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How to Make Games that just Feel GOOD to Play
How to make your games really juicy and fun!
What is your favorite video game? The one you can boot up at any point, jump right into, and have a great time playing? We all have at least one game, that just feels absolutely great to play. We get into a state of flow, and just bolt out a full combo in “Guitar Hero”, get a satisfying Pentakill in “Overwatch”, or hit a group of enemies with their weakness in “Persona 5” without breaking a sweat.
What all these events have in common, is that they just feel great to play. Outside of the overarching goal of reaching Platinum in ranked mode, or unraveling an intricate storyline, the act of playing just feels great. This “Game Feel” — coined by Steve Swink in his prolific book of the same name — is the quantification of how well your game provides feedback to inputs from the player. Games are sometimes described as being slick, or crunchy, or bulky, or zippy. These adjectives are coming from how the game feels to play!
I highly recommend you give “Game Feel” a read, as its one of the most influential game development books and has special value for small and independent game developers. You may be saying, “Game feel is great and all, but how do I make my games feel great?” I’m going to discuss some tips to improve your game and make it more…
