Play -> Learn, or Mechanic -> Message

Sometimes it is hard to keep a game simple. When designing a game, I have so much fun playing with different variations that I often get lost in my own rules. Though such chaos can be beneficial for my creative process, the game should be presented to the players as a simple product. No matter what storyline or fancy visuals it has, the core mechanic should be something rather straightforward because this is how players can learn from the game.

In the article “The Mechanic is the Message,” the “Learn from Learning Science” part is particularly interesting to me because it reminds me of my favorite games when I was younger, “Dragons: Rise of Berk.” When I first started the game, I explored the island to look for resources and potential next moves. With the help of instruction and storyline, it didn’t take too long before I understood that I essentially want to collect more wood and fish to train my dragons so that I can get even more wood and fish. Later on, whenever there’s a new place/action unlocked, the game offers a similar explanation for me to identify the problem, learn how it can be solved, and try it myself and see whether it works, exactly like “Events of Instruction” and “Guided Experiential Learning” described.

Learning from this article, I’d do similar things in my own game to reduce the level of difficulty of learning and bringing the players more effective feedbacks as they make progress.