Game Design: The Lens of Surprise
Surprise is so basic that we can easily forget about it. Use this lens to remind yourself to fill your game with interesting surprises.
- What will surprise players when they play my game?
- Does the story in my game have surprises? Do the game rules? Does the artwork? The technology?
- Do your rules give players ways to surprise each other?
- Do your rules give players ways to surprise themselves?
Surprise is a crucial part of all entertainment. It is at the root of humor, strategy, and problem solving. Our brains are hardwired to enjoy surprises. In an experiment where participants who received random sprays considered the experience much more pleasurable than participants who received the sprays according to a fixed pattern, even though the same amount of sugar was delivered. In other experiments, brain scans revealed that even during unpleasant surprises, the pleasure centers of the brain are triggered.
(The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses by Jesse Schell, Carnegie Mellon University, 2008. Page 26-27)