When debating whether something is worth removing from your game, try flipping it first. Ask yourself “if this wasn’t in the game yet, would we be desperate to add it in?”

For example, a highly controversial statement from a lead at Mojang Studios was about the iconic Creeper. He pointed out that if the Creeper wasn’t already in the game, they wouldn’t add it with their current design philosophy – but they kept it in because it was so iconic.

While many players were offended at this idea, I am 100% confident that if the creeper didn’t exist yet… And Mojang said today, “We added this fun new mob that can spawn on top of you out of nowhere and blow up your hard work! Isn’t this fun?” – 99% of the offended players would be going, “Who asked for this?!?”

Whether or not you think the Creeper is a good design, I think it’s pretty clear that players fighting to keep it would also fight against its inclusion. That’s an interesting fact, and the same bias happens on design teams.

Just as the creeper is way too iconic to remove now, players are too used to it and have grown begrudgingly fond of the pest over time, devs often instinctively fight to preserve things they’re familiar with – even if the gameplay is a net loss. When that happens, I find it’s helpful to ask, “If this wasn’t in the game right now… Would players feel like something was missing?”

A while ago I talked about working on Faeria and fixing the issue with players forgetting to use their 1/turn “god power” before ending their turn by making it impossible to forget. We made the god power wheel turned into the end turn button after use. However, people were initially very nervous about removing the option to skip your turn without activating the wheel “just in case”.

Imagine in chess if you had the option to skip your turn without making a move. There’s a term for strategic states where this is relevant: Zugzwang. If passing your turn was an option in chess, and a designer suggested cutting the option, other designers might have pushed back because it has niche applications. However, once it’s gone, this lack of option to avoid moving just becomes a new part of the strategy.

For Faeria, I asked myself “If we already didn’t have the option to end the turn without using the power wheel, and someone suggested adding it in, would we be excited? Honestly… Probably not. It’d feel like adding in a meaningless option, chance for misclicks and misplays, for nebulous gain.”

We cut the option after a LOT of discussion and concerns.. But while most people were anxious to lose the option, not one player ever requested adding it. Not one.

Don’t think about what you’re losing. Imagine the game without the thing you might cut, and ask “If we’d been playing that way for a while, would it feel important to add this in?” It’s a weirdly effective brain hack.