Cogwork The Game Mechanics Field Guide Open the Index
Mechanics Families Anatomy Combos Glossary Open the Index

Field method

The anatomy
of a game.

Four short methods for taking any game apart in your head — from spotting its core loop to seeing how its mechanics combine.

Read the design

Name the Core Loop

Every game has a loop it repeats — the short cycle of things you do again and again. Find it and the whole design snaps into focus.

  1. Ask: what do I do on almost every turn?
  2. Trace what that action gives you
  3. Follow how that reward feeds the next turn
  4. That cycle — act, gain, grow — is the core loop

Take it apart

Peel the Mechanics Apart

Most games are a few mechanics stacked together, not one big rule. Separating the layers makes any game easier to learn and to teach.

  1. Spot the main mechanic doing the heavy lifting
  2. Find the smaller mechanics hanging off it
  3. Notice which rules exist just to keep things fair
  4. Explain each layer on its own, then together

Find the pressure

Find Where the Tension Lives

A good mechanic creates a hard choice. Locate that pressure point and you've found what the game is really about.

  1. Look for the decision you agonise over most
  2. Ask what you're trading away when you choose
  3. See whether the pressure is scarcity, timing, or luck
  4. That tension is the reason the mechanic exists

See the seams

See How Mechanics Combine

Mechanics rarely work alone. The magic is often in how two of them rub against each other and create something neither could alone.

  1. Identify two mechanics sharing the same turn
  2. Ask how one changes the stakes of the other
  3. Look for the new decision their overlap creates
  4. That overlap is where a design earns its character

Put it to work

Take a specimen apart.

Open the mechanics index and read a specimen with these four methods in mind — the design will read like an open book.

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