Crazy Jerome
First Post
In addition to what Balesir said, to really win me over the design has to display a few characteristics:
I've reached the point where incoherent vision, sloppy design and development, covered up with a coat of paint just really isn't fun for me. it creates the same kind of reaction that I had hunting a house, when I went in to a particular "show house" in a neighborhood by one builder and saw that they had tried to cover up bad carpentry and sloppy wiring with inexpert trim, with slopped on paint. If it's so bad that a guy like me who tinkers with it but isn't a professional can see it at a glance, then what is under the walls that I can't see? Once I start asking that question, I really can't relax and enjoy a game entirely. I don't trust it.
So tl;dr: Make a game I can trust to be what it says it is.
- I'm convinced that the designers have a clear vision.
- The mechanics and flavor are unified in pursuit of that vision.
- The development is tested and works.
- The advice is congruent with the game produced.
- The examples, adventures, tools, etc. support it well.
- No obvious padding and bloat. (Options done well that I don't need but that other people want are not padding or bloat. They are options that I don't personally care about. But even these I want done well, for the sake of good craftmanship.)
I've reached the point where incoherent vision, sloppy design and development, covered up with a coat of paint just really isn't fun for me. it creates the same kind of reaction that I had hunting a house, when I went in to a particular "show house" in a neighborhood by one builder and saw that they had tried to cover up bad carpentry and sloppy wiring with inexpert trim, with slopped on paint. If it's so bad that a guy like me who tinkers with it but isn't a professional can see it at a glance, then what is under the walls that I can't see? Once I start asking that question, I really can't relax and enjoy a game entirely. I don't trust it.
So tl;dr: Make a game I can trust to be what it says it is.