Genre as Constraint Satisfaction

12. Genre-as-Constraint-Satisfaction

Many genres were literally invented by asking "what's the most interesting game we can make with this specific hardware limitation?"

• Text adventures: no graphics hardware needed → constraint became the whole genre.
• Shoot-'em-ups: sprite-scaling limitations pushed games toward vertical/horizontal scrolling with simple hit detection.
• Point-and-click adventures: mouse + limited animation frames → design around static scenes and item logic instead of movement.

Rule of thumb: When brainstorming, explicitly list your real constraints (budget, team size, tech, time) and ask "what genre or mechanic is native to this constraint?" instead of picking a genre first and fighting the constraint the whole project.