Theme is more than window dressing, and less than fanatical immersion. To be true to theme, a design should strive to capture the essence of the setting or construct by creating a system in which players naturally adopt behaviors that fit their circumstances. Success is when a player is surprised to act in a way that is not in keeping with their real life personality, as though it were normal.
Quotes by Peter Olotka
I like funny games. […] Most games labor under rules that are designed to be fair. Otherwise why bother playing? Right? Here’s the problem: Fair is not funny.
Focus on creating games that are unique. It’s very crowded out there in copycat gamer land.
If, after you are well past the design phase, and you’ve been playing for a while, you are still surprised by what happens in your very own game, I’d say you have a winner.
