Everybody loves Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics. The content is informative, thought provoking and at times even philosophical. But the form — a comic book about how comic books work — is not just cleverly self-referential but also a direct demonstration of the techniques that underly the unique graphical format.

Kongregate uses the same approach to explain the basics of computer games. They’ve released a set of four simple 2D flash games to “raise awareness for the basic concepts of computer and video games.”

• Episode one covers rules, interactivity, representation and simulation in games.
• Episode two deals with player’s motivation to continue playing instead of leaving a game and examines what makes a game fun — instead of frustrating — to play.
• Episode three introduces the principles of learning in computer games.
• Episode four explores identification in computer games

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