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At first I thought the name was a bit misleading. It looked more like a how-to on visual effects than underlying mechanics.

But then I saw the linked page, and it gave a pretty decent definition of Game Mechanics: http://www.lostgarden.com/2006/10/what-are-game-mechanics.ht...

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Yes, I guess the examples shown are indeed "game mechanics" of a sort, but it seems to be heavily focused on game physics, at least for now. When I saw the title I was thinking of something much broader that would include things like how to use items, how to level up, etc.

I was thinking even broader, including mechanics for games like chess and checkers, and maybe a smattering of graph theory for analysing "decision trees". Pretty abstract game theoretical stuff, hopefully brought down to earth and made practical enough for a moron like me to understand in more detail than just those broad buzzwords I was just able to throw around.

Game mechanics are the rule systems that give the game goals or meaning.

Asteroids-like spaceship movement is not a game mechanic. Shooting bullets is not a game mechanic.

The system that is the feedback loop of moving to chase/avoid asteroids while shooting them and creating more and faster obstacles and targets is a game mechanic.

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