Let's talk about how to make players feel smart.

I want to share with you some game design tricks game developers can use to make their players feel clever.

1) Make a game with simple rules. 1:05
2) Build an invisible tutorial. 1:46
3) Use real life objects and interactions to explain your game. 2:36
4) Guide players with smart design. 3:26
5) Give players a default option. 3:58
6) Unlock features over time. 4:54
7) Make an easy game that feels hard. 5:34
8) Prevent people from getting stuck. 7:31
9) Help players through potentially frustrating parts. 8:27
10) Be respectful with your players time. 9:14
11) Don't overwhelm players with information. 9:55
12) Give players a scapegoat. 10:43
13) Let people know when they did something clever. 11:30
14) Apply this knowledge. (Counted incorrectly, sorry. :D) 12:15

Even when you're making games without any puzzles, this can be pretty important.

If your games make your players feel smart, they're going to like your game a lot better! Let's use our game design skills to accomplish this!

Game development is a complicated discipline, so it's often easy to get sidetracked and focus on game mechanics and other gameplay elements. Making players feel good about themselves and making them love their own brain and their own intelligence, is something we (or at least I) often forget about.

I feel like this is an absolutely massive opportunity to level up the user experience and make your game more fun and enjoyable.

Here are 14 game design hacks to make players feel smart! Don't forget to apply your knowledge to your own game projects and tell me what you came up with.

Bonus Tips:
15) Make the game clean and readable.
16) Always let players know why something happened.
17) Let players use their creativity.

Let's make smarter games with smarter design. :D