Concept

Goal state

You might say: what the player is trying to change

A goal state is a desired condition that gives the next decision a direction.

What it does

Turns available actions into purposeful choices.

Ask

What state would count as progress or success here?

Sources

1. Michael Sellers, Advanced Game Design: A Systems Approach, ch. 7, p. 225In addition to the game’s internal systems, the player’s mental model includes both the explicit goals that the game sets before them, as well as the implicit goals that the player creates for themselves.
2. Ernest Adams, Fundamentals of Game Design, ch. 4, p. 85Play without a meaningful goal. Simply racking up the highest score isn’t enough.

Use it on your project

teardown-apply: hold "Goal state" (goal-state) from the teardown at https://teardownatlas.com/game-design/ against my project

Paste it into a coding agent that has the teardown skills.

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