“You should definitely check out the first game. But ignore all the ones after that. They’re all crap.”
“I enjoyed the first movie, but by the time they got to the second and third film, it was just more of the same, and I had already seen the same. Boring.”
“The first one had such soul, but the second was just an attempt at a cheap way to make more money.”
How often have you heard phrases like this? Welcome to the hazardous world of sequels.
Super Mario Galaxy 2, the latest massive title in the world’s most successful video game franchise, is currently on track to match the seemingly impossibly-high quality bar set by its predecessor. Reviewers are floored by the first ever 3D sequel to a Mario game on the same platform, calling it a “dazzling high water mark in Mario’s career”.
While making a game like Super Mario Galaxy is an incredible feat in itself, following a successful title up with a sequel or spin-off is often a far greater challenger for a game developer. Sequels are seldom seen from members of the student or independent game development community for several reasons. First and most distressing, many student game projects never get completed in the first place, much less built into a sequel or follow up title. There is less of a profit incentive for young game developers to create a sequel; it’s seemingly much more interesting to come up with an entirely new idea. Out with the old, in with the new.
Second, many independent developers have a bitter view of sequels. While original new titles are often viewed as artistic visionary products, sequels can be seen as money-grubbing attempts for a corporate machine to pump more dollars out of what used to be a piece of art, turning it into a soulless hunk of code. The marketplace is flooded with poorly executed sequels that not only fail to please their original fans, they tarnish the name of the original product that was once praised. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
You have many choices in your everyday life. Wake up and jump out of bed, or hit the snooze button? Eat chicken, beef, or veggies? Do some work, or go out with friends? These choices, these actions that you can take are the different colors you use to paint the landscape of your day, your week, and your life. It is through these choices that you experience and express yourself in the world.
If life were a game, these actions that you can take are examples of the Base Mechanics of life. They are actions that you can perform, that you have the ability to perform, and that you may choose or choose not to perform. They are the inputs into the system from yourself. You can freely choose from all the possible abilities you have and perform them to your liking.
…Or can you? Well, there’s more to it than that. Your actions and free will are not as free as one would think. Yes, you have choices you can make, but there are consequences, there are requirements, and there are strings attached. You may have the ability to go into the middle of a library and shout at the top of your lungs. You may have the ability to insult your best friend or to rob a convenience store. You may have the ability to sit in your apartment and be depressed instead of going out and enjoying the weekend with friends.
You could do these things, but you probably won’t. Even though you have the ability and the means, there is something else that is guiding your decisions. There is more to this so called “choice” business than you might imagine. It is as though some invisible force outside of yourself is governing your actions.
Enter the third component of the Game Design Canvas: The Punishment and Reward Systems.
Free Will? Or Not So Free?
As we discussed in our last introductory article to the game design canvas on Base Mechanics, every game has actions that it lets the player perform. The player can run, shoot, paint, throw, eat, duck, swap polarity, teleport, or what have you. But these actions are not isolated; they have higher systems that govern them. These Punishment and Reward Systems nudge the player towards certain behavior. They give meaning and weight to the Base Mechanics, forcing the player to think about their choices. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Super Mario Bros. is the best selling video game franchise of all time, with over 222 million units sold across all genres and platforms. 222 million! Incredible! But you wouldn’t expect less from one of the most beloved heroes of all time, a hero who at one time helped to single-handedly save a struggling video game industry.
Behind those baggy overalls and red cap lie an incredible game design experience, one that has withstood the test of time and established a high bar for the level of fun and enjoyment required for a commercial video game. What can modern day developers learn by analyzing the Game Design Canvas of the original Super Mario Bros.? A lot, as it turns out. The principles that made Super Mario Bros. a hit back then still apply today.
In “Game Over”, an excellent account of the history of Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario, referred to his experiences as a child. He discussed the feeling of seeing something, such as a manhole on the wall, and wondering, “Why is there a manhole on the wall? Where does it lead?” When he made Super Mario Bros., he sought to recreate that same experience for his players. As it turns out, this is a child-like experience that millions around the world were longing to relive as well, and was one of the most massive contributing factors to its wild success.
Breaking it Down
Let’s try to figure out what the Core Experience of Super Mario Bros. is. Defeating enemies? No, you can run through almost every level without attacking the enemies at all. Saving the princess? No, the relationship between our intrepid plumber and the princess is almost entirely left up to the player’s imagination; that aspect of the game seems tacked on. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »