#on design

[othellho]

James Ward, Progressive design for students, (Chapman and Hall: 1902).

[ladymarc]

A lot of Pokémon fans don't like Pikachu and think it's overrated, but the irony is that many of their favorite Pokémon would not exist without it as a precedent.

Nearly all Water-type Pokémon are based on aquatic animals, and Grass-type Pokémon must be at least part plant. This is the only conceivable reason why the Flabebe family isn't Grass-type. But the original games were even more rigid when it came to what Pokémon could be each type. All Fire-type Pokémon were based on folkloric creatures and all Electric-type Pokémon were partly mechanical, with the exception of Pikachu and Electabuzz. And even then, Electabuzz was based on oni, which are often associated with lightning in Japanese folklore.

Pikachu was, in Red and Blue, the only Pokémon that was "basically just a normal animal, but it has elemental powers." As a consequence, fan favorites like Torchic and Joltik are just following its example. It's a trendsetter.

Pikachu helped define what Pokémon are.

[dezainnet]

オンデザインチームの設計で、2019年夏に竣工した神奈川大学国際寮の内覧会レポートと、訪れた建築家のコメント (BEYOND ARCHITECTURE)

[othellho]

James Ward, Progressive design for students, (Chapman and Hall: 1902).

[othellho]

David Jacob Varon, Indication in architectural design; a natural method of studying architectural design with the help of indication as a means of analysis (New York, 1916).

[othellho]

Day, Lewis F., 1845-1910: The anatomy of pattern (B.T. Batsford, 1887).

[ladymarc]

I think the most interesting type of mechanic in video games is the variety of different ways in old school RPGs that they introduce some kind of risk to sticking around in a dungeon for too long. And no, I don't mean hunger or fatigue mechanics; those are everywhere.

I'm talking things that come in and out of nowhere and kill you. For example, the Reaper in Persona games (which also doubles as a late-game superboss), FOEs from Etrian Odyssey (and Metaphor now, apparently), and monster houses in Mystery Dungeon.

Oh sorry, did I say monster houses in Mystery Dungeon? I meant monster parties in Rogue. Somehow, that mechanic from the original Rogue that didn't make it into modern western roguelikes is still present in most eastern ones. Consider that if you're too rigid about the Berlin Interpretation.

The interesting thing about this is that it goes back to what is virtually the roots of the computer RPG. They were originally made by the kind of people who played D&D as a wargame, where an adversarial relationship between the player and the Game Master was expected. In fact, it was part of the fun. So this is the video game equivalent of "took too long, the monsters ambush you."

In the original context, this wasn't a purposeful design decision, but a quick fix by Game Masters who weren't using a ruleset that had any written-in way to prevent dawdling. But in the video game genre of dungeon crawling RPGs, it was imported wholesale. It's a bit like the "killer shopkeep" in that regard.

Most RPGs outside old school dungeon crawlers simply have hunger and fatigue mechanics or more traditional randomness as the main thing making sticking around in a dungeon too risky, but it's nice that these mechanics still survive in this very much extant genre.