Just another quick plug. Life is still busy here, but there’s plenty to read. Specifically, Ernest Adams’ series of game design articles:
The No Twinkie, Bad Designer! Database
It’s well worth a read. Sometimes, the best way to avoid making a dumb mistake is knowing what it is.
(If it helps, think of it as one man’s game design version of the tvtropes website.)
Tish Tosh Tesh 
Sweet! I love the TVtropes site, heh.
I have the feeling I’ll end up saying “No twinkie!” a lot now. It tickles me. (Besides, Twinkies are *vile*.)
Looks absolutely fascinating so far.
Did anyone look at the list though and think WoW breaks just about all of those rules?
Quick question from a non-American. I understand Twinkie is some sort of cake. What does No Twinkie mean in this context?
Is this some Pavlovian US games company management technique where employee succssesses are rewarded with cake?
I’m not sure why Adams settled on a Twinkie, but it might have something to do with the tendency for game developers to subsist on junk food, or for their handlers to bribe them to work long hours with junk food. Twinkies are (to some) the king of junk food, so this is effectively denying them a reward because they botched their job.
…so yes, it’s very Pavlovian. Maybe not terribly accurate to real life, but that’s the spirit of the thing.
…and of course, I can’t help but think of the Twinkie in Wall-E. Those things are *durable*.
Oh, and yes, Ysh, I have a tendency to think “No Twinkie” here and there as well (though I don’t have the heart yet to tackle WoW with it; that takes more time than I have). It’s kind of cathartic. 🙂
I’m with ya on the life’s busy thing. Wouldn’t it be great if we just had enough free time to do everything we enjoyed? Maybe I just need less hobbies 🙂
I already love it for the “Extreme Rule Changes When Fighting Boss Characters” article. Talk about one of my life-long pet peeves.
No, no, no, you can’t give me a tvtropes-like site, I’ve lost enough hours on tvtropes as it is ! This is vile, this is mean, this is…
Shiny…
Must…
Resist…
The Pull…
AAAAAAAAaaaaaahhhhh…
*gets sucked*
“Handlers” is not a very correct term Tesh.
Use “Overlords” or “Pit Masters”
Yeah, that series is an old favorite of mine. I find I agree with the vast majority of his Twinkie-denial conditions.
That reminds me of a TDC I had recently while installing Jade Empire.
All my games go in a custom folder called “01 – Games”. That way, I put them where I want and find them easily.
Only, when I tried that with JE, it told me ” “-” is not a recognised symbol, please select another folder”.
So, now, I have a “01 Games” folder alongside my “01 – Games”. With only JE in it.
There was another recent AAA game that would not let me install it anywhere else than on “Program Files/”, but I can’t remember which one it was…
It’s… just… So stupid !
[…] punishing your users who you have taught to expect certain behavior. That’s Bad Design. No Twinkie for you! Or, as Sirlin might note, Every Click Counts, and making users jump through unnecessary extra hoops […]
[…] no way to look more than one power level ahead, so you must go to a wiki to properly plan ahead, a twinkie denial condition in my book), you have to just build the character all over again, with new covers and more ISO-8. […]
[…] on the developer forums over thisaway winds up being what I’d call Bad Design, sometimes even Twinkie Denial […]