Casual players do not finish games. They form a habit or they do not. The loop is whatever makes tomorrow feel worth it, and it has to work in a ninety-second session.
Three parts, all required
- A clear thing to do right now
- Visible progress toward something further away
- A reason the next session starts better than this one ended
Design for ninety seconds
Assume a queue, one hand, and an interruption. If the loop only works in a ten-minute sitting, most of your audience never sees it.
Give progress a shape
Streaks, levels and collections all work because they make yesterday visible. A number that only goes up is not progress - it needs a next milestone in sight.
Prototype the loop before the art
We build it grey and ugly and play it. If it is not compelling without polish, polish will not save it - and by then it is expensive to change.
