How can you create emergent gameplay that is both surprising and satisfying for players?

+ Simple systems should still afford significant depth. The tighter a rule set, the fewer the valid combinations. And too much flexibility can lead to undesirable variance or balance issues. + Emergent gameplay arises when there are multiple paths to goals, not just one or two 'cookie cutter' solutions. + Partially sandboxed approaches like defining physics rules and letting the user play around with them (see Goat Simulator) can create surprising outcomes. + Using multiple combinations from few elements like a crafting system can create vast and diverse loot + Procedural generation and randomness add a lot of variety to game worlds. + Defining behaviours instead of prescripted events makes for interesting AI. + Encourage experimentation!

A good system design perspective to maximize opportunities is striking a good balance between complexity and depth. When mechanics interact with each other in interesting ways, instead of each offering self-contained interactions, it is much easier do design gamespaces that allow players to approach things differently - as opposed to a clear "optimal" strategy. An excellent example of this is how levels are designed in Hitman games, especially the most recent trilogy.

As a player I love emergent gameplay, as a designer I must give praise to games that have done these experiences well as they are hard to make. I loved the world building in fallout 4 but an example of emergent gameplay that I felt didn't work as well would be a certain settlement that required your help. The issue I found was the lack of meaningful reward, a repetition and no ending to it. An example recently I enjoyed was the butcher in Diablo 4. It's certainly not perfect but something that mixes up the game and keeps you on your toes is definitely a welcome distraction. Takeaways for me is I feel the element of surprise in gameplay, a challenge to it and an appropriate reward is key. Just try not to make it feel formulaic or unfair!

Another creative way of introducing pseudo-randomness is adding a layer of User-Generated Content in your levels. Dark Souls famously allowed players to leave asynchronous messages using preset expressions to other players, allowing all sorts of chaotic outcomes depending on both intention and interpretation. Gartic.io is also a great example of how much fun can be derived from chaotic interactions that depend on cognition and expression rather than typical coordination/reflex-based gameplay.

It is very important to balance how many options are made available to players at a given moment in creative games. Gradually introducing new options can be an effective way of not only pacing the game and offering a sense of progression, but also not overwhelming new players with possibilities they can't quite understand yet. Minecraft allows this in its Survival mode, where players need to explore and craft their way to each biome and its unique resources.

Sea of Thieves is also a great example of how players can be rewarded for exploration. Anything, even new quests can be found by free exploration, granting true uniqueness to each play session.

To truly learn from other games, a proper analysis is required. Instead of simply copying mechanics or features, try to understand how they affect the player's experience as a whole, what motivates players to engage with them, and how do they affect the game economy (in the broader sense). The MDA Framework is an excellent way of doing this, allowing designers to go beyond Mechanics and into the overarching Dynamics and Aesthetics. A mechanic, feature or system that works great for other games, might simply not work for your game even if perfectly replicated.