7 More Hidden Video Game Design Secrets That Are Total Genius

2. Lessened Rocket Splash Damage - Quake III

Storming around Quake 3 with a Rocket launcher is pretty much the perfect example of why this game was great. Smashing players to pieces and sprinting away into more chaos was an utter joy, but the rocket launcher also played another huge role in the title as Rocket jumping was used by many to take advantage of maps and rain down fire from above.

Yet this was only really possible thanks to the devs acknowledging that maybe, just maybe the rocket launcher would only be fun if they reduced the splash damage to the user by quite a bit.

This tweak to the damage output meant that players could fling themselves into the stratosphere as well as avoid a nasty death at their own hands. It’s a simply trick, but one that shaped the entire flow of the game.