[Let's Scrutinize Games] Idol hunts

[Malkon05]

So when I made the transition to go from mafiascum player to facebook ORGs I was overwhelmed with the fact that everyone else seemed to know how to idol hunt and use coding in ways mafiascum people don't. So while not exactly the same, I very much feel like this is a fantastic topic to discuss. I know the feeling of going into a game feeling like I'm literally stupid to the point where I don't understand something basic that everyone else seems to just inherently understand.

When I designed Flash Mob with Haschel, we recognized we wanted a very basic game that allowed for people of any level to be able to comprehend and work together. As a result, we created the probably only interesting thing about that game which was the Protection Racket (or better called the Hot Potato Idol) it was very clear in the rules how to obtain the idol in a very public way and what would happen to the idol if someone was outperformed.

However, once again even that idol had its limits. Anyone who was inherently good at flash games would have a leg up on that type of challenge, however that's why we made it super fucking obvious when we advertised the game that it was going to be a game entirely about flash games, play at your own risk. There are ways to make idols findable without making it an impossible way to obtain, so it's just a matter of how mods design.

If there are more advanced or complex games, it might be a good idea to explain in descriptions of those that it will be more likely that hidden immunity idols will likely not have obvious clues and paying attention to things and being detail oriented would help.

It might also be nice to show some examples of idols that have been hidden in the past and how they were found.

[Malkon05]

If we are talking about the PD Idol that was hidden behind the person who could get the best score in Donkey Kong. I didn't really like that idea either, as it clearly put a target on the back of the person who was the best at flash games.

That's a bad example because the entire game was designed to put a target on the back of people good at Flash games and it was advertised that way from the get-go.

Anyway, there are two different concepts here that are related but are ultimately not the same. First of all there's the mechanic of *hiding* the idol. Then separate from that is the mechanic of *grabbing* the idol. There's a lot of room to play with in both of those.

This is supposed to be Flash Mob, right? Not PD?

Yes.

And I didn't mean to say it was the most inventive or best way to hide an idol, but at least it was attainable and gettable for people who don't know what the heck an idol even is pre-game.