Polaris Game Design
@polarisgamedesign.com
Solving the toughest problems in game design. Mostly a yearly weekend retreat for professional game designers. https://polarisgamedesign.com/
Top 10 Influential Games on designer @nictringali.bsky.social : The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind Stuntman (2002, PS2) Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Sid Meier's Pirates! (2004) XCOM (2012) 80 Days (2014) Dwarf Fortress Hitman (2016) Caves of Qud My Summer Car Runnerup: Dune board game (1979)
Wanna think more deeply about game design? Here's some reports on the latest systems analyses from Polaris Design Retreat, from social psychological-safety design to mechanical comedy to loss, and beyond! polarisgamedesign.com/reports/
Reports
REPORTS 2022 2023 2023 Understanding Systems Suspense Why is it fun to learn the rules of a videogame? Not just to play the game, but to learn it; to travel from the state of unknowing to knowing, to ...
polarisgamedesign.com
I decided to map all my top "I should actually make this" side projects to figure out what they have in common and surprising no one the answer is "horror" and "narrative focused"
Lucas Pope's @dukope.bsky.social top 10 influential games (unranked): Wizards & Warriors Dark Castle Out of this World / Another World Thief Digital: A Love Story Doom II: Hell on Earth Quake Shadowgate Flashback Goonies II The list of top influential games: polarisgamedesign.com/the-polaris-...
The Polaris List
Polaris is a non-profit committed to improving and refining the art and craft of game design. In order to get a snapshot of current game design thinking and reference points, we wondered — what do wor...
polarisgamedesign.com
ICYMI, in December 2025, Polaris said Portal is the top influence on working senior game designers. A new article from @aftermath.site by @beewertheimer.com suggests Portal is often embedded canon at the training level for new designers 🤔 I wonder what a femme-designers-only list would look like!
polarisgamedesign.com
Aftermath@aftermath.site · 4mo agoA love letter to 'girl games' aftermath.site/a-love-letter-...
If you're a Polaris alum, check the Discord! We've announced this year's dates, venue, and also are asking for folks to nominate new attendees.
February's gazette is out! 📰 @strangescaffold.bsky.social's Space Warlord Baby Trading Sim has launched, @polarisgamedesign.com papers are published, @play.date Community Awards nomination for Chance's Lucky Escape & Double Dragon Big box! www.thecrimsondiamond.com/CrimsonGazette89.html
If you prefer your game design thoughts podcasts via Spotify, we're also there! Listen and learn at your leisure: open.spotify.com/show/5ewr7SE...
Spotify – Web Player
open.spotify.com
The incredible @rainysector.bsky.social hosted a Polaris Design podcast with some attendees of Polaris 2025 -- have a listen to what some groups were thinking midway through the conference, and how they personally approach their paper topics: www.youtube.com/@PolarisDesi...
Polaris Design
youtube.com
I really liked this papers breakdown of virtual social interactions and the different needs and risks that should be considered. Great for game designers of course, and super interesting to think about as a community professional and digital anthropologist. polarisgamedesign.com/2025/toolkit...
Toolkit for Cringe-Safe Social Interactions
What design elements provide permission for players to play together socially?
polarisgamedesign.com
Polaris Game Design@polarisgamedesign.com · 7mo agoIt's the Polaris 2025 reports! They've come! They're here! It's a bumper crop of five, count'em FIVE papers! We got comedy, we got death, we got cringe, we got trust... something for the whole team. Piping hot game design knowledge and insight await: polarisgamedesign.com/reports/
A new cohort of my Designing Cities for Video Games game urbanism class will be starting this March. Will be also doing a live course presentation on February 25: www.eventbrite.com/e/designing-...
Konstantinos Dimopoulos 🔜 Gamescom Dev@konstantinosd.bsky.social · 8mo agoMy *Designing Cities for Video Games* course for #gamedev professionals returns in 2026, with lessons beginning on March 4. ▶️ Find out more and enroll here: www.d6learning.com/course/gamec... [use coupon ASOCIALCITY10 on checkout for a further 10% off]
"Rewriting the Player Contract" suggests 4 framings for managing high trust with your players: 1 - Tiered commitments (core pillars vs possibility spaces) 2 - Trust Reserves (over-deliver small promises) 3 - Provisional language 4 - Protect mysteries Read more: polarisgamedesign.com/2025/rewriti...
Rewriting the Player Contract: Legibility and Trust in Game Development
Whether you mean to or not, as a game developer, you will find yourself embedded in contracts with your players, of both explicit and implicit varieties.
polarisgamedesign.com
So very happy to see the physical edition of Ex Novo 2nd ed. doing so well on Indie Press Revolution... www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Ex-Nov...
It's time to SHORT THAT BABY! 📈 Space Warlord Baby Trading Simulator is OUT NOW on Steam! PLUS even more campaigns and content coming out over the next weeks and months! 💚👽 store.steampowered.com/app/3642000/...
