify what the player does to earn coins and why that action is interesting.

Sources

About the research →