In conclusion

It's difficult to state anything conclusive about the idea of minimal design, and considering the feedback from developers who have taken a variety of approaches on the matter, it would be naïve to suggest that any particular philosophy or paradigm is unambiguously "the one to go with".

Advocates of minimisation have a good point to go with, but it seems to be a rather romantic trap to stumble into: the idea sounds solid on the surface, but there's a lot of other factors to consider when going down this route and what seems to be a good design habit may in fact harm your project if taken too far.

It seems best, therefore, that each aspect of a game should be considered intelligently and with due respect for both points of view — a capacity to "kill your darlings" and cut features when necessary without pushing your philosophy too far and stripping your game of something that makes it special. Sometimes players enjoy the challenge that complexity offers, and if said complexity could be married with the correct amount of minimisation it is likely that we'd all be producing superior games.

Draw your own opinion from what you've read here, and remain mindful of the importance of balance. As developer Paul Eres puts it: "I distrust the idea of 'paradigms' [in game design] — I think they're unnecessarily gross simplifications of what's really going on. Like simple rules for people to use to believe they think they know how something works, when all they know is some simplification."

More things to look at

The TIGSource community has an excellent set of responses to Saint Exupéry's quote and provide some wonderful insights regarding the matter. The thread includes a lot of information that wasn't sourced for the final piece, and comes strongly recommended as additional reading on the subject.

If you're looking for an interesting advocate of minimalism, have a look at Gabriel Lievano's two-part design series over here and here.

There is also a well-circulated design article by Anna Anthropy dealing with the level design in Super Mario Bros. Her blog contains many other entries which make for a good read about minimalism and other important points for interested developers.

There's also an interesting post on minimalism as more than an aesthetic over at omgphatloots. It mainly discusses design in general, but links this concept elegantly to game creation.

There's a similar blog post over here, applying the concept to MMO design.