A video game feels unusual when it makes a distinctive choice about its mechanics, goals, presentation, or the way those elements work together—and that choice changes what the player does or notices. “Experimental” is a useful description of a design approach, not a formal genre or a synonym for unusual graphics, randomness, or novelty for novelty’s sake.
What makes a game unusual?
Start with a specific design decision, then explain its effect on the player. A strange-looking world may be memorable, but unusualness can also come from a new rule, an unfamiliar objective, a different way of delivering information, or a deliberate combination of familiar parts.
Game Developers Conference (GDC) describes experimental gameplay as challenging conventions and traditions in search of new genres and ideas. Its session description of Steve Swink’s design premise puts the focus on exploration: “find a unique, promising game mechanic and explore it as thoroughly as possible.” That is a practical way to distinguish an experiment from a one-off gimmick: the idea shapes what follows, not just the first impression.
Five questions for describing an unusual game
What action or rule is unfamiliar?
Name what the player actually does, or what rule changes the usual pattern. Then ask whether the game develops that idea across its content and progression. Swink’s approach emphasizes taking a promising mechanic seriously enough to explore its consequences, rather than relying on surface novelty.
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What is the player trying to learn or achieve?
Not every game organizes play around defeating an opponent or chasing a score. Some invite players to interpret clues, make inferences, and seek further information. The IEEE paper “Procedural Generation and Information Games” describes information games in those terms: players build knowledge and use it to pursue more information. An unfamiliar goal can make a game feel different even when its basic actions are recognizable.
How does presentation change the experience?
Art, sound, interface, and physical control can all affect how a player understands or feels a game. Nintendo’s Pikmin developer interview discusses artistic inspiration from unusual films, including Fantastic Planet, as well as experiments with visual expression during development. That example shows how an unconventional sensibility can grow from creative references and visual experimentation, not only from a new gameplay rule.
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Do the different choices reinforce one another?
Look at how the rules, progression, content, and presentation fit together. A bold mechanic can feel incidental if the rest of the game does not build on it; a modest change can feel distinctive when the surrounding decisions give it purpose. Swink discusses studying games such as Braid, Portal, and World of Goo to understand their small design decisions and progression—not simply to copy how they look.
What familiar convenience does the game give up?
Unfamiliar goals or rules may ask players to tolerate uncertainty or rethink habits. That can make room for discovery, but it does not automatically make the experience better. Describe the specific trade-off and what the design enables in return; do not treat strangeness itself as a virtue.
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Examples show a range, not a single formula
GDC’s Experimental Gameplay session describes games that “defy conventions and traditions in search of new genres and ideas” and names Katamari Damacy, flOw, Braid, Portal, and Storyteller. The list establishes that experimental work can take varied forms; it is not evidence that all five share one unusual mechanic.
For analysis, focus on what a particular game asks players to do, understand, or experience, and how its progression supports that choice. That is more useful than assigning a vague “weirdness” score or assuming a game is experimental because its presentation looks unconventional.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Procedural generation is a tool, not a definition
Procedural content generation (PCG) means creating some game content algorithmically. Developers can use it to produce content at scale, handle repetitive content work, or introduce unpredictability. None of those uses makes a game experimental by itself, and variation does not guarantee replayability.
The IEEE paper notes that some procedurally generated games are not replayable, while static games can invite repeated play. PCG’s effect depends on how it is applied to the game’s systems, content, and development workflow.
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Spelunky: unpredictability with a design purpose
The paper uses Spelunky as an example of procedural content serving a specific aim. Designer Derek Yu’s stated intent, as reported in the paper, was to reduce reliance on rote learning in platform games by making levels unpredictable. The useful question is not simply whether a game generates content, but what that unpredictability changes for the player.
How to compare two unusual games
Rather than ranking games on a subjective weirdness scale, compare the decisions and their effects:
- What departs from convention? Identify the mechanic, goal, presentation, or combination at issue.
- How legible is the idea? Explain what the player is invited to do or understand. There is no universal measure of how easy an experimental idea should be to learn.
- How integrated is it? Consider whether progression, content, and presentation reinforce the central idea.
- What changes for the player? Describe the effect on discovery, repetition, knowledge, or interaction. Do not assume that generated variation creates replayability.
- What is the trade-off? Name any specific demand the design makes of the player and the experience that demand may enable.
These are analytical questions, not a standardized taxonomy. “Unusual” depends on context, so a clear account of the design choice and its player-facing effect is more precise than an objective-sounding label.
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