Design References and Borrowed Mechanics

Much like movies and music, video games are a highly derivative form. Game designers frequently borrow, steal, and repurpose ideas from older titles. However, dependable design is more than pointing at some arbitrary feature in another game and saying, “I like that. Let’s copy pls.”

Experienced designers are very careful when citing references. We need to understand why something works, what purpose it serves within its surrounding systems, how players feel about it, and whether it’ll be an efficient net positive for our project.

Evaluation Criteria

As dev cycles accelerate and deadlines start approaching quickly, “Trendy game has X” can become shorthand for “X is a safe bet.” It’s worth remembering that the evaluation criteria needs to be “X worked well” – which often means “Players liked X.”

If you don’t know whether players liked a specific feature and think it’s worth trying anyway, that’s fine – as long as you’re willing to treat it as an experiment and have the bandwidth to do so. You should be able to articulate why it would be a good fit or solve a key problem in your game.

If you know that players had mixed reactions, but think you understand why and have a creative solution in mind, that’s even better. Again, treat it as an experiment and go out of your way to make sure your team is on board.

If you have reliable data that players liked it, and that it was a key reason for the game’s success, that’s as close to conclusive evidence as anyone can get. Or if you were personally engaged enough with the game’s community to have a strong read on player sentiment, that can be enough info to trust too.

Baggage Cost

Jusy be sure you really understand the costs and benefits of the feature. Overestimating the necessity or exclusive value of a reference are common mistakes that genre expert designers tend to make. Most elements that seem unique to a game or genre can be abstracted and adapted in some way, or their role can be fulfilled through another system.

Lastly, consider any potential byproducts you might be inheriting. Think of borrowed mechanics as S-blocks or L-blocks in Tetris. You can’t always break them down further.

On rare occasions, they might fit perfectly. But usually they’ll solve an immediate problem or provide some improvement upfront, then leave you with additional baggage to fold in or work around forever. Designing custom mechanics from scratch can be a hard sell when everyone prefers proven solutions, but it can be more efficient if baggage costs are persistently high.

Bonus Pro Tip

If you don’t like your references getting called out, try looking outside video games for inspiration. The extra translation steps may be more time-consuming, but you’ll probably find some fresher ideas that are harder to trace back.