This was one of my favorite readings so far! This seems like a very straightforward and practical way to deconstruct a game (or, having done that, construct one). I like the ideas about the different ways you can arrange loops and arcs (parallell, nested, sequential, etc). Thinking about how you can nest narrative or progression elements seems especially useful.
One of my favorite games, Starcraft 2, has two main architectures. The in-game architecture consists largely of a series of nested loops, wherein players attack and defend their bases. This consists of a set of unit movement loops, which themselves depend on unit production loops. Given that it is a competitive game, arcs make little appearance within the main gameplay, save perhaps for the victory screen. The ladder, though, is somewhat more interesting to analyze: while it is based on a core loop of playing a game and then receiving feedback in the form of won or lost matchmaking rating points, the elaborate animations that play when a player reaches a new league and the addition of a marker of their rank to their profile provide for an arc about the players’ improvement as they increase in skill.
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