Jake

These are a series of principles that I wrote with little to no editing in a moment of inspiration in December, 2025. They are written in no order of importance. Instead of Apple Notes, I’ll store these here as a kind of living page. These principles aren’t perfect, but they outline the kinds of rules I try and follow in the games that I create. I’m learning so much right now, so I’ll be adding more to the bottom section with each game. The following is a short note I wrote beforehand.

Today is December 1st, 2025. I’m a college student at the University of Chapel Hill in North Carolina. I’ve done UGC on Roblox for the past three years, and have recently found my love again for making games. I launched a game in September, one early November, and another late November. One I launched early November, Explode Everyone, has hit the front page and is doing well. Made with my suitemate Brian! Very exciting and super grateful for what has come my way so far. Before I create a very popular Roblox game that will be self sustaining, I want to layout the underlying philosophy for how that will be designed in a series of tightly defined principles.

Principles

1. Acknowledge luck; luck can work against you and for you. Recognize the power of it as a force
2. Ask yourself three questions for any idea. Is it fun, is it social, and is it replayable. Fun is the why people play in the first place, social is fundamental to Roblox as an experience, and replayability is the why they come back. These are the timeless principles of Roblox game design. If you design games according to these principles, don’t regret anything. New knowledge should never make you regret what you created even if the game doesn’t perform well
3. Do not try to make money with games. If you so desperately pursue it, money will allude you. Focus instead on building the great games, and money will follow. It’s simply the world paying you back for the fun you created. Ironically, you make more money this way!
4. Virality is attractive, but what you really want is longevity. Simple concepts with little room for expansion means the game will own you, instead of you owning the game
5. Simplicity is the ease with which your game is understood, not to be confused with the complexity of your game. Simple is to say the concept is understood in one sentence, complexity is to say the game is hard to finish or its indeterministic in its gameplay. Games can and should be simple and complex at the same time
6. Games are experiments. Like a scientist, objectively view the game and recognize where it’s done well, where it’s done poor, and replace I failed with I learned. Some experiments go poor, really poor, and some go unbelievably well, and all of these are plausible outcomes. If you see games as having binary outcomes, you’ll miss the wealth of learning in front of you just waiting to be absorbed
7. The best kind of games are those with predictable outcomes, but an infinite range of experiences. You can play murder mystery 1000 times and you know what will happen, but not the nuances of how. This is, in large part, what makes these games valuable 10 years later
8. Quality is an abstract term that is subjectively defined; here’s how you should look at it. If a game performs well on a long enough timescale (to exclude shortlived stardom), it’s quality. On the contrary, if your game is so high quality, then how come nobody is playing it? You focused on the wrong things. Quality should be seen as the holistic enjoyability of an experience, which is a function of the idea and how you execute it
9. Never work on an idea with a clear lifespan. If you can see where things are going before you even start, it’s not worth it
10. Furthermore, don’t let your ideas constrain you. If you can’t reasonably imagine the game having unlimited growth, don’t work on it
11. When making the game, you naturally will focus on details. When launching the game, focus on the macro. What makes your beer taste better? Your UI isn’t the downfall of your game, but rather your progression and core mechanics
12. Enjoy everything. See every game gone not as imagined as a chance for learning, as a means for improvement, and as a necessary part of your journey. The most enjoyable part is now, not the future. You are programmed to think the reward is most valuable, but it’s really the journey. Trite, but true
13. Anxiety is a waste of your time, and your time is limited so don’t spend it anxious. When you try to control things outside of your control, you’re anxious. When you recognize this, and find yourself anxious, you can eventually snap yourself out of it and bring yourself to what you can control.
14. Always have the white belt mentality. Always allow yourself to learn and to improve wherever possible. You aren’t an expert just because you’ve done well. You’re an expert because you’re willing to continually learn
15. Treat every idea seriously. Think about them really deeply. But simultaneously, if an idea on your idea list no longer interests you four months later, drop it. Feel no obligation to be tied to your former plans or proclamations
16. Desire = suffering by another name, so unlimited desires = unlimited suffering. If you’re never content with how many people play your game or how much you make, you will never be happy. You will always want more. If this is the life you want, accept it and realize you will always suffer. Otherwise, define what you want more tightly
17. The people you work with are the most valuable asset you have, not the games or money. A solid relationship or team has infinite potential, thus infinite value. Focus on garnering good relationships and treat those around you like kings. If applicable, pay them well. If you can, pay them better than well. When you can find a quality partner or group of people, treat them as family
18. If nothing else, remember this: you will never regret having fun working with others to make fun for others.

Later additions

19. Design gameplay with optional difficulty. Players shouldn’t be forced to play hard, nor should they be forced to play easy.
20. The top games are iterations and adaptions, not unique inventions. Look for what’s worked, and do it better. People only remember what currently exists, what came before doesn’t matter.