players should never spend so much time in a sub-game that they forget what they were doing in the main game.

This is a natural side effect of the fact that in games, the actions and all their effects must be simulated on the fly, while in stories it is all worked out ahead of time.

You will want to choose mechanics that make players feel like they are in the world that the aesthetics have defined, and you will want a story with a set of events that let your aesthetics emerge at the right pace and have the most impact.

Females tend to be more interested in mastery when it has a meaningful purpose.

If the game is too short, players may not get a chance to develop and execute meaningful strategies. But if the game goes on too long, players may grow bored, or they may avoid the game because playing it requires too much of a time commitment.

The faster you build the prototype that answers your question, the better, despite how ugly it may look.

What are the objects in my game? • What are the attributes of the objects? • What are the possible states for each attribute? What triggers the state changes for each attribute? • What state is known by the game only? • What state is known by all players? • What state is known by some, or only one player? • Would changing who knows what state

Q6. Games are interactive. Q7. Games have challenge. Q8. Games can create their own internal value.

Behavioral Rules: These are rules that are implicit to gameplay, which most people naturally understand as part of “good sportsmanship.”