What is Fun? A Game Design Introduction

🏥 support IGC on Patreon:   / 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_... GSSB on Callois: https://rangedtouch.com/2018/10/18/5-... Fourteen Forms of Fun: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/... Even More Forms of Fun: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B... PainStation footage from here:    • Let's Play - The PainStation   Space Biff on "anti-fun": https://spacebiff.com/2025/09/30/anti... Werner Herzog cooking his shoes:    • 1970s California, Werner Herzog Cooking Shoes   🎵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