Team Meat talks risk/reward in game design, draws Pac-Man

Looks like Edmund McMillen’s initial write-up on game design is turning into a series, as he’s just thrown up a new post on how important it was to create an inspiring risk and reward system for Super Meat Boy. Among other things, Edmund makes reference to the extremely effective risk/rewards systems found in such classics as Pac-Man and Super Mario Bros, and how he applied and tweaked those systems for use in his own game.

This kind of stuff is the closest thing we have to an Understanding Comics-equivalent for videogames. I hope that Edmund takes this one step further someday, and actually makes a game that teaches us game design, something like WarioWare D.I.Y., only more involving and hand-on with its teachings. That would not only be brilliant, but it would also make Edmund rich, especially if he kept including characters from other people’s games.

Edmund’s knack from bringing out the inner-creepiness in gaming icons is nothing short of amazing. Pac-Man with teeth? Brilliant. I hope he takes on Curly Brace from Cave Story in his next post, which is planned to be about exploration in platformers. Curly’s panties may not be the best example of how to reward the player for fully exploring a game, but they’re not the worst either, and mentioning “panties” on the Internet is always a good idea if you’re looking to score some new traffic (or even if you’re not).

Extra credit! [SuperMeatBoy.com]