Site design ethos

ChickenPet (beta) is built upon on a design vision that governs most of my design decisions. It's based on a number of principles and a clear sense of the emotions and affect I want the game to elicit for the average player. This ethos influences everything from game mechanics to the aesthetics and look/feel.

If you are making site suggestions, it's worth checking this page, as anything that lines up with my site ethos is more likely to be implemented.

• ☁️ Lightweight and high-quality, rather than overloaded and thin. I prefer to run a game with a smaller player base that feels good and runs smoothly for all players, rather than a massive one for which I don't have the resources to moderate and maintain a fully functional site.
• 🖼️ Minimalistic. Art, UI and features are all the simplest possible implementations that feel complete. I aim for range and diversity through permutations rather than sheer amount of content (e.g. image filters instead of 200 colour alleles). Any visual features will generally strive to be simple and easy on the eye. This also means I'd rather not create an excessive number of similar items or detailed lore that create a sense of content overload.
• 🧬 Based on real life. As far as possible I like this game to capture the vibes of real-world chickens (with some concessions for fun features, of course). A lot of my design choices form around putting an unusual spin on real-world chicken traits/quirks and chicken-raising IRL, with simplifications wherever it makes the game easier to play.
• 🤝 No competitive elements. I have decided that this game will have no leaderboards or player-versus-player elements, so you get to chose what gameplay metrics to pursue. Other than, well, more chickens. But hopefully getting more chickens is fun for reasons other than making numbers go up.
• 🫰 Free to play. I want all players to be able to access all features without spending real money on the game, simply by waiting or playing the free minigames. Those willing to pay can skip the waiting by buying eggs. If this has to be revised in the future (e.g. due to server costs) then I would like to discuss it with users well beforehand.
• 📅 No daily streaks. I find that games that incentivise logging in daily tend to prey on the fear of missing out. I don't want the experience of playing this game to be like that. Ideally, I want ChickenPet (beta) to be playable as often or as infrequently as one likes.
• 🥰 Lighthearted and friendly to general audiences. I'd like this game to be welcoming to people of all ages and that is part of the reason for the ToS rules about profanity and subjects. I also like to approaching site feature design and naming with a slightly lighthearted, non-serious tone.