10 Best Articles on Game Design
The most useful articles on game design from around the web—beginners to advanced—curated by thought leaders and our community. We focus on timeless pieces and update the list whenever we discover new, must-read articles or videos—make sure to bookmark and revisit this page.
Top 5 Game Design Articles
At a glance: these are the articles that have been most read, shared, and saved on game design by Refind users in 2023.
Short Articles
Short on time? Check out these useful short articles on game design—all under 10 minutes.
A design practice for social systems
The following essay was originally posted in ACM Journal Games: Research and Practice ( Reposted here to provide a more accessible copy with better formatting. On grim winter days it is easy to fee…
Image to Pixel Art Converter | Convert Your Images to Pixel Art
Quickly and easily convert your images into pixel art with our online image to pixel art converter. Simply upload your image and choose your pixelation level to transform your photo into a retro-style…
Level Up: The Future of Video Games Is Bright
Success in the rapidly evolving game industry depends on scale, good franchise management, customer experience, and top talent.
Beware of Transparent Pixels
If you use sprites with transparency in your game — and you most likely do for the UI at least — you’ll probably want to pay …
Games that avoid capitalistic design
A look at game designs that avoid capitalist patterns.
Long Articles
These are some of the most-read long-form articles on game design.
The colors of game design
What if game design could be summed up into four “primary colors” and their mixtures? This simple tool might help you organize your ideas.
What it Takes to Make a Game by Yourself
Macrocosm is a mobile game that takes you from atom to galactic empire across seven interconnected stages where making progress in one stage gives you a boost in the next! This post is a deep dive…
How Game Design Principles Can Enhance Democracy
Our democracies are already gamified. Our goal should be to do it better.
Behind the scenes of video game design, featuring Headland
Video game design is still a young enough practice to feel mysterious and discoverable. That's even more true for mobile games. Going behind the scenes of Headland, a new action-adventure game for…
The Future Of Mobile Web Design: Video Game Design And Storytelling — Smashing Magazine
As attention spans shorten and visitors just want to get to the good stuff on a website, designers have to get more creative in how they communicate their website’s "story." This article suggests techniques that can be used in web design.
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