"dry bones comes from the Bible" oh okay yes I am reading every fucking word of this, let's go
Not The A.V. Club Games@nottheavclubgames.bsky.social · 6mo agoWhen you defeat a skeleton in a video game, there's a very good chance it will quickly reassemble itself. What inspired this cliche? www.avclub.com/regenerating...
done with "everything is gender". now is the time of "everything is game design"
Juliette Kayyem@juliettekayyem.bsky.social · 6mo agoI have begun to think that Minnesota pushback to ICE was unique and a model because it gave people something to do. It wasn’t about just going out in streets for rallying purposes. People had a mission: videos, whistles, information and communication flow to communities. They had something to do.
In need of a bit of design inspiration today? How about playing some Game Poems? www.gamepoems.com Including work by @pippinbarr.bsky.social @gregoryaveryweir.bsky.social, curation by @agatawaszkiewicz.bsky.social @jordanmagnuson.bsky.social and more!
It's the Polaris 2025 reports! They've come! They're here! It's a bumper crop of five, count'em FIVE papers! We got comedy, we got death, we got cringe, we got trust... something for the whole team. Piping hot game design knowledge and insight await: polarisgamedesign.com/reports/
This year's Polaris game design papers are up and our group worked on Mechanical Comedy in Games, as in games where the comedy comes from players performing the jokes. Really pleased with what we learned (and glad I thought to pitch the topic). polarisgamedesign.com/2025/mechani...
Mechanical Comedy In Games 🤡 😂
A framework for designing mechanical comedy
polarisgamedesign.com
I contributed to "Rewriting the Player Contract" 👀 Check all the papers out if you've the time. They're very very cool.
Polaris Game Design@polarisgamedesign.com · 7mo agoIt's the Polaris 2025 reports! They've come! They're here! It's a bumper crop of five, count'em FIVE papers! We got comedy, we got death, we got cringe, we got trust... something for the whole team. Piping hot game design knowledge and insight await: polarisgamedesign.com/reports/
I worked with the irrepressible @jonremedios.bsky.social @tylermakesgames.bsky.social @rainysector.bsky.social @bravemule.bsky.social to write a paper on why permadeath (and other forms of loss in games) appeals, and what we lose when we try to paper over it with metaprogression. Check it out!
Polaris Game Design@polarisgamedesign.com · 7mo agoIt's the Polaris 2025 reports! They've come! They're here! It's a bumper crop of five, count'em FIVE papers! We got comedy, we got death, we got cringe, we got trust... something for the whole team. Piping hot game design knowledge and insight await: polarisgamedesign.com/reports/
Hooray! 🎉 This year's ✨@polarisgamedesign.com✨ papers are live! I'm super pumped because I got attend the retreat last year and help write one. 😊 It's about trust and wonder. Check it out here: polarisgamedesign.com/2025/rewriti...
Rewriting the Player Contract: Legibility and Trust in Game Development
Whether you mean to or not, as a game developer, you will find yourself embedded in contracts with your players, of both explicit and implicit varieties.
polarisgamedesign.com
It's the Polaris 2025 reports! They've come! They're here! It's a bumper crop of five, count'em FIVE papers! We got comedy, we got death, we got cringe, we got trust... something for the whole team. Piping hot game design knowledge and insight await: polarisgamedesign.com/reports/
The new reports from @polarisgamedesign.com went up today! I had the pleasure of attending this year and got to work with some pretty nifty people on a pretty nifty paper about loss and pain in video games. Fun stuff! polarisgamedesign.com/2025/embraci...
Embracing Player Pain: Designing for Permanent Loss
Loss and death are important, some would say essential, parts of the human experience. It's something that we all must, in time, come to accept in our lives. Why is it so hard to accept in our games?
polarisgamedesign.com
The @polarisgamedesign.com 2025 papers are up now! I had such a blast being a part of the working group on Mechanical Comedy in Games, which is our framework for talking about how players perform jokes as part of the available player verbs, mechanics, and systems
Mechanical Comedy In Games 🤡 😂
A framework for designing mechanical comedy
polarisgamedesign.com
One year ago today, I released the ashcan of REALIS, my first TTRPG. Today, we've got a near-complete draft that's 50,000 words longer than the preview that so many of you checked out, with over 100 new pieces of art. Thanks to everyone who checked it out. And get ready for the KS later this year.
Game designer @natloh.bsky.social Nat Loh's top 10 influential games (unranked): GTA 3 Megaman 2 The Legend of Zelda: BOTW The Legend of Zelda Star Control 2 Wolfenstein 3D Metal Gear Solid Lode Runner Civilization Shadow of the Colossus Runner-up: "Naruto [...] on Skylander ability ideation."
Happy Weekend! My tiny Over the Garden Wall adventure game has hit 10k plays on itch.io🎉! It's FREE to play https://juliaminamata.itch.io/otgw -- A nice way to spend a cozy half hour or so indoors. ❄️ There's also a walkthrough, no worries about getting stuck!
The Round-about Orchard: A tiny Over the Garden Wall game by JuliaMinamata
A two-room adventure game that takes about fifteen minutes to play
juliaminamata.itch.io
Creative Director & Designer Michael Austin's 10 most influential games (unranked): Adventure Super Mario Brothers Legend of Zelda Oblivion Counter-Strike Assassin's Creed Stardew Valley Slay the Spire Civilization Satisfactory
