CULTURE: The Value of Simplicity

This is a very thought-provoking article from Eric-Jon Rössel Waugh at Next Generation.

Eric-Jon Rössel Waugh examines the value in simplicity, and how developers need to use the tools at hand to create intuitive experiences before further complicating videogames and their respective genres.

The abstract doesn’t really do it justice, and neither would clipping bits of it here and there. I highly recommend you click over and read what he has to say.  He challenges a bunch of assumptions – including some I’ve posted about – and he comments on a bunch of important points, and he suggests what I think is a very sensible way of building on and polishing the good stuff that we have done in gaming, before flying off into the next far-out future.  If I were an exec looking at the bottom line of game development cost (and risk) versus game development revenue, I’d particularly like what Eric-Jon has to say.  And here’s the cool thing – as a gamer more concerned about my fun than corporate profit, I also like what he has to say.