Recently I was thinking about how interesting it is when you design a game where a design vector that is typically taken for granted is limited in some severe way. What I’m calling a “design vector” is something like player controls, rendering fonts on screen, or even the size of the game data. It’s easy to fall into a habit of doing things the same way they have been done in the past. Partly because if something is proven to work well it’s easy to just accept it and not think beyond that and partly just because of preconceived gamer notions.
For example, a design vector I have seen limited in articles and game developing competitions recently are “one button games“. The games that are designed for both simplicity as well as playability for people with disabilities. But the question itself is really interesting to me – how can you make a game fun with only one button? It really forces you to think outside the box. It’s that type of thinking that I think can result in some really awesome ideas. Here’s one called Air Monkey; it’s not my favorite gameplay wise but it has an awesome name plus monkeys drinking beer and smoking cigars so at least thematically you can’t go wrong.
Another design vector that has been limited for a lot of teams recently with downloadable games on consoles is the size of the content. I was recently reading about SquareEnix’s WiiWare game, My Life as a King. WiiWare’s max size is much lower than Xbox360 and PS3 and reading about how they came to design decisions based on that restriction was interesting. With mainstream console development, size does come up as an issue but only rarely and typically towards the end of a project.
That led me to think about some other oldschool limitations that might help modern game designers focus more on fun (as a thought exercise, I’m certainly not advocating going back to the old days). These are just some stream of conciousness ideas… for example:
- Controller has two buttons and a D-Pad. (NES)
- Graphics have to be rendered in wireframe.
- Amazing sound engine but no graphics at all. Can you still make a fun game with just music/sound? Games for the blind perhaps?
- Character based action game that doesn’t include fighting/killing.
- Can only render lines and boxes.
- Game-play is limited to a single screen that doesn’t scroll.
- … do you have any? Post them in the comments, I’d love to read about them.
I suffer from a thought process that I think a lot of game developers do. If I hear “we’re making an FPS game” and memories of playing the most recent FPSs come flooding in and it’s so tempting to take those as a template and just add a few features here and there for product differentiation. I don’t think there is anything wrong with this – in reality it’s what drives the market after all. But at the same time by thinking about what you are creating in a different way, with some limitation, you might be able to come up with a new idea that enhances your game even if the limitation doesn’t exist.
As I understand it, one button games came from the needs of the physically disabled. I’ve really begun to appreciate perspectives from outside the game industry and how they can help shape something that is creatively new and exciting. I heartily recommend anyone with an interest in game design to take up hobbies outside of the industry to expand their horizons – history, fashion, sports, literature, whatever. You never know where you’ll find a new source of inspiration until you look.