Practical Game Design

Keep it short and simple (KISS)

This principle is also known as "Keep it simple, stupid!"

A very popular design principle, it was introduced in 1960 by the US Navy. The principle simply states that a system works best if it's simple by design. As trivial as it may sound, Kelly Johnson, the lead engineer who coined it, made a very valid example to remind us how important it can be. It goes more or less like this:

Consider a jet aircraft that should be repaired by an average mechanic in the field under combat conditions with only a handful of basic tools.

Video games are complex systems, full of moving parts and made with advanced technologies. Compared to Johnson's maxim, we are talking about futuristic spaceships that only scientists in their ...