One Button Game

We design OBGs first and foremost for the following purposes.

• Playing quick games with family and friends. Rounds are short, rules are simple, the game is very friendly with lives/restarts/mistakes.
• Playing games in a classroom, with many kids being able to share a single computer.
• Playing games with people with disabilities or little experience gaming. (For example, people who struggle to press two buttons at once on a controller.)
• Continuing that thought, most kids can’t hold a controller or switch between buttons until they’re ~6 years old. One Button Games allow playing with even the youngest kids too!
• If you want more cooperative video games. (Not all OBGs are cooperative, but many are, and that’s still a lot more cooperative video games than you’ll find elsewhere!)
• If you want more control over or customization within the game. Most OBGs have a large array of settings you can tweak, localized to many languages.
• You can’t guarantee you have time/energy. All OBGs allow players to join or leave at any time, even while playing.

Social experiences are amazing for the development and mental health of any human, and especially children. These games combine the ease and attraction of video games, with actually being together and playing together. That’s why we made OBGs a reality.

Due to the constraints mentioned, there are some things OBGs just will never do.

• The game can often be played on your own, but it’s by far the worst way to play. You need a group of people in the same room.
• They will never be “online” multiplayer. The whole idea is to be in the same room, in real life, together.
• They will not have a lot of content and depth that will keep you exploring the game for hours and hours.
• They lean more towards casual party games than games where you want to hone skill and strategy.
• Phones are only sometimes supported. And if so, only to a maximum player count of 4. More than 4 fingers on the same tiny screen is just too impractical!

You always get a ZIP file. When extracted,

• It contains folders for the different operating systems and general documentation for One Button Games.
• Pick your operating system, double-click the file inside.
• At the start screen, you can change a lot of settings to customize the experience.

I get a lot of remarks about “dumbing down” games. People almost feel offended that they only get a single button, as if OBGs treat everyone like a helpless baby! How dare you!

This is, of course, nonsense. I still wanted to address it. I’ve been making video games for over 15 years. By far the biggest point of frustration, of giving up, of ruining experiences, is that many people struggle with the controls or the complex rules. When you’re a gamer, sure, it can be easy to forget that your father has never played a game in his life and is just not able to hold two buttons at once.

At the same time, the biggest point of exhilarating fun is when people get to play. They get to play how they want. They feel awesome for sinking an amazing shot—and nobody cares if they only had one button and just pressed it at the right time. Games should be fun. Social experiences work best when everyone actually feels included, and over time I realized that saying “one player = one button” was the best way to get there.

One Button Games are a special invention to me. They’re the result of many years of testing games and failing, and I’m happy we now have a framework and solid plan for making these.