Crazy Taxi

Crazy Taxi's loop maps cleanly onto goal, obstacle, fail state and actions. The goal is earning enough money from fares. The obstacles are a ticking timer and traffic, the fail state is running out of time, and the actions are fast, reckless driving.

It is used as a worked example of turning a mechanic or story into a game idea. The same framing is applied to one level or scene: define the win state, what pushes the player away from it, the fail state those obstacles push toward, and what the player does to overcome them. Quote: "But note - a story isn't a game idea."

A vague arrow and a par time made players learn the city. Crazy Taxi pointed loosely toward the destination and set a par time, so beating it took both driving skill and knowledge of the city layout.

The same structure is proposed as a package delivery mission in Mirror's Edge Catalyst, testing navigation and momentum together. It only works in a readable city, otherwise players just follow the red line or fall to their death. Quote: "you needed both good driving skills and some knowledge of how the city was laid out."

Crazy Taxi packs a whole game loop into a few minutes. It is held up as a complete loop that plays out in minutes, with tips for stunts and reckless driving.

The Steam version lacks the original product placement and soundtrack.