I think this is a great article and an awesome website in general. I've always been a big gamer and interested in videogame design but I haven't found many accessible essays for non developers. I'll be following the website and new essays from now on!

If anyone knows other websites or essays like this - that are an in-depth look at videogame design - I would love to know about them.

Daniel Cook has some great essays. http://www.lostgarden.com/2008/07/directory-of-posts.html

There's a new post on Designing game narrative:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8128216

made an epub of the 4 parts with images for my own read-it-later use b/c I'm obsessed with pandoc:

http://cl.ly/2I0f0i1a2d3u

Thanks , for simple pages i use http://dotepub.com/ , and then i read them while commuting .

Wow. Thank you so much.

the conclusion at the end of the article about the future of video games doesn't even mention VR. I fee video games are about to get their biggest boom ever with the advent of mainstream VR.

Are you sure ? what I miss the most in video games is the impressionism immersion. VG are getting close and closer to the uncanny valley, and IMO further from what makes a game special.

I'm probably an atypical game fan. The games that most stoke me are the ones that invent a striking visual universe.

For example, I really loved Proteus, and Kentucky Route Zero. Also Superbrothers' Sword & Sworcery.

None of these are realistic. They present highly stylized worlds, and that's what engages me.

Interesting design indeed. I tend to prefer games that are like books, leaving your imagination filling the gaps instead of providing overwhelming details.

I think the biggest way in which it could change video games is that many people who don't like video games on a screen seem to like it when it has VR-style visual immersion. I've never tried VR, but from people having tried the Rift it seems like video games become much less abstract and have easier suspension of disbelief.

It didn't mention color graphics either. The presentation is about game mechanics, not delivery.

I don't think mechanics are independent of delivery. Assuming VR goes mainstream, it will have a significant impact on game design.