Ask HN: Would limiting game size to 5–10 MB spur the creation of novel games?

5 points·amichail··5 comments

For example, you could create an app store category with that limit to encourage and showcase games featuring novel game mechanics.

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A size constraint forces creative solutions to problems where the existing solutions are large. But that has nothing to do with conceiving of a novel mechanic. On the contrary, most creative processes start from a base of knowledge and skills, and build from there, often contrasting existing problems and solutions, brainstorming ideas until something novel arises. Size constraints would stifle that part of the creative process, not enhance it.

After you come up with an idea, evaluate it, and decide it is good to pursue, optimization makes sense. But no, don't put that at the beginning of the process.

A small binary size limit would force developers to focus and compete on game mechanics instead of graphics and/or sound.

JS games below 13kb: https://js13kgames.com/2024/games

Blog on github(2018): https://github.blog/open-source/gaming/create-a-13kb-javascr...

I've played many creative games created for PICO-8 (mostly on itch.io). The system specs are limited (not just the download size), and yet it has led to innovations around simple game mechanics. They're too niche for app stores though.

Yes, also go tracker/fm-based instead of bloating game size with PCM tracks.

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