Gamer Grow

According to an interview between Satoru Iwata and the creators Mario Kart, Super Mario Kart, the first in the series, didn’t start off as a Mario game at all. Super Mario Kart started as an attempt to create a racing game where two players could play at the same time. The prototype for this game featured a man in overalls, and about 3 months after testing the game, the staff decided it looked neat if the character was Mario racing around. And the rest is history. Today, the Mario Kart franchise features six games, each one home to a different Nintendo platform. Though each game is different the core Mario Kart experience remains the largely same. For the purposes of this essay, I will illustrate the structural similarities between the platforming game Super Mario Bros. and the Mario Kart games specifically Super Mario Kart for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Both Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Kart are all about racing. Mario races to the end of each level against the...

Mario Kart Wii has inspired me to write a few essays on Mario Kart. I've been a fan ever since Super Mario Kart came out on the SNES. As you can see, I own all 6 Mario Kart games. Like so many Nintendo games, a lot of people think they know what they're all about. Bright colors. Simple rules. Deep gameplay. Lots of fun. While all of these things are good, even some of Nintendo's best keep franchises have taken a hit in the quality and game design department. It's time to get to the bottom of Mario Kart and see if it is or ever was worth caring about. Like I said, Mario Kart Wii has inspired me to write about the Mario Kart series, and why Mario Kart Wii may be the worst Mario Kart game of them all. How is that possible? What's so different about the games? It'll all be explained this week. First up will be an essay on the core structure of the Mario Kart series and how Super Mario Kart/Mario Kart: Super Circuit are structurally similar to Super Mario Bros. Stay ...

......Two is better. Over the past five years or so, I've noticed a certain design trend in games particularly sequels. Many developers looked at established franchises and decided to double a core element of the game the sequel. In these cases, the gameplay doesn't necessarily allow for two player co-op play. Strange as that may be, let's look at a small list of games that have gone the way of the double. Mario Kart Double Dash Resident Evil 0 Pikmin 2 Castlevania Portrait of Ruin Trauma Center: Second Opinion Advance Wars: Dual Strike Tekken Tag Tournament Dead or Alive Lunar Knights Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae Ouendan 2 (Japan only) Halo 2 (duel wielding) Though there are plenty more to put on this list, some developers have gone further. If two is better...... then four is more (better). Halo3 features a four player campaign mode, four player map editor, four player video watching, and up to four players on one console. Undoubtedly other FPSs will follo...

I started playing through Metroid Fusion for the GBA yesterday. Being a fan of Metroid games, I've developed what I call the "Metroid Eye." Essentially, this technique allows me to play through Metroid games effortlessly while seemingly stumbling across every secret as if powered by serendipity. After playing so many Metroid games, I've internalize the creator's style which includes how the level design unfolds, how the abilities and challenges progress through counterpoint, boss types and attack patterns, and where they choose to hide powerups. The Metroid series is notorious for hiding powerups. Some powerups are easily obtainable usually consisting of the abilities that are essential for progressing through the game. The developers make sure that these powerups are as easy to get as possible. Others, however, can be hidden behind rocks or other structures that must be blasted away to reveal their location. Others still can't be flushed out with randomly aim...

1up's Shane Bettenhausen gave Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword for the Nintendo DS a favorable score because of of the game's tight controls, sharp visuals, and distinguished unique feel unique to the handheld machine. This DS game received an 83.1% average score on gamerankings.com while its "older brother" console counterpart, Ninja Gaiden: Black/Sigma, received a 94.0% score. Comparing the two games was inevitable. Some have created expectations that are different and often times lower for handheld games These gamers believe that handheld games are inherently less deep and complex with shorter overall gameplay experiences, which are better suited for playing in small bursts. I don't believe any of these conditions are inherent to handheld games. The principles of game design can be applied to any game. The better we understand these principles, the more it becomes obvious that games are games no matter what system they're on. Itagaki and the developers at Tecmo/...

Many are exciting about the potential in the upcoming PS3 game Little Big Planet. Graphics, style, and coop aside, this game features a rich level editor and an innovative system of posting and sharing these levels with the world. The developers of LBP are essentially putting us (the players) to work for ourselves. While this is interesting in itself, being powered by the creative energies of the world comes with a unique issue. Like in Halo's forge, many will be daunted by the task at hand and opt out of making something of their own. After all, there's nothing quite like the discouraging feeling of wanting to creating something but having no ideas when all the necessary tools are laid out generously in front of you. There will be others who will attempt to create something, and the result often times ends ends up being something that looks and plays like garbage. Let's face it. Creativity is hard to come by. And in the case of games with editors, being able to pull off a ...

