Papering-over Incompleteness
[This is an archive/reference of some thoughts I had on Twitter late last week.]
I came across a Kickstarter the other day and read this piece of promotional copy: "the mechanics get out of the way, and let the story take center stage."
As I said on Twitter*, This is a warning sign for me, most simply because it implies that the author has learnt nothing from the last 10 years of game development. System matters.
It implies that mechanics are a wall between you and fun that need to be circumvented in some way. Don't do that. If the mechanics are in the way, keep working on your design. Don't move the mechanics out of the way, integrate them!
To the credit of my Twitter peeps, I didn't have to reemphasise the individual nature of this mantra.
* With the ensuing conversations visible on the same page.
Political geek music for voting day: HSAS.
I came across a Kickstarter the other day and read this piece of promotional copy: "the mechanics get out of the way, and let the story take center stage."
As I said on Twitter*, This is a warning sign for me, most simply because it implies that the author has learnt nothing from the last 10 years of game development. System matters.
It implies that mechanics are a wall between you and fun that need to be circumvented in some way. Don't do that. If the mechanics are in the way, keep working on your design. Don't move the mechanics out of the way, integrate them!
To the credit of my Twitter peeps, I didn't have to reemphasise the individual nature of this mantra.
* With the ensuing conversations visible on the same page.
Political geek music for voting day: HSAS.