The accidental, inimitable success of Monument Valley

gamesindustry.biz:

This April marks the tenth anniversary of Ustwo Games' breakout hit, Monument Valley.

The qualities that make Monument Valley a great game are multifaceted, every aspect of it potentially worth dissecting, from its art direction to its narrative design to its minimalism. But there's something particularly special to be said about its main mechanic, and the pure joy of experiencing its optical illusion puzzles for the first time, seeing reality shift before your eyes.

"I spent ten years trying to find something that is like Monument Valley again, and it's not through lack of trying," laughs Ustwo's chief creative officer Danny Gray, talking about the game's main mechanic.

"[It's] not just a story about Monument Valley, it's a story about [Ustwo] – because the entire company got built around what worked"

Gray joined the developer in 2013 and was part of Monument Valley's original team. We meet on the game's exact anniversary on April 3, at the developer's newly refurbished London office.

Ustwo operates with a hybrid model, and a lot of its staff don't come to the office every day. But on that day the space is buzzing, and we catch developers wishing each other a 'happy anniversary' with a smile ahead of further celebrations that afternoon.

"[It's] not just a story about Monument Valley, it's a story about the company – because the entire company got built around what worked," Gray says.

What worked in this case was a mechanically interesting game with a very unique hook.

"It's always been difficult and it'll forever be difficult [to create mechanically unique games]," Gray notes. "I had this conversation about Viewfinder recently. When you're ideating, that is like hitting a vein of gold that just keeps on giving. Sometimes you get to a mechanic where you're like: the entire game is this. This is perfect. Not every game is going to do that. And that doesn't mean that those games are worse. Sometimes games are a combination of all their mechanics.

"You can play something like