Innovation VS Polish

There is a very strong relationship between innovation and polish. Creative ideas need to be polished, and when designers are polishing their products, they want to do it creatively. It would be ideal if both of these aspects could be done perfectly, but apparently, nothing can be perfect. So if we have to make a choice, what should we pay more attention to?

A lot of people would choose innovation instinctively, because they believe innovation is the spirit of games. But in real life, whether a game is good enough not only depends on the spirit, sometimes the appearance is even more important. Just like a person, no matter how kind or smart you are, if you cannot show that to people, it's still hard to make other people like you.

When people first start thinking about game design, the first idea that jumps into their mind is, "I want to create some fun stuff that no one has ever thought about before!" and when people come to judge a game, they will always ask, "Does this game provide an entirely new game mechanic that has never been seen in previous games?" This kind of common sense shows that we put too much focus on innovation in game design, but the fact is that in many cases it's the polish that improves an idea from average to good and from good to awesome.

In reality, "PURE" innovation doesn’t exist in game design. We don’t lack for ideas, but if you look closely enough at the ideas we do have you can always find something in it that existed before. The history of human beings playing games can be traced back thousands of years ago. That means that millions of ideas have already been thought up. So don't force yourself to think hard about what has never existed and get discouraged when you fail in that.

Instead, let's pay more attention on how to polish an existing idea. Don't think it's easy. There are a lot examples to show that even if you have a great idea, if you fail to execute it well people will fail to see how good your idea is. They will lose patience on keep exploring. Think about how painful it could be if the graphics are poor, or the balance is off, or-the worst case scenario-the game just keeps crashing. As a player, would you keep playing a game that is plagued with those problems, or would you rather change to another game that you are already familiar with, but still can entertain you without a problem?

Polish includes all the different aspects of a game design. Visualization, character design, levels, difficulty, game mechanics, items, sounds, anti-cheating countermeasures, etc. All of these fields need a high level of skill to design. To polish the visual effects the designer needs to have some understanding of art and spend a lot of time comparing and adjusting. To polish the characters the designer should know about the target audience's preferences and know something about psychology to make sure player like it or hate it. To polish the game mechanics requires a huge amount of time doing play testing, which means the designer should be good at organizing, listening, and analyzing. And experience is also necessary to keep development on schedule. In a word, polishing is not an easy job, and the value of it isn't less than coming up with innovative ideas.

Besides, to be effective at polishing ideas, innovation is also important. Just think about how many improvements designers made in these series: Sims 1,2,3; Warcraft 1,2,3; Need for Speed 1-13; FIFA; NBA, etc. The later generations of course inherit some similar game mechanics, some traditional UI design, and some familiar stories. But what makes people keep trying each new generation and having fun with them? It's the new features added in, better visual enjoyment, and fewer bugs. These changes cannot be defined as revolutionary, but definitely can be said to be innovative polish, and the innovative polish makes sure the new generation is better and still can succeed.

Thinking about the current situation in the industry, there are two very different kinds of developers; varying in how much value they place on innovation or polish. Most of the designers focusing on innovation work in the indie game market while those with an eye for polish design larger titles in big companies. Young people find it easy to adore these indie gamers because they feel more like cowboys, full of adventurousness, willing to sacrifice, and eager to challenge authority. I'm not saying that this is a bad thing and the industry definitely needs this fresh input. But still, for the huge amount of players, they need someone to make sure that after they pay upwards of sixty dollars to buy a game, they get an enjoyable experience that’s worth the money.

So please don't only compliment the few innovation geniuses who bring you whole new gaming experiences. Those unnamed designers who make mature games that are full of rich elements and really enjoyable to play, they also deserve applause.