Game feel
Also said as Feel, Kinesthetics
The physical sensation of controlling something in a game: how directly it answers you, how much it seems to weigh, how its impacts land. Steve Swink named its parts in his 2008 book Game Feel.
It is the first thing a player judges and the last thing a design document describes, so it is usually what goes missing when a game is built from a written plan.
Say it
“The rules are fine but the game feel is dead. Fix control first: shorten acceleration, add a fast fall, then we will look at effects.”
Where you’ve seen it
Super Mario Bros. teaches itself in seconds through feel alone: the run builds up, and the faster you are running, the further the jump carries you.
Not to be confused with juice
Feel is the whole sensation of control. Juice is the layer of feedback on top. A game can be juicy and still feel like mud.