Skip to main content

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

Core loop

01Read active statements
02Find editable terms
03Form a valid rule
04Observe and act

Language and rule manipulationLinked states

Rules as manipulable objects

Change the obstacle's property or change the goal condition?

Reference gamesBaba Is You · Scribblenauts Unlimited

Open this entry

Core loop

01Observe symbols and actions
02Record candidate meanings
03Compare new contexts
04Confirm and apply

Language and rule manipulationOne rule

Decoding an unknown language

Label a symbol WATER now or retain DRINK as an alternative until another sentence clarifies it?

Reference gamesChants of Sennaar · Heaven's Vault

Open this entry

Core loop

01Read inputs and goal
02Arrange instructions
03Step through state changes
04Locate errors and rerun

Language and rule manipulationOne rule

Programming and debugging

Patch the current example or find a loop or condition that handles every input?

Reference gamesHuman Resource Machine · Opus Magnum

Open this entry

Core loop

01Inspect letters
02Trace neighbors
03Validate word and path
04Keep found words and search

Language and rule manipulationOne rule

Words through adjacent tiles

Submit a safe short word or extend through a rare letter with uncertain validity?

Reference gamesBoggle · Wordament

Open this entry

Core loop

01Read a fragment
02Propose a term
03Inspect search results
04Update clues and hypotheses

Language and rule manipulationOne rule

Keyword-driven investigation

Keep searching a known name or follow an unusual object mentioned in a sentence?

Reference gamesHer Story · Telling Lies

Open this entry

Core loop

01Read distance and word length
02Select a target
03Type or switch
04Resolve and reprioritize

Language and rule manipulationOne rule

Typing target priorities

Finish a half-typed long word or switch to the short-word threat about to reach you?

Reference gamesEpistory - Typing Chronicles · The Typing of The Dead: Overkill

Open this entry

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.