Even the most simple game idea can be a hit
When designing new computer games from scratch it is easy to start adding lots of features to make the game better. By instinct we think that ‘more is better’ and that a game needs a bit of everything to be great. The truth is that this can easily ruin your game and keep you from ever finishing it.
While some big open world games, like World of WarCraft, Grand Theft Auto or The Sims, have succeeded in using many different features, most games actually rely on very few game mechanics to engage the player. Think of first person shooters who may have advanced visually since the days of Wolfenstein and Doom in the early 1990'ties but the core gameplay is still basically the same. Even Doom had multiplayer and within a few years jumping and mouse looking had also become standard. Heck, even the first person shooter Maze War from 1974 had built in maps and multiplayer.
One of the best examples of a simple idea made successful is the casual games subgenre known as ‘hidden object games’. If you know the children’s books Where’s Wally (Waldo in North America) where you need to find Wally in large double page illustration then that is the basic idea of the hidden object game genre. You get a list of certain objects and need to find them in a room filled with different objects. Some are easy to find but usually you need to spend some time locating the last two or three objects because they blend in with the other objects and the room itself.
The first hidden object game was Mystery Case Files: Huntsville released in 2006 by Big Fish Games. It set the player as a crime solving detective and required you to move from scene to scene in a town. Huntsville was a success and soon after many other game developers were making games with similar gameplay to feed the many fans of this new genre.
Mystery Case Files: Huntsville
Huntsville itself has had several follow up games including MCF: Ravenhearst, MCF: Return to Ravenhearst and MCF: Dire Grove. Especially these three can be a good way for newcomers to explore the genre and how it has evolved slowly by adding extra types of puzzles since the original Huntsville.
What is really important to understand is how hidden object games have been a success by going for the ‘less is more’ recipe. While the genre has evolved since MCF: Huntsville it is the simple core gameplay that drives the now largest and best selling genre in casual games. Remember this the next time you think about adding a feature to your game and ask yourself if it really is needed or at least if some other feature should be cut out. Achieve a great design by limitations rather than total freedom one could say.
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