GAME DESIGN & UX

Overcooked: How Design Creates Teamwork

Chaotic cooking couch co-op concocts camaraderie

As multiplayer games have mushroomed in popularity, they’ve had to cater to different sets of players — people with varied skill levels, playing styles, and levels of comfort with being pushed headfirst into an online soup with a hundred strangers and some guns. While trying to design for the “ideal average” player, multiplayer game designers can face these challenges:

• Cast a wide net: How do I create a game that’s easy for newcomers to access but still challenging for skilled players?
• Keep things interesting: How do I ensure players don’t slip into predefined roles during the game, resulting in repetitive play?
• “Multi”player: How do I create design systems that incentivize players to work as a team?

There are endless ways games have approached and solved these design problems, but today I want to focus on a pair of gastronomic gems — Overcooked and Overcooked 2*. These games use design tricks and universally understood processes to craft delightful levels where you can play with friends of any skill level and still have a blast. Importantly, Overcoooked is a multiplayer game that’s best experienced when you’re in constant communication with…