Adding and Subtracting Mechanics

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Why Add Mechanics?

Often a feature must be added to the game. Sometimes there's just no way to know how good or bad something is without putting it into motion.

Publisher Demand

  • The publisher funds the production of the game.
    • ...and may request changes from time to time.

The producer or senior-level designer's job is to play the various builds of the game, assess playability, and recommend course corrections or additions.

Changes in the Marketplace

Game industry is competitive, secretive, and constantly changing.

  • An amazing new technology can alter the whole playing field.
  • If your number one competition added some feature, you might feel compelled to also add one — particularly if fan and press reaction were favourable.

Developers stay on top of the market, regularly playing games, networking with others in the industry, and following industry news to keep their product competitive.

The Game Sucks

Developers never really know for certain how something's going to turn out until they have a chance to play it.

  • Sometimes, the game just doesn't turn out — players don't feel at all compelled to go back and play it again.
  • A feature that a designer thought was going to make all the difference seems pointless.
  • Testers can't figure out what is going on.
  • The game doesn't let people perform a certain action they want to.

All of these suggest additions.

A Sequel

  • New mechanics are almost always wanted on a sequel.
  • Industry moves ahead, players want more, and the blogs light up with cool suggestions.

The Brainstorm

You're playing the game when it hits you: something that would truly take your game to the top or at least move it up a notch.

  • When a new idea hits there won't be enough time in the schedule to do it.
  • Time scheduled for that was already used on unforeseen problems.
  • The by-product of brainstorms, "feature creep", is a common problem in the industry.

Sometimes sudden ideas are truly worth the extra work and time.

Why Cut Mechanics?

Removing a mechanic in a game can have amazingly destabilizing and costly effects.

  • Having spent design, programming, and possibly art time to realize it, to remove a mechanic doesn't always come easily.
  • The first three reasons to add a mechanic also apply here.
  • Publishers, Market Conditions, and Bad Gameplay might give reasons to remove features and associated dynamics.
  • Also, there are some unique reasons to remove mechanics of a game.

Ratings

Toward the end of a game’s development, it is submitted to a ratings board for review and ultimately a rating.

  • Hoping for a "Mature" rating and getting an "Adults Only" severely limits distribution of a title.

A developer must remove something before resubmitting again — maybe cutting some mechanics.

To Deliver on Time

Toward the end of a game’s production, features thought great suddenly don’t seem so critical after all. So they get cut.

  • Mechanics go along cut features.

Core Check

It's not uncommon to review existing feature list and check it against the core of the game—the one thing that game is about.

  • Does that feature make the core stronger?
  • Is it superfluous?
  • Will you spend time and money on it, and not really make your game stronger?
  • Could that same time be used to make a necessary feature better?

After the Tinkering

The iterative process of game design works the same whether you're on the adding or the cutting end. Change it, play it, and evaluate. Repeat.

  • Altering mechanics can have unintended side effects that are overpowering or underperforming.
  • Stuff like this happens all the time:
    • A new spell, weapon, or ability is too powerful or too weak.
    • A new profession, race, or role is so good no one selects anything else.
  • Even the simplest change can have adverse, unintended side effects.

The only way to uncover side effects is to play the game and evaluate how your present change affected other things in the game.