Formal 20Abstract 20Design 20Tools

Basically another way of saying Patterns.

The name, however, makes some interesting points:

• Formal: Objective; we should be able to say that the concept definitely is or is not present in a game. This should be able to be reproduced with near perfect accuracy no matter how many people you ask.
• Abstract: The core concept behind something, not just one particular, concrete, instance.
• Design: The task at hand.
• Tool: The concept should be useful for creating games, not simply talking about existing ones, or some other purpose. Above all, our goal is to create better games. To do that, we try to create better tools.

Also, an article describing them (free registration required) on Gamasutra, by Doug_Church?.

CategoryResource?