Friday, June 13, 2008

Game Design "Chindogu"

I recently revisited a game design of mine because there were aspects of it that struck both myself and other people as being somewhat "gamey". What I mean by this is, often, in game design, designers get "too creative" for their own good and engage in game design "chindogu". If you've never heard of this term before, it's a description of an invention that, at face value, looks like a great solution to a problem. However, once a person actually attempts to use that solution, it causes so many other sorts of problems that there's actually no utility in it whatsoever. (For more information on "chindogu", check out the wikipedia article on it here.)

Often, in game design, by simplifying one aspect of a game, it eliminates the need for excessive components, wonky rules, and other sorts of weird mechanics that are all designed to compensate for the troublesome area in question. Once the simpler solution is found, the previous solutions with all their complex "creativity" look very silly in comparison.

So, in honor of all the game designers out there who, just like myself, have engaged in game design "chindogu", here is a youtube video just for you:



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