Check the feedback loop
Snapshot
~80 sec
Feedback only functions as a design signal when a player can see it, connect it to the decision that caused it, and use it before the next relevant decision. Feedback that arrives late, looks decorative, or does not change the next choice is not a loop, it is noise.
You will learn
- Separate a decorative reward flourish from a decision-changing signal.
- Judge whether feedback latency still lets the signal affect the next decision.
- Trace one loop from decision to outcome to signal to the next decision it changes.
Target outcome
You can look at a proposed piece of feedback and state whether it closes a loop or only decorates one.
Visual walkthrough
Visual walkthrough
~7 min
Four qualities of feedback that closes a loop
Visible
The player can perceive the signal without hunting for it.
Attributable
The player can connect the signal to the decision that caused it.
Timely
The signal arrives before the next relevant decision, not after.
Actionable
The signal changes what the player would do at the next decision.
Trace one loop back to the next decision
Read this as a closed cycle. A loop only counts if the last connection reaches the next decision before it happens, then feeds the same kind of choice again.
Decision
The player commits to one available choice.
producesOutcome
The system produces a result from that choice.
surfaces asSignal
The outcome is surfaced to the player in a visible, attributable form.
informsNext decision
The following moment where the same kind of choice is available again.
repeats asNext decision → Decision
Read this as a closed cycle. A loop only counts if the last connection reaches the next decision before it happens, then feeds the same kind of choice again. Reading order
- Decision
The player commits to one available choice.
- Outcome
The system produces a result from that choice.
- Signal
The outcome is surfaced to the player in a visible, attributable form.
- Next decision
The following moment where the same kind of choice is available again.
Connection explanations
- Decision → Outcome (produces)
Every decision produces some outcome, whether or not that outcome is ever shown.
- Outcome → Signal (surfaces as)
An outcome only becomes feedback once it is surfaced in a form the player can see and attribute.
- Signal → Next decision (informs)
The signal must arrive before the next decision point to have any chance of informing it.
- Next decision → Decision (repeats as)
The next decision is the same kind of choice recurring, which is what makes this a loop rather than a one-time event.
Decorative feedback compared with actionable feedback
Approach Visibility Attribution Timing Effect on the next decision Delayed summary screenA full breakdown shown on a separate screen after the session ends. Shown, but only on a screen the player must choose to view. Bundles many decisions together, so no single choice is traceable in it. Arrives after every decision for the session has already happened. None. The next session starts identically regardless of what the summary shows. In-moment result markerA signal shown at the moment of the outcome, next to the decision that caused it. Appears where the player is already looking, with no extra screen to open. One visible cause and one visible result, shown together. Arrives before the next relevant decision point. Changes whether the player repeats, adjusts, or abandons the approach at the very next decision. Judge a proposed piece of feedback
A reward animation plays every time a player wins, regardless of how they played. Does this close a feedback loop?
Expected reasoning
No. It is visible and timely, but it is not attributable to a specific decision and it does not change the next choice, because it plays identically either way. A closing loop needs the signal to vary with, and be traceable to, the decision that produced it.