Polaris Game Design

@polarisgamedesign.com

766 Followers 87 Following

Solving the toughest problems in game design. Mostly a yearly weekend retreat for professional game designers. https://polarisgamedesign.com/

Screenshot of the five 2025 Polaris reports, too small to comfortably read, with image previews of 2 flow charts, a sticky note collection, a game screenshot with text interface, and a geological pattern.
A cropped screenshot from Caves of Qud showing Sheba Hagadias, generated as a laser turret librarian of the Stilt.
Fallen London key art, of a large British-style clock sinking into green water.
A screenshot of Facade, with the two main characters looking at each other.
A screenshot of Boyfriend Dungeon showing two men standing with a lightsaber between them. One, dressed as Security, is a Bouncer saying "I'm going to need you both to step outside."
A key art illustration of a sea monster threatening a boat, with a pirate on top of it, and other pirates escaping in a rowboat, in Sea of Thieves.
A diagram describing devs inputting into a green box ('devtime') containing Symbolic Vocabulary and Generative Systems. This overlaps slightly with a yellow box inputted from players ('playtime'), containing Player Framing and Play Sequence. Player Framing has an arrow leading to the slightly overlapping purple phase ('sharetime'), inputted from Community, containing Player Stories, Community Discussion, and Community Legends.
Many boxes arranged in a grid according to color and content
Diagram showing a gear for mechanics and a dialogue for narrative, indicating that the two are going in divergent paths from each other