Why Games Work, and How to Build Them

Most humans like games. But what are games, exactly? Not in a philosophical sense, but in the sense of “what exactly are their worky bits, so we know how to make them?” [Raph Koster] aims to answer that in a thoughtful blog post that talks all about game design from the perspective of what, exactly, makes them tick. And we are right into that, because we like to see things pulled apart to learn how they work.

On the one hand, it’s really not that complicated. What’s a game? It’s fun to play, and we generally feel we know a good one when we see it. But as with many apparently simple things, it starts to get tricky to nail down specifics. That’s what [Raph]’s article focuses on; it’s a twelve-step framework for how games work, and why they do (or don’t) succeed at what they set out to do.

[Raph] says the essentials of an engaging game boil down to giving players interesting problems to solve, providing meaningful and timely feedback, and understanding player motivation. The tricky part is that these aren’t really separate elements. Everything ties together in a complex interplay, and [Raph] provides insights into how to design and manage it.

It’s interesting food for thought on a subject that is, at the very least, hacker-adjacent. After all, many engaging convention activities boil down to being games of some kind, and folks wouldn’t be implementing DOOM on something like KiCAD’s PCB editor or creating first-person 3D games for the Commodore PET without being in possession of a healthy sense of playfulness.

hackaday.com/2025/12/13/why-ga…

Watch a Recording Lathe From 1958 Cut a Lacquer Master Record

Most of us are familiar with vinyl LPs, and even with the way in which they are made by stamping a hot puck of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) into a record. But [Technostalgism] takes us all the way back to the beginning, giving us a first-hand look at how a lacquer master is cut by a specialized recording lathe.
An uncut lacquer master is an aluminum base coated with a flawless layer of lacquer. It smells like fresh, drying paint.
Cutting a lacquer master is the intricate process by which lacquer disks, used as the masters for vinyl records, are created. These glossy black masters — still made by a company in Japan — are precision aluminum discs coated with a special lacquer to create a surface that resembles not-quite-cured nail polish and, reportedly, smells like fresh paint.

The cutting process itself remains largely unchanged over the decades, although the whole supporting setup is a bit more modernized than it would have been some seventy years ago. In the video (embedded below), we get a whole tour of the setup and watch a Neumann AM32B Master Stereo Disk Recording Lathe from 1958 cut the single unbroken groove that makes up the side of a record.

The actual cutting tool is a stylus whose movement combines the left and right channels and is heated to achieve the smoothest cuts possible. The result is something that impresses the heck out of [Technostalgism] with its cleanliness, clarity, and quality. Less obvious is the work that goes into arranging the whole thing. Every detail, every band between tracks, is the result of careful planning.

It’s very clear that not only is special equipment needed to cut a disk, but doing so effectively is a display of serious craftsmanship, experience, and skill. If you’re inclined to agree and are hungry for more details, then be sure to check out this DIY record-cutting lathe.

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hackaday.com/2025/12/13/watch-…

Mentra Brings Open Smart Glasses OS With Cross-Compat

There are a few very different pathways to building a product, and we gotta applaud the developers taking care to take the open-source path. Today’s highlight is [Mentra], who is releasing an open-source smart glasses OS for their own and others’ devices, letting you develop your smart glasses ideas just once, a single codebase applicable for multiple models.

Currently, the compatibility list covers four models, two of them Mentra’s (Live and Mach 1), one from Vuzix (Z100), and one from Even Realities (G1) — some display-only, and some recording-only. The app store already has a few apps that cover the basics, the repository looks lively, and if the openness is anything to go by, our guess is that we’re sure to see more.

While smart glasses have their critics, many of those stem from closed-source software running on them, so the ability to easily develop your own is always welcome, and it’s even better to see it done in an open, cross-compatible manner. Want to learn more about the underlying tech? Check out this iFixit coverage of Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses display technology.

hackaday.com/2025/12/13/mentra…