Good article - it's a useful distinction whether you're building something to sell or something for fun. One resource worth mentioning is: https://www.research

Good article - it's a useful distinction whether you're building something to sell or something for fun. One resource worth mentioning is: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228884866_MDA_A_Formal_Approach_to_Game_Design_and_Game_Research https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228884866_MDA_A_For.... Working backwards from the desired kind of game you want to make based on the 8 categories this paper talks about (sensation, fantasy, narrative, challenge, fellowship, discovery, expression, submission/abnegation) can give you a clearer way of measuring success than whether you did a good job implementing whatever mechanic you thought of. Another thing the article doesn't mention that I think can be valuable for software engineers is doing paper prototypes. As engineers, we often think about producing code as the only way to build prototypes, but sometimes you can get mileage from testing a game mechanic through much cheaper to produce paper prototypes of the game (or a part of the game).