About a year ago I came across JPLeBreton "Against Coercion: a Game Design Manifesto"
Anyone who came by my itch page at some point recently might have seen it there.
As far as a manifesto goes, it's a lean bullet list that requires me to interpret it and form deeper meanings.
But I gotta say it is a kind of South to orient game design choices.
I am writing this thread to develop these pointers with my own meanings and open them to others for scrutiny.
> let players wonder about things and trust them to find answers;
I think there is only so much that needs to be said in a game, leaving room for players to develop their understanding.
That is not to say this is an allowance to leave things incomplete. Both the system and the setting need both to inform what previous knowledge the writer expects the players to have, as well as inform the essential bits that will prevent players from getting caught in trappings and unwanted directions.
Continuing the thread on the manifesto against coercion:
> connect players with patterns they find intrinsically fulfilling
I struggle a bit with bit with definitions here. But what I would elaborate from this is that the game loops are expected to be fun in and of themselves.
When you engage a mechanic, it is an interesting thing even before it's procedure is concluded.
You know, the journey and the destination kind of thing.
Gabriel Caetano
Kit Rhett Aultman