Ask HN: What's the best resource for learning the principles of game design?
For the past 3 months, I've only focused on #1 (I followed pg's advice and put something small out there, talked to users, and iterated a few times based on feedback). Now, the app can accurately tell a person how much money they need to retire.
That was the easy part.
#2 is where things get hard. Now, I need to help people reach their retirement amount in a way that makes sense. This means I can't just say "ok pay off your credit card debt", or "add as much as you can to your savings." These goals are too big and too hard to do at once. The goals need to start small and get progressively harder (so users would start with something like "add $10 to your savings").
But although I know this in theory, I have no idea how to structure it in practice.
The way I described it, it sounds like a game. So I figured I must study game design (though I'm open to other recommendations).
The problem is, "gamification" is the word du jour... So I see many resources about it online, but I don't know which one is the best.
It would all have been easier if Sid Meyer wrote a book on game design, but he didn't. So I'm not sure which authors to trust. I haven't found a book on game design written by someone who actually built popular games.
Any suggestions?