Fun is completely overrated. I wouldn't describe 'Last of Us' as a "fun" game, for the same reasons I wouldn't call 'Saving Private Ryan' a "fun" movie.
You need to figure out what are supposed to be the fun parts of your game, sometimes just having tight controls and good mechanics feel good and fun to control. Sometimes the fun is over coming obstacles, or progressing through the story. Sometimes games have parts of the game that are designed to not be fun and are…
I feel this is a very valid point. This allows you to ask the question, 'what makes a game fun?', in a more precise way(or more abstract way, depending on which direction you are trying to go). I would start with: What makes you enjoy the game? There are countless games I've enjoyed that I wouldn't box into only the 'fun'…
You can't guarantee fun but like "rules" in art, you can get a decent understanding of what works simply by emulating what has already been done and proven.
You'll find it's a core aspect of all games. If no choices can be made, you're not playing a game at all (e.g. Snakes and Ladders is not a game). However, a series of interesting choices is not necessarily 'fun' ;)
'Fun' is a difficult abstract concept without a hard definition - you can no more define a process that makes a game fun than a process for painting a great work of art, so as such there's no guarantee. The best technique is simply to iterate on your mechanics through playing, disassembling what worked and what didn't,…