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Crash Bandicoot — and the power of a style guide
Today, I woke up and it was raining. Not just sprinkling, but the sort of rain that incapacitates your plan for the day. So my plans had to change. But before I could really commit to the pivot, I decided to play a little Crash Bandicoot.
For those of you who don’t know (I’m so sorry…), Crash Bandicoot is a magical video game that was originally released on the original PlayStation and within the last few years was remastered for PS4. The remastered version includes three of the original games, including one of the very first Crash games ever made.
I decided to take a stab at the first game and was quickly reminded that it was inhumanely difficult. I flailed about for a while collecting game overs (and even got some PlayStation trophies for my troubles).
Finally, I gave in and switched to the second game, which is significantly easier.
What struck me was the style guide of Crash Bandicoot. As someone relatively new to UX, I have considered the style guide and UI kit to be a relatively static element. A collection of buttons, color choices, typography, hover states, etc.
But in order to create a universe (which is often the goal of a video game franchise), the style guide has to include so much more than that.
