What is Fun? A Game Design Introduction

Video Description

🏥 support IGC on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/indiegameclinic In this video I talk about the concept of fun. We start with a philosophical discussion about whether it's better to define fun as a single thing or as a multitude. We then step through multiple taxonomies of fun, before taking a refresher on the purpose of design pillars, and how "taxonomies of fun" can aid designers in establishing their project pillars. 📚 Bartle's Taxonomy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartle_taxonomy_of_player_types GSSB on Callois: https://rangedtouch.com/2018/10/18/5-caillois-man-play-and-games/ Fourteen Forms of Fun: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/fourteen-forms-of-fun Even More Forms of Fun: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BPkG7ZL2hrKz6Lhej9ZFmVolsYVPzIKsd4DuepazWwg/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.x1ppz0aj5n6e PainStation footage from here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bm7fLcj5UI&t=569s Space Biff on "anti-fun": https://spacebiff.com/2025/09/30/anti-fun/ Werner Herzog cooking his shoes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-XSrsOyqZ0 🎵Music is from Epidemic Sound and used under license. ⏲️ Key moments 00:00 problem statement 01:02 Raph Koster, fun, and dopamine 04:26 Newbury's intensities of fun 09:00 Callois' types of play 11:53 Fun is like flavour 13:23 Bartle's psychometric player types 15:55 Garneau's 14 Forms of Fun 18:26 Design Pillars: a Refesher 24:21 Applying Forms of Fun as Design Pillars 28:35 a list of the only people who are allowed to complain about anything in this video