Josh Bycer wrote this one after bouncing off Arcen Games’ The Last Federation and not understanding what he was supposed to do. His argument: what a game really teaches is informed decision-making — playing with a complete understanding of what your actions will affect. Mastery is the move from clicking buttons turn by turn to reasoning several moves ahead, knowing that X sets Y in motion which advances plan Z.
It applies well beyond strategy:
- A platformer jump is an informed decision about where and how far you can go
- An action game’s attack choice is the same thing
- The constant requirement is that the player sees both what’s happening on screen and what their available options are
Bycer lines up one game per failure mode:
- Information overload — The Last Federation. Planetary readings, research, economy, army sizes, resource outputs. Arcen hid systems to unlock over time, which just delayed the overload. Worse, feedback is delayed: you set a plan in motion and let the simulation run, so while learning you can’t tell whether your decision caused the outcome or something else did. Tooltips explain what a number means, not how to reason toward a goal.
- Information underload — Hearthstone. Clean UI, strong tutorial, and no route from beginner to expert inside the game. Mana curve, deck construction, how to judge whether a card is good — all of it lives outside, learned from friends or wikis. Because luck is mixed in, a new player can’t even diagnose a bad deck on their own.
Why designers get this wrong: they already know how everything fits, so they can’t see what a newcomer can’t follow. Playtesting is the only instrument. His dividing line — exploits can be patched, but the core rules that separate novice from expert play must be taught in-game.
The closing rule is worth testing any design against: if someone has to go outside your game or manual to learn how to play, you failed to explain your mechanics. A great game is easy to learn and difficult to master, not the other way around.