https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pBvMIUk1nQ
Theme-first design
- Pick 3 words to define a theme (Cultist: Yearning, Apocalypse, Experimentation). Everything you add to the game has to focus the player on one of the words. Take out things that distract the player from the themes.
Make it reasonably good
- don’t be an auteur about a bad mechanic or experience that sends an “artistic message”
Distinctive and Divisive
It should have Distinctive and Divisive elements in order to gatekeep a community of true fans (!?)
- Distinctive: a big part of this is ART STYLE. which can express your vibe in an instant.
- Divisive: “skill issue” is sometimes a valid thing to say
Apophenian design
Apophenia: the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things.
“Don’t simulate when you can imply.”
Let the player imagine patterns that you imply, rather than painstakingly drawing out every frame of the event you want to show.
| the face of mars | cave face |
|---|---|
 |  |
Simulation of the gaps - leverage the player’s imagination to express complex events. Example: screen transition from tabletop, to sleep counter, to map = dream sequence of travel. No need for cinematic.
Make the mechanics visible to the player, like a transparent Skeleton Watch. This teaches the player how to play, and it also teaches them to think about your game and give good feedback.
Good for small budget and constrained timeline.