Core Loops With Assassins Creed & Fornite Developer Martin Capel

Every great game begins with a great core loop. Before players fall in love with your story, admire your visuals, or explore your world, they decide whether the moment-to-moment gameplay is fun.

The core loop is the repeated cycle of actions that players perform throughout the game; explore, fight, build, solve, collect, upgrade, or create. When that loop is engaging, players keep coming back. When it isn't, even the most beautiful game can struggle to retain an audience.

Designing a compelling core loop is one of the most valuable skills any game developer can learn. It requires understanding player motivation, pacing, progression, feedback, and the balance between challenge and reward. A successful loop is simple enough to be immediately understandable while offering enough depth to remain engaging over dozens or even hundreds of hours. Every mechanic, system, and feature should reinforce that central experience rather than distract from it.

Few people are better qualified to teach this topic than Martin Capel. With more than 30 years of experience in game design and production, Martin has led teams ranging from small independent groups to studios of over 100 developers. His career spans the entire game development lifecycle across console, PC, and handheld platforms, giving him firsthand experience designing games that millions of players have enjoyed.

Martin is perhaps best known for his leadership on the Assassin's Creed franchise at Ubisoft. As Game Director for Assassin's Creed Origins, including The Curse of the Pharaohs expansion, he helped shape one of the series' most significant reinventions. Origins successfully evolved the franchise by introducing deeper RPG progression, revamped combat, and a fresh gameplay loop that revitalized one of gaming's biggest brands. Prior to that, he served as Game Director and Lead Game Designer for Assassin's Creed Rogue, Content Director and Lead Game Designer for Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, and Producer for Assassin's Creed III: Liberation. These titles are recognized not only for their scale and storytelling but also for gameplay systems that kept millions of players engaged through exploration, combat, progression, and discovery.

Beyond Ubisoft, Martin also served as a Senior Game Designer at Epic Games, bringing experience from another of the industry's most influential studios before continuing his work as a creative leader and game director.