The MacGyver Experience

*A design theory document written for the Lost, Broken, Unplayable~ Jam*

One of my favorite tropes is when characters use objects in unintended ways to pull off an elaborate plan. It's pretty common in books and movies, MacGyver being a famous and extreme example. Heists and Wilderness Survival type stories often use this trope too. But it's much more difficult to use in the medium of games. Why is that? Can we bring this trope into gaming too?

This isn't to say there aren't any games that let the player come up with unconventional solutions. Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom both allow the player to solve problems in a myriad fun, creative, and silly ways. Minecraft has so much complexity and freedom that people build giant machines to solve their problems, and each person's design is unique.  DnD famously lets you do just about anything you can persuade the DM to allow.

At the heart of this trope is creative agency. The MacGyver solution isn't "push the correct button to win." It involves creative application of knowledge about way things work. This requires (1) that the game world is complex enough to allow many solutions and (2) that players learn those complex mechanics.

There's a specific type of complexity that lends itself to creative problem solving. When many different game systems are tied together, opportunities for creativity arise. For example, consider Crafting. An elaborate crafting recipe with many different ingredients is complex, but not in the way we want. Adding more ingredients will not improve the depth of the game, only the breadth. But if we give more uses to the ingredients and the products, it will tie the crafting part of the game into other mechanics, letting players use crafting as part of their clever plan.

It's also worth noting that it takes time for players to learn the game well enough to have the MacGyver experience. In the meantime, there needs to be a fun core gameplay loop that gives them the time and experience to learn the mechanics. This isn't a trope that can be the foundation of a game, instead it's an enriching element for dedicated players.

I would love to see more games with the freedom and mechanical depth to support creative play. I hope I've inspired you a little. All the best on your game dev journey!