Breaking the rules: Magical secrets of game design
Breaking the rules: Magical secrets of game design
Breaking the rules: Magical secrets of game design
By Oscar Clark
August 11th, 2023
Summary
In a sea of other video games, standing apart is difficult, yet by breaking down the rules of the game and accessing how each one impacts the player, something magical can be created.
There is a kind of magic trick that game designers pull off that I'd argue has some parallels with the magical acts of folks like Penn & Teller or David Copperfield.
Thankfully there is no such thing as a Magic Circle for game developers, so I'm safe to try and share some of the tricks that I've learned that I find amazingly useful to make any game from simple mechanics and a framework that helps me build retention always focused on how we can delight players.
Whether it's a puzzle, shooter or platform, any game benefits from creating moments where to succeed, the player has to find how to use the space between the rules and limitations in ways that were not immediately obvious.
Any action in a game can have a preparation/effect and cooldown components as well as having some relationship between position in the game and timing.
Information supplied in a game can be spread out over the time you play or geographically across the game world.
Everyone has a different way of looking at game design.
Reference
Clark, O. (2023, August 11). Breaking the rules: Magical secrets of game design. pocketgamer.biz. https://www.pocketgamer.biz/comment-and-opinion/82174/breaking-the-rules-magical-secrets-of-game-design/