Perfection Is A Fallacy

Perfect is an interesting word. I think society's general idea of it is "without flaw", but how that translates into the real world is very subjective and even ambiguous to ourselves.

I'd like to talk about the pursuit of perfection first. We all do it in some way or another. We either want to look perfect for a date, create a perfect work of art, a perfect game, whatever. I don't think we usually expect to achieve perfection, but we pursue it, often to some degree of frustration. 

In terms of game development, perfection comes in the form of the feature creep, or tirelessly working on details that are irrelevant, or will be glossed over. Or focusing on every aspect of the game equally. If your game is combat oriented, you better make dang sure it's solid before wasting time on other features.

Well, the reality of it all is...you can't create a perfect game. So stop trying. Perfection, "without flaw" isn't attainable. Sorry. So if you ever find yourself in that mindset, please abandon it. 

As a general rule, I usually ask myself "Does this increase sale value? Will this increase people's desire to buy it? Will this help the majority of people enjoy the game more?", and I try to be brutally honest as I answer my own questions.

I'd like to offer a new pursuit, and that's "Purpose". What is the purpose of this feature? What is it trying to accomplish? If the purpose is to say...increase longevity of the game, then work on that feature until it accomplishes it's purpose. But go a step beyond, be specific with each feature's purpose. Instead of "increase longevity", make it "increase gameplay time by 1 hour". The more specific the purpose (or goal) is, the better off you are. You'll know exactly if you're fulfilling the purpose of that feature or not. 

For instance, I wanted High Moon to be a quick game that was casual friendly. Thus I needed gameplay to last between 5-15 minutes. So I set about refining various aspects of the game until a duel was fun, and only lasted for the amount of time I wanted it to. I also wanted it to be hardcore friendly for those who wanted a more difficult challenge and a lengthier play duration. So again, I worked on features that would allow the game to be both a 5-15 minute game, or a 20-30 minute game and just as much fun either way.

I guess this post is really about setting goals, and avoiding a more ambiguous vision for your game. When I first started designing High Moon, I had a few goals, but the majority of what I was trying to create was quite ambiguous. Overtime I refined and refined until I knew exactly what I was trying to create, and then set about doing that. 

Glad to say, I've finally achieved it, and you can too!