Ronin Round Table: Cross-Pollination in Game Design, or, the Myth of the Designer Knife Fight
Last time I mentioned cross-pollination is game design, or taking ideas from other gaming systems and experiences and using it in other games. This is a common practice and one that I sometimes feel not everyone realizes or expects. Check out some of the more tribalized corners of the internet and there’s this idea that designers and consumers of various games and companies are in some sort of weird secret war. The great Toon-Cyberpunk Massacre of 1994 aside, this isn’t true. I can say with confidence that I don’t get together every weekend to battle other Chicago area game designers with knives for whose design is best. Especially since Greg Stolze is a master of the kris and I heard Allen Turner once killed a dude with a spork, so no thanks. We also play a lot of games. Not just ours or even other games that seem similar to the ones we do, but a number of different products.