According to Raph Koster in his book A Theory of Fun for Game Design, a successful game has six successful elements:
- Preparation
Practicing in advance, gearing up for battle, building a poker hand
- A Sense of Space
Landscape, board, relationships between players
- A Solid Core Mechanic
Interesting ruleset, movement, recurring puzzle
- A Range of Challenges
Content; enemies, environmental obstacles
- A Range of Abilities Required to Solve
Variety; multiple tools, special moves
- Skill Required to Use These Abilities
Not based on luck; based on timing, dexterity, etc.
In addition, three other features are required to make it a good learning experience:
- A Variable Feedback System
- The outcome of any encounter should not be completely predictable
- The Mastery Problem must be dealt with
- High level players cannot get too much out of easy encounters
- Failure Must Have a Cost
- There must be at least an opportunity cost, otherwise preparation would mean nothing
