The Gameplay Loop: a Player Activity Model for Game Design and Analysis

To describe the task of the game designer, the literature on the subject often refers to rules and systems. But the main objective of the game designer's work is to create a specific kind of experience: gameplay. Based in both literature and diverse modes of practical experience, this article offers a formal delineation and methodology of the gameplay loop that is applicable for both design and analysis. This approach considers this loop as the potentials states of the player in the game system. This article will report use of this model in the development of recent industry games as well as in the analysis of existing titles for academic purposes.