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How to make players ADDICTED to your games

The Ugly Goblin

28,774 views

Whether you're a TTRPG, Board Game or Video Game designer or simply want to run better TTRPG Campaigns at your table, this is the video for you. I will be showing you how to wield and create an Aesthetic that will get under your player's skin and satisfy their subconscious to get them HOOKED on your game.

If you want to check out my game or support me and what I do you can do so over on my Patreon:
(I make TONNES of things here for D&D and TTRPGs)
Patreon: TheUglyGoblin

Or if you want to hang with us and chat TTRPGs, Skill Trees, Anime or Video Games consider joining our Discord:
Discord: discord

Animation "Have a Blast" at 20:15 is by ‪@dijubante‬

Chapters:
00:00 – Intro
00:48 – Why do we remember games?
01:48 – How do we make people FEEL something about our games?
02:37 – How burning a Candle will cause people to never forget your game.
03:09 – Utilising Sound in Game Design
03:50 – How Levelling-Up and Progression should feel
06:40 – Why you should add Minigames to your Games
07:15 – Clever Inventory Management Systems
09:57 – Advice for adding Crafting to your games
13:01 – What compounding aesthetic choices creates
14:28 – How do you immerse players?
15:18 – Why we need more Progressive Character Customisation
17:30 – The importance of adding USELESS items into your games
18:32 – The DANGER of simplifying systems and mechanics
20:10 – Pros and Cons of Simplification vs Complexity
21:37 – The importance of Familiarity in Game Design
23:05 – Outro with video recommendations and how to support me

Music:

"Main Theme of FINAL FANTASY VII" by Nobuo Uematsu

Allammo by ‪@PandaBeatsMusic‬ (16-Bit Arcade No Copyright Music)
Allammo 👾 (16-Bit Arcade No Copyright Music)
IDKFA by Panda Beats
IDKFA 👾 (16-Bit Arcade No Copyright Music)
Mana Refill by Panda Beats
Mana Refill 👾 (16-Bit Arcade No Copyright ...
Allstars by Panda Beats
Allstars

Gostar Theme 6: From the Vale to Jotunheim by ‪@robinblakey1‬
OFFICIAL GOSTAR MUSIC FOLKS (AAAAAGH! xD )

Bright Chill by Poor Artist on Pixabay (Game is on Video Game Music)
Happy Adventure by Poor Artist on Pixabay

Ghibli Station by The Mini Vandals
Ghibli Station

Outer Wilds (Echoes of the Eye) OST
The River by Andrew Prahlow

Retro by Wayne Jones
Retro

Travelers (Outer Wilds OST) by Andrew Prahlow

Anime Rock by AlexanderRufire
https://audiojungle.net/item/anime-ro...
Purchase Date:
2025-07-21 07:36:39 UTC

20 Comments

@MyWifeistheMC 3 days ago

I love this. In my case, music is a hard requirement at my table. My campaigns have a specific intro song, an outro song, and each location or emotion has its own track that's relevant to the vibe of the campaign. When a player gets emotionally triggered by a song or tells me, "That track really made me feel the moment," then I've done a good job.

On systems, I have a particular fondness for Pragmata's hacking system. Every attack opens a grid that lets you activate specific blocks along a "path" that either add a debuff or keep the enemy vulnerable for longer. It forces you to decide between efficiency and expedience, while keeping your actual skills relevant since you still have to dodge, shoot, and aim while hacking. It's absolutely amazing, and my paraphrased description grossly undersells it, haha.

That, and Diana is absolutely adorable. I'm not having kids, but Capcom did an amazing job with activating my dad instincts.

(Also, thanks for the shoutout! We should play MH Wilds again, heh.)

@TalesFromElsewhereGames 3 days ago

So many nostalgic sounds in this video! Also, great insights into the experiential aspect of campaign and game design 🤠

@xslashsdas 1 day ago (edited)

I like how you don't limit the video to video games, but include TTRPGs!
I would also like to point towards board games, I'll never forget trading in "real" money bills in Brasil's version of Monopoly (Banco Imobiliário) as a kid.
Or, going back to video games, how in Inscryption your character can pull their own teeth, or eyeball, in order to score enough points to win a round. It doesn't feel good, in fact it feels awful, but the crunchy sound, the trembling animation, it adds so much texture that you feel like pulling your real teeth. Terrible feeling, extremely memorable, and it really adds to the vibe.

@louwlevel 1 day ago

Great Video! this made me sooo nostalgic and welcome back c:!!

@ScorpioTech 3 days ago

Wow, what a video! So thought provoking and some really great ideas that I'm sure people would love to integrate into their games. Also, it really hones in on what makes games special in the first place! Keep up the great work 💙

@michaelmsulit 1 day ago

Awesome video! great points and even made me nostalgic a little bit!

@gavinmilligan927 3 days ago

This is an excellent point! We would love to hear your ideas on crafting systems as well.

@MaceHead117 3 days ago

Great video dude!

@Kephales 2 days ago

such a good video as always!!

@Azuri-Arkabane 3 days ago

Great video, never really thought about aesthetic in the games I am in and the one I'm running, mayhaps I shall take it more into consideration :3

@nagirok1 3 days ago

Noice return video!

@miantuu9077 3 days ago

"Do we really need that bazooka" called me out, I logged that thing around for half the game in my last re4r run before I found a good moment to use it 😂that aside, very good points on the junk/valuables systems and simplification in games! I do feel like games these days want to dumb things down for the player a lot, but they forget that crunchy details are what make a game memorable sometimes! Great stuff and editing in this vid, well done! 💚

@DMwaDJ 3 days ago

In WoW, for me, it's the song "Send me on my way" Rusted Root. Launch month, I spent so long in Stranglethorne vale doing PVP at Hemmingway's area and I had rusted root on repeat. I can't hear that song without imaging my friend and I going charging back from whatever quest because there was a call on Local Defense (Doesn't exist anymore) that there were Alliance picking a fight.

@wtchrol7864 2 days ago

6:00 Daggerheart mention! 🗡️ ♥️

@BlueShinersRPG 3 days ago

Awwwww snap....the production values immediately through the roof! Let's go!

@CloudyBroom5113 3 days ago (edited)

I think the best crafting in a video game is The Forest. You access your inventory and see all of it at once and hand select each item you need and how much of it. Then you watch a short animation of your character putting everything together. It fits perfectly with the relatively slow gameplay and survival setting.

@Lez-W 1 day ago

last time i cared about comestics was in multiplayer games
and whenever i see massive skill trees and too much crafting options i get overwhelmed and i barely feel like trying
but hey that's me

@wtchrol7864 2 days ago

1:06 Instruction unclear. I was waiting for when to open my eyes again.

Didn't change the experience when I opened my eyes and watched the video all the way through. All the sound effects and BGM supported the message even without the visuals.