What are the most reliable game mechanics?

Have you found a game design so satisfying that you were able to keep playing sequels that had largely the same gameplay without feeling that it got dull? I've been discussing this with friends and I've come to the conclusion that it's actually very common, but wanted to see what you all think and what mechanics you'd come up with.

There are at least a few game mechanics that I usually find to be good standbys. The point-and-click of the FPS is so ingrained in my brain that I don't even think about it as a game mechanic (even though it's obviously not in every game). Match 3, for its faults, has had a very long shelf life, as has tower defense.

Conversely, what game mechanics have terrible shelf lives?

 

Lock 'n' Key is common, and not going out of style anytime soon.
Leveling Up is pretty common as well.

...However, the wrong question is 'what's reliable?' and more, 'what's right for my game?' Playtesters will help you find that answer.

 

If you skip to 1:41

 

Unreliable: Full motion video (excepting the clever Her Story) and heavy reliance on non-interactive cutscenes.

I predict simple object manipulation in VR (like I Expect You To Die) is going to be fun for a short while, but players will be bored with the concept after a year or so.

 

LOL Excellent.

 

If all else fails build a Skinner box.

 

^ I can't bring myself to "Like" the tactic, but, sadly, a very apt point, @BoredMormon.

 

It's sad that this is what game dev has come to. It's sadder still that I'm actively considering building this for the asset store.

 

Please don't out of the goodness of your heart? Keep games difficult to make, not for the sake of difficulty, but because there are better, genuinely fun ways that happen to be proportionally more difficult?

 

Has no one done a clicker framework yet? My limited faith in humanity tells me that can't be possible.

 

There are a few. I was thinking more along the lines of bundling together all of the pheripials for crossy road type monetisation.

Peripherals are particularly boring to build, but they seem to be a staple of modern mobile games.

 

What's especially fun is pairing it with the key in the lock on the other side of the door.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PaperKeyRetrievalTrick

 

Word puzzle games. They're all about making words yet I own quite a few of them & have played & discarded others

 

I think all mechanics are reliable- when a mechanic fails it's usually because of bad design. The mechanic is a hammer when the context calls for a screwdriver.

Box and Switch is timeless, but its the context and the mechanics that you put it with are what keep it from going stale. Portal is pretty much all boxes and switches, but the portal mechanic is used to bring new dimensions to the mechanic in different ways the whole game.

Like TonyLi mentioned, mechanics can benefit from novelty- (wii sports might be a good example for the value of novelty) but in the end all you're going to be left with is the intrinsic value of the thing.

 

Tried and true mechanics

- Aiming
- Timing
- Movement
- Dodging
- Resource/Tokens
- Cards
- Mystery/Exploration
- Randomization
- Tasks
- Pattern matching
- Anything with words
- Anything with other people
- Anything spatial (i.e. boards, positions, ...)
- Order of operations (this, then that)

Gigi

 

Technically everything you do or use in life applies to games. The biggest question is if it's fun for the player. Remember, games aren't bad because of the type of mechanics, games are bad because of poor implementation.

 

It's making sure the mechanics feel good to use. If mario didn't feel fun and fluid to control, there's no way we would have put up with so many sequels that are just so good.

 

Sensing a pattern here.

Perhaps rather than a dictionary of every game mechanic one could stuff into something, the thing to do would be a contextualized field guide, describing (a) what is the mechanic, (b) where does it fit well and where is it useless, and (c) examples of it used brilliantly and examples of it used terribly. Even the Skinner box would probably help someone do their chores.

 

Like the pokedex @Asvarduil is doing?

http://gamemechanicspokedex.blogspot.com.au

 

Something like that! Though perhaps with more of them.

I imagined in my mind there'd be a TVTropes of game mechanics. As it turns out, TVTropes does have a lot of them, but there isn't a lot of hierarchy so it's a bit hard to distinguish typically central big mechanics from sub-mechanics that fit more into the flavor/spice category.

 

But then again, depending on the game you are making some of those minor mechanics could be made to be the main mechanic. Take jumping for example. In most platformers jumping is a secondary mechanic that helps you traverse the level yet I have seen games where the character is continuously jumping & the player just controls the direction the character is moving.
I can see where a matrix showing what is commonly used together with pros & cons would be informative but again it isn't a definitive guide to what works, rather it is a guide to what has worked so far.

 

That's a good point -- a mechanics list would be about capturing what's already out there and not trying to predict the future. I think there's value in that, much like having a cookbook of recipes is useful even if you plan to develop new ones.