Testing is a big part of teaching. Between quizzes, tests, essays, midterms, finals, recitals, exhibitions, and tournaments, most students put their learning to the test in some form or fashion. It is important that tests are organized so that they cover a limited amount of material at one time. This is especially true for quizzes. In my Japanese class with Professor Schneider, we were given quizzes every day. First vocab, then grammar, then kanji. Then the cycle would repeat until the chapter test. Unfortunately, our grammar quizzes used to be unfocused. On the quize= Schneider would ask us to create a grammatically correct sentence, which would obviously test our understand of the different types of grammar we were required to know. However, on these quizzes, we were also required to use some of the latest vocabulary. I explained to my professor that if we were to have a grammar quiz, that it would be best to make sure the quiz tested grammar and only grammar. After all, it was hard...

I stumbled across a site featuring the work of a handful of innovators in Switzerland. They have a small list of playable projects, some of which can be downloaded to your DS (if your DS is equipped for homebrew games) Their site: www.and-or.ch. If you've kept a keen eye on the "games I'm playing" section of my blog, you would have noticed that I added Wardive to the queue. What's unique about Wardive, is that it uses the DS's wifi capabilities to scan the air around the player. Based on the number, and strength of the local wireless lan hotspots, different numbers, and strengths of enemies appear. The game itself is nothing more than pointing and clicking on the enemies using the DS touch screen, but the concept and the technology behind it is worth mentioning. Combining real world factors and digital world rules together is a new type of gameplay experience that I hope to create in future games. But I won't get into that now. We're knee deep in Guita...

I fixed a bug in the record function. Now the system will play back the right notes in the rhythm that was actually played instead of making up its own song. I added a tempo keeper or metronome. I'm trying to design the whole game to have a rhythm or a beat. This continuous beat would make a transition between otherwise disjointed sections of the game. It won't be as overt as a ticking metronome, but more internalized like a heartbeat. I created a music recognizer. This little tool recognizes if a certain progression of notes in a specific order are played. It works hand in hand with the metronome to keep the player playing the right notes on the right beats. Music, however, isn't always about fixed rhythms and note patterns. Even when playing the same thing repeatedly, there is an acceptable level of variation. The same notes can be played with a slight change in the rhythm, or the same rhythm can be played with changes to the notes. This dual layered quality of music reco...

No I'm not talking about Professor Layton. I'm talking about the thing that most people think is going on inside the walls of public schools and even Universities. A semi old issue of Time magazine contains an article entitled "How To Make Better Teachers." The article addresses several angles on the issue including paying teacher more for better performance and how to go about evaluating performance in the first place. It's true. Teachers don't get paid enough for the work they do, and they're not valued enough for the impact they have on the future of our nation. My mother is a teacher. She has been all of my life not only to her elementary students, but to my family as well. She, along with several other select few, has impacted my life in an enormous way. If you sit down and think about it, teaching is very similar to parenting. Rules are set. Structures are created. Boundaries are exercised. Consequences and punishments are issued. Results are measu...

To figure out how I was going to approach this project, I did a test run interview with a Draglade player known as Ragnell. As a highly ranked player on the Draglade leaderboards and a top ranked player from a online Draglade community, Ragnell was an ideal participant. This particular interview accompanied several versus matches via Nintendo's wifi connection. Because he lives in New York and the Draglade servers aren't the smoothest, the gameplay was inconsistent to say the least. Despite this fact, I still got a feel for his play style and high level battles in Draglade. If you've gotten to this point wondering what Draglade is, don't feel bad. Draglade is a fighting game for the Nintendo DS from Atlus . Without getting too much into the structure of the game, it plays like a combination of Street Fighter and Smash Brothers. It is, so far, the best Fighting game on the Nintendo DS and is interesting enough to be included with the rest of the heavy weight console figh...

