Core Gameplay Loop Builder: Draw a Game Loop Diagram

Start from a genre preset or your own idea, name the main action, the reward and what the reward is spent on, and the builder draws your core gameplay loop as a diagram. Add a meta loop for what ends a session and what carries over, edit any label on the result, and download it as SVG or PNG or copy it as markdown with a Mermaid chart.

Step 1 of 3: Genre
Start from a genre preset, or build your own loop.

How to use it

  1. Choose a genre preset, or Custom, and press Next.
  2. For the Main action, Reward and Reward is spent on, pick a suggestion or type your own, then press Next.
  3. Tick Add a meta loop around the core loop to add what ends a session and what carries over, then press Draw loop.
  4. Edit any label under the diagram, or press Shuffle stages to try other suggestions for the preset.
  5. Press Download SVG, Download PNG, or Copy as markdown.

What a core gameplay loop is

The core loop is the short cycle a player repeats for most of the game: do the main action, get a reward, spend the reward, and come back to the action a little stronger or with a new option. In a roguelike that might be fight through a room, collect gold, buy an item, fight the next room.

The test of a loop is whether it closes. Spending the reward has to change the next round of the main action. If upgrades only make a number bigger without changing what the player does or faces, players feel the loop flatten. If the reward can't be spent on anything that matters, the loop is broken at that arrow.

Core loop examples by genre

Roguelike: fight through rooms, collect gold and upgrade choices, and stack them into a build that changes how the next fight plays. The run ends on death, and the meta loop unlocks new characters or items for the next run.

Survival crafting: gather materials, craft better tools and build the base, which lets you travel farther and gather rarer materials. Night or a day cycle often ends the session, and new recipes carry over.

Farming sim: plant and harvest, sell crops for money, and spend it on seeds, tools and land. Each day ends when you sleep, and the farm and friendships grow across seasons.

Tower defense: place towers, earn gold for each enemy defeated, and spend it on more or stronger towers before the next wave. A map is won or lost, and new towers and maps unlock between maps.

Idle or incremental: generators produce currency, currency buys more generators and multipliers, and production speeds up. A prestige reset ends a session and grants a currency that makes every later run faster.

Deckbuilder: play cards in a battle, choose a new card or relic as the reward, and shape the deck so the next battle plays differently. The run ends at the boss or a loss, and new cards or characters unlock over time.

Core loop and meta loop

The meta loop sits around the core loop and runs on a longer timescale: a run, a day, a match or a level. It answers two questions: what ends a session, and what does the player keep for the next one. A good meta loop gives a reason to start another session without replacing the fun of the core loop.

Keep the core loop to three or four stages when you prototype it. If you need more boxes to explain it, you are probably describing two loops, and one of them belongs in the meta loop.

Frequently asked questions

What is a core gameplay loop?
It is the cycle of actions a player repeats most often: a main action, a reward for it, and something to spend the reward on that feeds back into the main action.
What is the difference between a core loop and a meta loop?
The core loop repeats every few seconds or minutes, like fight, loot and upgrade. The meta loop repeats per session, like a run ending and unlocking something permanent for the next run.
Can I use the diagram in my game design document or pitch?
Yes. Download it as SVG for a sharp image at any size, as PNG for slides and documents, or copy it as markdown. The markdown includes a Mermaid flowchart that renders as a diagram in tools that support Mermaid, such as GitHub.
Is the core loop builder free?
Yes. It runs in your browser with no account, and the diagram is drawn from your own labels.
How many stages should a core loop have?
Most core loops fit in three or four stages: an action, a reward and a way to spend it, sometimes with a separate step for getting stronger. This builder draws three core stages and two optional meta stages.

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