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I've got a bunch of other things to be doing, so here's a short thread about the game design principle I think of as "generosity".Permalink Look on archive.org
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Yesterday I went to Novelty Automation with @HarryGiles. Novelty Automation is amazing! It's a little shop in Holborn filled with lightly satirical electronic and mechanical machines. Some you'd call games, some you'd call, I dunno, entertainments. Novelties?Permalink Look on archive.org
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There's My Nuke, where you use a little waldo to load fuel pellets into a nuclear reactor core. When you drop too many... meltdown! There's a motorised armchair that takes you on a 3 minute stop motion package holiday simulation. There's a frisking simulator.Look on archive.org
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What's wonderful about them is that they are all mechanical, physical presences. And when you approach one, they have a clear offer. You have a bit of an idea what to expect. And they deliver that... and then they deliver something else, that expands on it.Permalink Look on archive.org
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This is why I often find jokes a good way to think about game design. They follow this same structure : a punchline that delivers more than you expect, a satisfying twist, proof the person who came up with it has put in more work than you.Permalink Look on archive.org
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So: at the end of My Nuke, a little Hatch opens and delivers you a little bit of rock (candy) with "NUCLEAR WASTE" written in it. The little lamp on top of the TV flips and becomes a heat lamp (you're sunbathing). The frisking simulator flips out an extra hand at yr crotch.Permalink Look on archive.org
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And to deliver on this, you have to think about it on both ends - how does the context set up the punchline you want to deliver? How does the game frame things so that your nice twist is satisfying?Permalink Look on archive.org
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(this is also why marketing and PR is a creative act, integral to the way the game is eventually received in ways beyond just "did we sell a bunch of copies?". Though obviously that's nice too)Permalink Look on archive.org
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and: for big games, this pattern is often one you want to deploy at the scale of a single mechanic or level, as opposed to over the whole thing. you usually want your game to be full of wonder and delight, not a big dull sandwich around a single moment.Permalink Look on archive.org
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(Novelty Automation's machines last a few minutes each... the whole arcade takes about an hour to get round. that matters!)Permalink Look on archive.org
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anyway, yeah: generosity. deliver more than people expect. make your game a series of satisfying jokes.Permalink Look on archive.org