The Craft · Making games
What makes a game worth playing?
A working program gives us something to play. The rules, choices, controls and feedback shape the experience. The Craft explores how to make those decisions, try them out and understand what changes.
Start with a question from a game you are making, or try the paper game below. You do not need to complete Foundations, choose a computer or know a programming language.
Try changing one rule ↓Seven counters. Your turn.
You can take one or two.
Take one6 left for the other player
Take two5 left for the other player
Current material
Explore the current material
Explore chance and aiming in Maths for Games, or explore controls and response in Game Feel. Each module starts from a useful question; these are independent routes, not a required course order.
- Lessons available
Maths for Games
Build a probability experiment or explore coordinates, triangles, trigonometry and fixed-point aiming. Further routes lead into vectors, matrices and 3D.
Explore the module → - Lessons available
Game Feel
Explore four controls-and-response lessons with playable comparisons and inspectable code. Further sequences cover jumping, impact, cameras and recovery.
Explore the module →
Planned modules
More of The Craft
These modules define where we are heading. Their lessons are still to come.
Game Design
Shape rules, goals, choices and challenges. Explore levels, resources and progression, and test what makes a game interesting.
Game AI
Build entities that perceive, remember and choose. Explore states, navigation, decision-making and coordination.
Game Data and Algorithms
Represent worlds, entities and events. Compare grids, pools, spatial queries, histories and the cost of processing them.
Graphics and Animation
Create and render images that communicate the game. Explore sprites, tiles, palettes, fonts, animation and how geometry becomes pixels.
Sound and Music
Create the audible experience through sound effects, rhythm, melody, synthesis and arrangement, then integrate it with play.
Accessibility, debugging and performance run through these subjects. Physics, collision, cameras, procedural generation and level design will develop within the relevant modules.
Try it on paper · Two players
Change one rule. Play again.
Put seven counters between you. Coins or small scraps of paper will do. Take turns removing one or two counters. Whoever takes the last counter wins.
- Play a round. Before each turn, say what you expect your choice to leave for the other player.
- Change the ending. This time, whoever takes the last counter loses. Keep everything else the same.
- Compare. Did a useful move become a poor one? Was there a point when one player could force the result, whatever the other chose?
Try a different starting number next. Change only that number, so you can tell which difference affected play. Swap who starts and compare again.
Take an idea into a game
The system tracks guide you through building games in a particular language and machine. They explain the immediate design choice as you build; The Craft will give those questions room for deeper experiments and alternatives.
For programming concepts, explore Foundations. For concrete techniques to adapt, browse the Pattern Library and check each example’s language, requirements and limitations. A rule can transfer between games even when its implementation needs to change.