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All games have mechanics which are developed throughout the production of the piece. Often these mechanics permeate the entirety of the game and are the main attention of the game. But when the developers want to add something extra the feel of the final product can be thrown off completely. Games with these unnatural mechanics are often called gimmicky. In this article we will discuss what makes a good mechanic and what makes a gimmick.
But first, what is a gimmicky mechanic? The definition of a gimmick is a trick or device intended to attract attention, publicity, or trade. In the context of a game that means creating a feature that is simply there to appear interesting, but doesn't inherently have any depth.
Example of an underdeveloped game mechanic:
In Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, you eventually take to the stars in a small star fighter. Visually (as can be seen from the image above) the presentation is amazing, with excellent pyrokinetics and sound design. However playing in the fighter for more then 10 minutes demonstrates how lacking the levels are. Environmentally there is little for you to do and the enemy variety of opponents is lacking. The game does little to develop the space theme and the fighter sections are short almost impossible to lose sections. The weapons for the ships were also limited, with only two that were both equipped to every ship you jumped in (a machine gun and a missile system). The development time for this game was short though, only about a year and studio interference may have meant that levels and concepts had to be scrapped.
Example of well designed mechanics:
God Of War's Leviathan Axe is a hand axe that has the mechanic of being throwable. Disposing of your weapon by lodging it in a far away enemy's frontal lobe might seem like it could get old fast, but the way that the attack is layered with other mechanics makes it incredibly entertaining for the extent of the game. There are a large amount of reasons to throw your axe. Disposing of it gives you an alternate weapon (your fists) which can stun enemies, and when it strikes an enemy it freezes them in place. The axe can also be used to solve puzzles (by smacking buttons from a distance) and travers through the world (breaking ropes to lower bridges). The variety that can be achieved with the weapon and the way it can interact with the world makes it feel like it belongs and that it wasn't just shoehorned into the game at the last minute.
So what do these examples teach us? Well they tell us to embed the mechanics in layers, make sure that we have depth in what we're doing. If you can understand every facet that is in the mechanic and know how it will be used from start to finish after using it for 5 minutes, then it might feel a bit gimmicky. Make sure to have your mechanic work outside of one place. If COD Infinite Warfare had used the fighter scenes as a set piece for a race, or simply a beautiful monologue and not simply as a place for dogfights, then the diversity might have made it feel more realistic. Add some choice to your mechanics. If the players don't want to use it, give them as much choice as possible. If the players don't want to hop into a star fighter then give them a slow capital ship (although for story purposes it's understandable as to why you might need to force them to use a small ship). Just remember to spend time with what you work on, test it over and over again, at what point does it get boring?