Behold the Novint Falcon! You can find out all about this nifty peripheral in the video. And you can read about it at the Level Up blog here . The device is quite expensive, and in order for a gameplay prioritizing gamer such as myself to deem the product worthy of purchase, games that implement the unique features of the Novint Falcon must be created. I don't think a more visceral force feedback experience slapped on to an FPS is enough. And let's face it, the PC market is saturated with FPSs, RTSs, and RPGs of various types. Without reworking these genres from the ground up to use the Novint Falcon, these genres are likely to poorly implement the technology much like the motion controls in the Sixaxis controller for the PS3. I can't help but think that all the software that utilizes this controller will use it as as nothing more than a glorified rumble pack. Perhaps it's time for the PC market to revisit some of their less popular genres, like puzzle games. Where'...

For everyone who thinks critical-analyzing videogames is only useful in the realm of gaming, I've started this small series of posts about finding the "game" in life. This is not to say that I'm taking life lightly, much to the contrary. A Videogame is essentially a group of functions with a goal. The function relies on the interaction between the game and the player. In order for the game to indoctrinate players into the rules and nuances of the game world, designers utilize the power of "form fits function" along with many other design philosophies. In the same way, anything that relies on interacting with people are designed with such philosophies in mind. In order for most Americans to successfully use a microwave, there has to be a limited number of buttons and functions that are grouped and color coded in such a way as to facilitate use. Public education is like a game. High school is a system with a set of rules designed to educate students. When desi...

Fighting games have been on my mind as of late. Some are good. Some are bad. All are similar enough to be classified in the fighting genre. Like all competitive games (I presume), there are websites completely devoted to each game that include information about everything from high level techniques to future tournaments. The problem is, all of these sites are like scattered autonomous islands. I'm interested in the fighting genre as a whole, yet there isn't any organized or consolidated source to turn to. Let's face it. Books aren't exactly being written and published about the current state of fighting games. The occasional gaming book worth reading that makes it to Barnes & Noble isn't enough. I dream of a day, or more specifically a website, that can attract authorities from around all strata of gamers and game designers to intelligently tackle current issues. I do realize it is hard enough to ask people to be civil and intelligent while debating anything let...

I'm trying to find an art style for the game that I can produce a lot of images in quickly. I do pen and ink, charcoal, and water colors of still life very well I think. I have a sample of something I tried for the game art at the top, and the next three are examples of pictures done in each medium respectively. I have a particular affinity to still life, hands, and the idea of the "awesome in the ordinary." I'm really tired of all the "super cool," "super macho," and "super sexy" characters that overpopulate our media. And I'm quite sick of the mass media concept of an adventure which include an excess of explosions, guns, magic, and jumping out of fast moving vehicles. I believe real stories and real characters can be so utterly silent and happen so quickly that it takes a bit of redefining and slowing down to remember them. So hows this for a set of main characters? Since I first got my N.E.S. as a child and played Super Mario Brot...

After finishing a monster of an essay on The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass’ psychoanalytically charged story, I’m on the brink of wrapping up my research for this game, which, through careful study and attention, has become one of my favorite Zelda games seconded only to the narrative and gameplay powerhouse, Majora’s Mask. At the bottom of my Phantom Hourglass Methodological Toolkit (a fancy term for my notes) I still have the bullet point outline left over for an essay I have not written. It would be a shame for such unpopped kernels to go without seeing the light of day, or without being run under the friction of one’s thoughts from someone out there. So I’ve decided to try something new and post a “bullet point essay,” which will be little more than a short collection of my thoughts, questions, and notes. Money Matters? The Value of a Rupee. Thesis/Topic: To examine the value system in The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. What values does the game put on actions and items...

Everyone has a firm grasp on the general story in the Zelda series: A young boy ventures forth lead by the tip of his sword and his sense of duty. With the help of people he meets along the way and by using unique items he acquires, this boy is able to overcome every obstacle in his way up and through the final battle with the embodiment of the opposite of our main characters very being; evil. Upon winning this battle, the adventure is over and life for our hero returns to normal. But this is simply a template for any adventure. And Zelda being an adventure game, has hardly deviated from this formula. Though many have claimed that the formula needs to be abandoned or dramatically reinvented, I feel that there is nothing wrong with its place in the Zelda series. In the grand spectrum of literature, there are too many stories to count that share the same formula. And without being unnecessarily reductive, some literary critics categorize stories as being either a tragedy, romance, comedy...