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Related essays
Counterpoint on Untitled Goose Game — Reading Through the Negative Reviews
Komugi rated Untitled Goose Game 7.5/10. I read Steam's negative reviews and examined five claims: price and length, too few verbs, controls, hype skepticism, and co-op friction. Where I agree, where I push back.
Counterpoint on Firmament — Reading Through the Negative Reviews
Komugi rated Firmament 6.5/10. I read Steam's negative reviews and examined five claims: tedious puzzles, a thin story, bugs and price, and a broken VR promise. Where I agree, where I push back.
"Strengthen the core by cutting away" — Witch Beam's three pillars behind Unpacking, per their GDC talk
One piece today. I read in full "'Unpacking' the design pillars of a chill puzzle game," written by Game Developer editor-in-chief Danielle Riendeau on 21 April 2023. Based on a GDC 2023 talk by Witch Beam creative director Wren Brier, the piece traces how the 2021 "chill" puzzle game Unpacking — which has no score, no fail state, and no dialogue — used "subtractive design" to distill its core down to three pillars: contemplation, discovery, and expression, in the developer's own words. The talk dates to 2023, so I'm covering it with the date clearly noted.
When Fewer Verbs Make a Richer Game — The Lineage of Subtractive Design
Sokoban, Snakebird, Stephen's Sausage Roll, A Monster's Expedition, Bonfire Peaks. A maker's-eye survey of subtractive design, the lineage that deepens difficulty without adding verbs, built around one question: why does less become more?
