I spent a far larger portion of my lazy Sunday afternoon than I intended to with a little online game called Auditorium. It’s such a wonderful example of definitive, practical game design, that I felt it worthy to dissect. The game is challenging, but not frustrating. Detailed, but not overwhelming. I can’t really describe the experience in words and do its concept justice, so I suggest that you start by playing the game for yourself for a few minutes. Don’t worry, this post will still be here when you return (about an hour later). I’ll wait.

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Are you back? Great. Let’s continue.

Now, I’m no David Rosen, but I thought it would be nice to take such a fantastic indie game and point out everything it gets right about designing a fun, addictive gaming experience. So, here’s a bullet point list of how Auditorium succeeds where many games before it have failed.

1. Keep it simple. The challenge of a game should not be contained within complicated rules and severe punishments. In Auditorium, you move some easily recognizable elements around and see how they affect the light patterns. If you aren’t getting the desired affect, alter the arrangement until you do. It’s absolutely brilliant in its simplicity, and that is key to getting people addicted to the experience.

2. Give me achievable goals. This is the other key point. Give me a point A from which I start, and a point B for completion. Don’t change the rules on me midway through a level. I want to be able to clearly see what I have to accomplish, and I shouldn’t need a three-page instruction manual to attain the goal.

3. Show me that I’m making progress on those goals. This is something that Auditorium does really well. If your light pattern is hitting the marker, you can see the meter increase, and–this is important–you can hear the music swell to a crescendo. The visual indicator by itself is not necessarily enough. But hearing the aural indicator alongside the visual display spells out very clearly that I am accomplishing something significant. If you’re going to be able to achieve those goals of the gameplay, you need to first know that you’re playing the game correctly. A little bit of positive reinforcement does wonders for the pleasure centers of the brain that keep you locked into a focused activity.

4. Slowly ramp up the difficulty. The key word here is not “difficulty” but the word “slowly”. Move me up in baby steps at first. If I can get through the first 6 or so stages with little difficulty, then obviously I’m getting the hang of the game. You can begin to ramp it up at the point and tack on some serious gameplay challenges. But make sure we’re not moving from one simple element to five brand new elements in a single step.

5. Give me a break. Even a short break is enough. Give me enough time to catch a breath, but not enough of a break that I might shut the game off and find something else to do.

Those are the points about this game in particular that struck me as essential elements to any game with excellent design. A little craftsmanship goes a long way in an indie title. You can easily get people sucked into your world if you understand these simple concepts. They will allow you to create an experience that will capture peoples’ attention, just like Auditorium has done to me.