Pretending on Purpose
Simon Carless at GameDiscoverCo discussing the breakout success of Meccha Chameleon:
The actual inspiration for Meccha Chameleon was clearly a combination of things. And it's been pointed out that Japanese variety TV shows are a partial antecendent, with stunts like celebrities hiding (& painting themselves!) in big environments:But in explaining the game to a friend, I hit an epiphany: "It's 'Prop Hunt', but paint to conceal yourself.. I gather the in-game paint program is fun, too, so you get to do art AND hide badly from your friends. It's silly cos people can see your hiding character model by moving around in 3D space. Everyone disguises themselves super badly… but that's the point!"
So yes, the game doesn't have strong, rigid game design, but it works because of the situations it creates when people play it. If you look at the linked 'Best Of' video above, it's clear Meccha Chameleon creates memorable situations. Above all, it's a framework for players being funny, silly, and creative… and basically playacting*, which is such catnip for streamers. (It's #3 on Twitch in the last week with 10.4m hours.)
(*That's part of the charm here. Funnily enough, when my son was younger, he would insist on playing 'hide & seek' in a similar way. Me knowing where he was hiding - but pretending I didn't - was a lot more fun for him than the actual act of finding him. )
Wonderful.
A familiar but fresh trigger for experience that lets everyone be in on the joke together.
It is not trying to make hiding hard.
It is making pretending easy.