More about us
Game design principles
Is this fun?
Consistently ask yourself: is this mechanic fun? Is it annoying to deal with? Is it boring? Evaluate.
Elegance
The design should be elegant and minimal. This ensures that the game doesn’t get bloated with unnecessary mechanics.
Another advantage of elegance is understandability. Players are able to keep a mental model of the game.
Yet another is ease of learning. The challenge shouldn’t come from struggling to learn the game, but from interacting with it once you’ve learned it.
Interconnectedness
Mechanics should feed into each other, not be isolated.
Layering
The best way to make choices more interesting is to add layers to them. Rather than offering 1000 choices to select from, it’s better to offer 2-3 choices that have impact on various mechanics. This both limits analysis paralysis and makes choices more meaningful.
Depth
Depth is not complexity. We believe that depth comes from the interplay of the principles above: elegance, interconnectedness and layering.
Let the player choose
Don’t tell the player what happens, ask them. For example, rather than killing their character, let the player choose. Do they want their character to die? Then they can choose that. Or they can also choose something else that also makes sense.
Of course, these choices should be bounded by rules. If something very bad should happen, then offer very bad choices. But, as much as possible, put the consequences in the hands of the player, let them pick.
It’s their game, their playthrough, their story. Let them choose!
Get out of the player’s way
The player wants to have an experience. Let them have it. Be invisible, if you can.
Simulation
We design living worlds.
Emergence
We create systems where stories emerge from interaction with the mechanics.
Expression
We design for multiple play styles. You get to express yourself through play.
Meta-Design
Consider the game as a whole
Game design is not separate from the rest of the game. Game design affects UI, affects code, affects content, etc. The game is one thing. Therefore, when we design, we think of the whole game.
Customization
You should be able to play the game your way. We offer many ways for you to customize your experience.
Moddability
The extreme version of customization is moddability. We support modders who want to create great experiences for other players.
Shareability
Players want to share their experiences, and also enjoy the experiences of others. We not only support them in this, but actively create opportunities for this to happen.
Community
We involve the community as much as we can. We are particularly interested in feedback and go out of our way in order to get it.
Production guidelines
Sufficiency rather than excellence
We believe excellence can be a trap. There are always diminishing returns past a certain point. Taking a thing from 95% good to 99% good is extremely time-consuming, and reaching perfection is impossible.
95% is plenty good — it’s actually quite amazing! In some cases, 80% is good enough. We pick our battles and pursue sufficiency, not excellence. We make things as good as they need to be, then move on to the next priority. We don’t do this because we’re lazy, but because we believe that this efficient use of our time ultimately leads to better games.
Balanced Scoping
Scoping is hard. We strive to balance ambition with reality; delivering a great experience while staying grounded, sane and healthy. We believe there is a balance point between overscoping (biting more than we can chew) and underscoping (not being ambitious enough). That’s the middle ground we try to find. We do this by looking at our team’s capabilities realistically and focusing on what really matters for our players.
Flexible Planning
Priorities change all the time. Game development is highly iterative. We have to be adaptable and willing to change what we’re working on. We also have to be willing to delay releases if the quality is not there yet. A delayed but good release is better than an on-time but bad release.
What it takes
This is what we believe it takes to fulfill our mission. If you share these qualities, we’d love to hear from you.
You’re an outlier
You are statistically abnormal in the best way. You have honed your skills more than others. You look at things in unique ways. You are incredibly capable and believe in your capacity.
You care about people
Genuinely. You want the best for your fellow human. You deeply respect people. You are not hateful towards anyone, and I mean it: anyone, no matter who they are or the circumstances. You have chosen to treat people with the utmost respect, whether they “deserve” it or not (and you’ve discovered that there is no such thing as “deserving” respect; everyone deserves respect).
You care about games
This is the easy one, right? We all care about games. But you care very deeply. You have a great love for games and game development. It’s such a mysterious and engrossing thing. And the more you learn about games, the more you realize you don’t know.
You want to improve
You don’t defend your ego. You seek to be better each day. You’re always learning something.
You are humble
You don’t need to win or be right. There’s nothing for you to gain from that. You want to do great work, and know what it takes for that: humbling yourself, knowing you’ll be wrong a lot, and working hard.
You take responsibility for what is yours
You don’t blame others, ever, for any reason. You take responsibility for what is yours, and leave everything else for whoever’s responsibility it is. You don’t overstep and don’t take responsibility for what is not yours. But for what is yours, you take full responsibility, 100%.
You communicate clearly
You don’t waste people’s time. You write simply and clearly. You get your idea across and that’s it.
You give and take feedback
You seek feedback and give feedback to others generously.
You put in the effort
All this is not easy. So you dedicate your time and effort to it.
You are courageous
You bravely pursue the mission. You might feel fear, but you do it anyway. When things get tough, you rise to the challenge.
You are an optimist
You believe we can accomplish great things. You believe it’s all worth it, and can be done.
You believe in the mission
You believe that our mission is both important and possible.
You enjoy it
You take joy in being this way. You believe that zest is a crucial ingredient to making something great and living a good life.
If you have what it takes…
I’d love to meet you. Contact me at lucas@hist.games. You can also find me at our Discord.
