Comments on: Erasing mechanics: case study https://letterclub.games/2021/06/18/erasing-mechanics-case-study/ Letters about game design Sun, 27 Jun 2021 22:52:28 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.2 By: Jack https://letterclub.games/2021/06/18/erasing-mechanics-case-study/#comment-22 Sun, 27 Jun 2021 22:52:28 +0000 https://letterclub.games/?p=126#comment-22 Super Mario Sunshine is all about cleaning up the island.
Popping all the bubbles in a sheet of bubble wrap is satisfying. Is this the same as coloring in a coloring book though?
In Donut County you do erase the stuff, but you also grow/build your hole. The things you erase are just the raw materials you use to build your hole.
In some sense, erasing is just the other side of the coin of building.

]]> By: Droqen https://letterclub.games/2021/06/18/erasing-mechanics-case-study/#comment-21 Sat, 19 Jun 2021 09:56:33 +0000 https://letterclub.games/?p=126#comment-21 Don’t forget the plethora of combat games, in which the dynamic is nothin’ but erasing. I’ve thought about combat in games a lot – it’s crucial! The very fact of erasure eases the burden on AI design. (I talk about it a little in my 48-minute stream of playing Dark Souls if you have time for THAT haha: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1059903318)

Although this is ‘active destroying’, which is different from the type of destroying you’ve been talking about, the destruction of letting go. I suppose what I’m talking about is MINING games vs GARDENING games (Kreminski: https://mkremins.github.io/publications/GardeningGames.pdf)

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