AcidSolitaire Collection Design Influences

The Nintendo Game & Watch

Beginning in 1980, Nintendo released a series of handheld games that were simple to play, yet very well designed with unexpected power hidden inside. The games used a new (at the time) technology developed for pocket calculators and applied it to something much more useful, games.

The simplicity of the Nintendo Game & Watch conceals the complexity of its electronic core, and only the essential and pleasing elements of this complexity are exposed to the user. The control scheme of the game is obvious as soon as you pick it up. The design of the casing is pleasing to the eye and to the hands. The graphics on screen are clever and entertaining. It is ready to go when you want to play, and can be slipped out of the way quickly when you are finished playing.

The gold Helmet Nintendo Game & Watch shown here is displayed at the Red Mercury Headquarters in a shadow box behind glass. It reminds us what we are striving to create - easy to use packages of fun that are pleasing to look at and can entertain for years.

Peter Saville

The album covers that Peter Seville designs are beautiful and simple to behold, with embedded complexity that adds pleasure without nagging the observer for attention. The attention is granted willingly by the observer to the design. This approach mirrors the musical styles of many of the bands Seville has created artwork for, and it mirrors our hopes for the impression left by the AcidSolitaire Collection.

Some of Saville's most enduring works fit the "acid" mold (at least, our definition of the word) - the works take something that exists and, through hard work, painstaking attention to detail, and aesthetic innovation, turn that thing into something new and intrinsically appealing. Whether it is a floppy disk, a leaf from a tree, or pulses from a dying star, Saville can take an existing idea and transform it into a graphic that is a pleasure to behold.

Saville's influence on the AcidSolitaire Collection can be seen in the icons representing the games, and in the "stone" backgrounds built in to each game (though we lack the audacity to claim that our designs have approached the mastery of Saville's work).

Carl Fabergé

The Chanticleer Egg, like all of the eggs designed by Carl Fabergé in the late 19th and early 20th century, contains a hidden secret. An enameled Chanticleer (rooster) emerges from the top of the egg on the hour. The intricate and beautiful automaton clockwork is hidden, but its surprising and entertaining functionality is exposed.

The concept we have taken from these eggs is the idea of a product that contains many hidden surprises, some of which may require vast amounts of interior mechanisms to provide a simple joyful experience. The outer shell is beautiful and enjoyable to look at, but underneath the shell is a hidden storehouse of functionality that is exposed only in ways that the user finds pleasing and entertaining.

Bauhaus

Part of the Bauhaus manifesto is that "there is no essential difference between the artist and the craftsman. The artist is an exalted craftsman." Proficiency in his craft is essential to every artist. Therein lies the source of creative imagination." We believe this is absolutely true when it comes to creating software.

Though founded as a school of architecture, the Bauhaus influenced art and design worldwide, and its influence can still be seen today. During one phase of its existence, the emphasis was focused on research of users' needs first, with the design following from those needs. This was in 1928, long before the idea of "user friendly" was discovered by software designers.

Bauhaus design emphasizes the importance of designing for widespread use. A product cannot assume anything about the user. The design must present its functionality in an obvious way. Unneeded decoration should be stripped away, leaving clean lines of function. The AcidSolitaire Collection doesn't completely stick to this, as we enjoy little embellishments like colorful and pleasing background images. However, we feel that these are a necessary part of the design and a part of the experience of the game. Superfluous special effects and other distractions that do not communicate useful information to the player are intentionally omitted.

The Results

This disparate group of design influences provided some of the most important ideas present in the AcidSolitaire Collection. The appearance, user interface, and overall feel of the game is not an accident, it is a direct result of looking to designers and artists that we respect and find intriguing. The most powerful design decisions are often the most subtle, and can easily be overlooked at first glance. Our attention to these subtleties in the AcidSolitaire Collection is inspired greatly by those mentioned above.

If you'd like to try out the AcidSolitaire Collection for Windows, you can download AcidSolitaire (solitaire for Windows), AcidFreecell (freecell for Windows), and AcidSpider (spider for Windows). All of the games in the AcidSolitaire Collection are free to try. If you have feedback for us on this topic or on our games, please email us at support@red-mercury.com.