“As a developer, our focus is on creating a universe first, experiences second, and game mechanics last, “
what terrible design philosophy. Games live and die by how fun their mechanics are. I'm not gonna go back to a game because the universe is intriguing, I'm gonna go back because the gameplay was fun, nothing else.
I went back to Heavy Rain because it was an emotionally moving experience. Same for Mass Effect 1/3, Uncharted 1/2/3, God of War, Alan Wake, etc. In my opinion, the ideal game philosophy is:
1) Experience (includes Visual, Aural, and Interactive Aesthetics)
2) Universe/World/Franchise
Notice, I didn't include game mechanics, because I believe the game should play the way it was intended to feel. Heavy Rain for instance doesn't need to be fun. It needs to have gameplay which helps me relate to the main characters, which it does (in a somewhat flawed way). For Uncharted, it's the exhilaration you get when you come knocking on death's door whether that be through navigation or combat (sometimes both).
With any new game, I think developers need to think long and hard on how they want their players to feel and what messages they want to convey. This is the most important aspect in my opinion. This often translates to mood and atmosphere which is usually delivered through the look and feel of a game (a prime example being Dead Space: horror, terror, paranoia).
Depending on the type of game you make, it's either going to have an explicit or implicit narrative. For instance flower and Journey are more of the implicit nature, while games like Persona, Alan Wake, and Mass Effect rely on their story and characters (hence explicit).
If your game is of the explicit nature, the story and message should be presented through the characters. Players tend to become attached to the characters they meet/play as. This attachment creates an opportunity to emotionally affect the player. This in turn presents an opportunity to sell an idea. This is how you get people to see things from a different perspective. World settings can help accomplish this providing additional focus, relatively speaking from the character's standpoint. A quick note on the Universe/World Setting step above, this can apply to sequels. Meaning, the last thing you want to focus on is expanding your story through sequels. Create a stand-alone experience first and foremost that has a clear message to convey.
If your game is of the implicit variety, this becomes much harder (depending on your talents) as you don't have any particular characters to work with. The experience/ideas your trying to sell need to rely on the gameplay, atmosphere, and other aesthetics. Concentration is generally placed on art design and/or mechanics.
I think as much as developers want to distance themselves from film, music, and literature they could learn a lot from them on these very basic principles as I believe they are universal.