There’s a quote “don’t let daylight upon magic.”
It was first a reference to the popular allure of the British monarchy. There is a magic to the royals. People love to fantasize about them, and maybe a part of all of us wants to be a royal.
The quote was used as a warning. The monarchy should avoid revealing too much of itself. The more people learn about the royal family, the less they like them.
Of course, the phrase isn’t just about the British monarchy. It applies to everything we think is special but doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.
Sometimes, we let daylight upon magic, and then the magic is ruined.
But not all the time. Sometimes you let daylight upon magic, and it gets even more magical.
I was watching an interview with one of the game designers for It Takes Two, the 2nd best game I’ve ever played¹.
Oliver, the designer, was walking through how they designed the Tree level for the game. Everything that felt so smooth and perfect was not even close to any of that in the beginning.
From the way they designed the weapons (a gun that shoots honey and another that shoots explosives), to the physics and mechanics (using the honey to weigh things down and make them flammable), to the various boats and planes. They were all a result of many many rounds of trial and error, playtesting, and a bunch of creative people working together.
Games are so difficult to make, the best ones take many years. There’s the art and story, it needs to look good and the vibes need to feel right.
Then, there’s balancing the mechanics and difficulty. A challenging game is good — it means when you finally beat a level, it feels satisfying. But it also shouldn’t be frustrating. There’s a delicate balance to it.
And when you finally get around to making the game, the more ambitious your ideas, the harder it is to make. The way the light dances beautifully or the way the characters animate, whatever the case, you might even need a custom game engine. Whatever you want to do, you need to make it technically possible too.
Learning all of this didn’t ruin the magic for me. In fact, it made the game more magical. My favorite level wasn’t an accident, it was sheer hard work and I appreciate it even more.
So, more daylight upon magic please. The magic I like gets even better when I get to see inside.
¹The best game I’ve ever played was Split Fiction, another co-op game from the same studio.
I’m planning to play It Takes Two or Split Fiction again! Let me know if you’re interested.