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The Padding Checklist

The catalogue of fear-driven padding from Afraid the Game Is Too Short, as a checklist to run over your own design. Almost none of these techniques are destructive by their very nature. What makes something padding is the reason it was added. So for every item you find, ask two questions:

Would this be here if I weren't afraid the game is too short, too shallow or not worth its price?
Does it serve the purpose?

If the first answer is "no" and the second is "no", it's padding. Players will feel it, even when they can't name it.

The checklist#

Method	Look for	Not padding when
Filler content	collectables, challenges, side stories or systems that exist to give the player "something to do"	the content serves the purpose of the game
Artificial difficulty	scarce saves, punishing precision, luck over skill, trial and error, hidden information, lying to the player	the difficulty is what the game is for, and the game is upfront about it
Arbitrary unlocks	modes, characters, items or story held back until the player has put in enough time	never as a time-stretcher; access can follow believable in-world logic instead
Blatant recycling	the same item, area or dungeon under a new name, color or set of numbers	parts are reused cleverly to make more content cheaply (Content That Multiplies)
Tacked-on features	side activities, hunger meters, minigames, extra modes or companion apps nobody planned	the feature was part of the design because the purpose called for it
Time gating	real-life waiting, play-time limits, time-of-day content, event exclusives, rotating shops, streaks	never; the player decides when and how long to play
Content splitting	near-identical parallel versions, cut content sold back as expansions	an expansion is new work, fairly paid for
Hidden delays	long animations, fake loading, slow menus, unskippable scenes, crawling text, hold-to-confirm, a 0.9 timescale	never as a time-stretcher; every pause must have a reason the player would agree with
Rewards for staying	achievements, idle rewards, daily bundles, bonus overload, celebration effects, praise	never; feedback and gratitude aren't rewards (Feedback is not a reward)
Punishments for leaving	disapproval of short sessions, missed bundles, labels, threats to erase all progress, unbanked progress lost if you stop now	never; a punishing experience is only honest when the player chose it knowing what it is
Forced RNG failure	misses beyond the shown odds, crafting that destroys materials, tiny drop rates, random downgrades	randomness creates variety and the player's choices still decide the outcome
Playthrough splitting	classes, "choices" or endings that exist to force a full replay for a few new scenes	the choice changes the experience, not just which gate opens
Dailies and offline progress	expiring quests, capped resources that wait for collection, "something is ready" notifications	never; the game waits for the player, not the other way round
Drip-feeding	slow walking, empty roads, huge maps with little in them, one coin per pot	the distance is the experience, and it's full
Removed conveniences	no fast travel, no quick-save, a tiny inventory, no bulk actions, and especially any of those sold back	the purpose is about travel, survival or planning
Difficulty as padding	"beat it on hard for the real ending", items that only exist on higher settings, settings that only add enemy health	limits for new players and a "pro mode: no limits" for experts (Chapter 25)

If you found some#

The worry behind the padding is real. Padding is the wrong answer to it: it adds time without meeting any needs, and drains respect, freedom, rest and trust along the way. The real answers are structural (What happened, and why):

Short because it's a handmade gift? Make it excellent, price it honestly and say what it is. An honest short game is respected.
Short because the content runs out? Make the content multiply instead of add (Content That Multiplies).
Short because the structure ends? Give it a structure that doesn't have to end (Infinite Metagames).
Years of work for minutes of play? Build the forces, not the desert (Build the Forces, Not the Desert).