Happy Accidents

Why systems surprise their creators.

- Xalavier Nelson Jr.

What is a bug? Asking that question can send you on an unusual journey, especially when you consider games like Caves of Qud, where a ‘flaw’ could easily be an incredible source of tactical complexity. “It’s possible to acquire a mental mutation that lets you dominate the minds of other creatures,” says Caves of Qud cocreator Jason Grinblat. “What this means is: for a limited duration, you walk around the map as the dominated creature – with access to their skills and powers – while your body remains dormant. If the dominated creature itself has the same mental mutation, or if you manage to acquire it while possessing the creature’s body (by, say, gaining a level as the dominated creature and spending your mutation points to buy Domination), you can then dominate your own dormant body. But the game only tracks the domination stack one level deep. So when the duration of this second domination expires, you end up back in the body of the creature you originally dominated. Permanently. Players have used this quirk/ exploit/existential ego-death to play out the rest of their characters’ lives as goats, plants, robots and even sentient doors.”