Design Notepad: The Perfect Un-planned Feature

Unplanned features, a concept that doesn't sit well with most game developers (producers I'm looking at you), and rightly so! Additional cost and bugs means they can be risky. After all, they are the very definition of feature creep.

However, making games is a creative process. Things change during the course of development, inspiration strikes or something you've been experimenting with turns out to be a huge value add.

Not all features are born equal, some are much more suited to being a last minute addition than others.

What are the attributes of the perfect unplanned feature? How can we spot them and take advantage?

Makes use of what's readily available

If the feature can be created with elements from existing systems and assets it's immediately something that's worth at least considering. It's a "modder" approach, taking elements of the games that were created to do one thing and repurposing them to create a variation of a feature or even something entirely new. 

However, balancing the benefits of the time saved versus the quality of the developed feature is the main concern here.

Unquestionably fits the games direction

The second attribute, does your features comfortably sit within the overall design? Meaning, it abides by the games core pillars.

What you're creating is part of an wider ecosystem. It should be obvious why and how this this new feature comfortably sits within the rest of the game.

Extremely quick to prototype

When adding a feature late in development we need to prove out that it's a value add to the game. The most reliable way to do this is through a prototype, allowing us and the rest of the team to play and test the new feature.

As with the rest of the attributes, time and cost need to be factored in so Being able to do this quickly is key.

Low risk that's preferably already accounted for

The features should be low risk, meaning unlikely to create new bugs or issues.

There's always inherent risk when adding something new to a game. However, if the feature is a variation of something that already exists, or utilises a lot of existing assets that are already accounted for in the testing phase of the project, the risk is severely diminished.

Final thoughts

Every game is different and every team is different. These aren't hard and fast rules but things to keep in mind when the temptation to add something new gets unbearable!