Flappy Bird has been decried by the video game industry, completely put down by designers, and yet played by many.
We need only examine the word design to see that Flappy Bird was a masterpiece of game design: Design is the creation of something that solves a problem, enables utility, or communicates an idea. In other words, design is for people.
Navel-gazing game designers might be too bogged up in their technicalities to realize, but design doesn’t have to be complex or beautiful to succeed. Design isn’t art, nor are video games.
A great design is made for people.
1. People like to brag.
A high score based, infinite game which also happens to be RIDICULOUSLY HARD makes it great for you to brag to your friends about your score.
2. People are bored.
The real world is boring. People pull out their phones to alleviate boredom. This addictive game solves their boredom.
3. People are lazy.
They don’t want to contend with any other controls other than to TAP. The game is easy enough to control that anyone can try it without much effort.
4. People are nostalgic.
Perhaps the flapping bird reminds them of the not-so-recent Angry Birds. As a once-hardcore gamer, the mechanics remind me of my struggles to pilot the Dodo plane in GTA III. And of course, the pipes and background textures remind us all of Super Mario.
Maybe it’s not so bad that Flappy Bird allegedly “stole” art assets from Super Mario. We all love a little bit of nostalgia, don’t we?
5. People respond strongly to challenges.
It’s not that we like to be challenged, but what makes a game a game is the challenge. We all respond strongly to challenges, and it’s what makes us so receptive to stories. In fiction, we tend to enjoy reading about or watching a character face up to challenges. It’s part of the human condition to be drawn to what is essentially, a challenge.
The Challenge For Designers Everywhere
Everything that is man-made is designed, and to design is to make something for a human being to interact with. Often we think about design in isolation from the human context, and that should not be the case.
You may be a game designer by profession, and you have standards you value, standards by which you make video games.
Design standards matter, but they also aren’t the holy grail for what’s a good design. Ultimately, design has to exist in context.
Once in a while, something like Flappy Bird comes along and jolts us awake from our lull by breaking almost every known design rule, and yet succeeds in a way you can only dream of. In response, you call foul. This is cheating!, you think.
Thinking about design in this way is dangerous. Because we can either chase technical excellence at the cost of utility (Crysis, anyone?), or we can make the technology work for us.
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