ATLAS / IDEAS

Game design atlas

Find a mechanism, understand its tradeoffs and smallest useful scope, then build your game with a design card and sample project.

192 Mechanisms32 Mechanism domain48 Art styles12 Genre guides

Art styles My research shelf Rain Canopy Workshop · Try the complete prototype Pixel toolkit

Guides explain combinations and are counted separately from individual mechanisms.

Genre guides

Survivor-like

The character attacks automatically, and the player mostly moves. Pressure comes from enemies closing in together, and growth comes from one choice at each level.

Show the loop

Move through gaps in the crowd
Let the automatic attack open a temporary path
Choose one ability from a few options
Use the new range to choose a new place to stand

Reference gamesVampire Survivors · Brotato · Halls of Torment

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Genre guides

Platform jumping

The distance, height, and recovery of a jump are the rules. A level is a set of sentences about where the player can land.

Show the loop

Read the distance between the landing and the danger
Jump and make a small correction in the air
Land and accept the position the jump left you in
Use that position to attempt the next stretch

Reference gamesCeleste · Super Meat Boy · Shovel Knight

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Genre guides

Bullet patterns

Danger on screen is a pattern that can be read. The player has a very small hit area and finds a path through the gaps that lasts a few seconds.

Show the loop

Read the direction and the gaps
Move a little and hold a safe point
Attack or collect during a pause in the pattern
Find a new gap when the pattern changes

Reference gamesIkaruga · DoDonPachi Resurrection · Jamestown

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Genre guides

Physics launch

The player sets direction and power, then gives the result to collisions. Skill is predicting the path, the impacts, and the shots that remain.

Show the loop

Read the target and the obstacles
Pull a direction and an amount of power
Launch and see how collisions rewrite the board
Spend the remaining shots on the new positions

Reference gamesAngry Birds · Peggle · Golf Peaks

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Covers are original AI-generated style illustrations. Game names reference publicly visible design choices and remain the property of their owners. This atlas does not supply screenshots or assets from those games. Prompts and combinations are original drafts for new games.