Practical Game Design

Reducing complexity

If complexity and depth grow together, how can we mitigate the former and favor the latter, then?

The implicit complexity of a game system, its rules and core mechanics, can be simplified only to the extent by which they don’t become trivial. This is a fact and there’s little we can do, except try to design them in the most elegant way. Luckily, there is something we can do to reduce complexity without affecting depth:

• User Interface: We're going to talk about UI more in a later chapter. For now, keep in mind that a simple and elegant user interface is the first and most important way to reduce complexity. No one enjoys a screen cluttered with icons and buttons, even the most hardcore player doesn't want to click through ...