My thought about game design for today is: Universalizing almost never helps.

Originally shared by Ben Lehman

My thought about game design for today is: Universalizing almost never helps.

Game designers really love the idea of flexible mechanics, which can be lots of different things. The thing is, mechanics are almost never good because they're flexible. Flexibility is just another way of saying boring, bland, uninspiring, or generic. Game mechanics are good because they are specifically interesting, inspiring, precise.

I've never once had "I should make a more general system for this" be the right answer to a game design problem. I'm not saying it can't happen. I'm just saying it's never happened to me.