Gamer Grow

When the DS first launched, Nintendo decided to port Super Mario 64 over to the handheld. This game is mostly the same except for a few mini games, a multiplayer mode, and some new playable characters. Over all, the port was a good one with the biggest downside being the adapted controls. It's difficult to configure analog controls with digital buttons. In the next few years Nintendo released 3 "doubleganger siblings" or 3 platformers that have strong roots in the design of previous Nintendo Masterpieces. For these games the DS touch screen is mostly used for navigating menus and displaying large buttons. New Super Mario Brothers, Yoshi's Island DS, and Super Princess Peach are the doubleganger siblings that all fall short of their predecessor. New Super Mario Brothers (NSMB) takes after Super Mario Brothers for the NES. Yoshi's Island DS (YIDS) is analogous to Super Mario World: Yoshi's Island for the SNES. And Super Princess Peach (SPP) is modeled after bot...

Geometry Wars. The game that I have described as being a "Fourth of July in your eyes!" I've played every console/handheld version, and though spawn deaths are still an issue, Geometry Wars2 is the best in the series. It may not have the best features (in bold) or the most levels, but the innovations in design makes it a clear winner. Once again , I've made a chart cross comparing games in series. It's not like I don't owe something to this game series. . GW: Retro Evolved GW: Galaxies GW: Galaxies DS Geometry Wars2 . visual clutter moderate minimal-lots depending on level & drone very minimal - moderate depending on level and drone moderate - much . controls aiming/ shooting analog stick wiimote pointer DS touch Screen analog stick . controls moving analog stick analog stick D-pad analog stick . variety one many levels/drones that can be leveled up same as wii version 6 modes/sequence . enemy design enemy types same as wii version enemy types . fire powe...

*This review contains some spoilers* I remember when my dad mentioned Braid about a month ago. Thanks to NPR's occasional video games coverage, my dad can surprise me every now and then with gaming news of some sort. This time, he had heard of a video game that "is supposed to be about life and choices" as he put it. I quickly explained that that Braid wasn't "about life" and that actuality, it was just a puzzle game that has ignited the untrained and ill-equipped artsy/pretentious video game writers to make claims that the game is some bold new step in game design doing things that other games haven't quite done before. I smoothly transitioned the conversation about the art of design and mechanics and how all games can be read making them seem to be about almost anything. Using Tetris, Super Mario Brothers, and Wii Sports (games my father has experience with) I debunked the notion. Then my father asked me if I had played Braid yet. I hadn't. At that...

Today marks the beginning of R&R week: Review & Repair. On the agenda I have Boktai, Bionic Commando Rearmed, Everyday Shooter, Sonic (2D platformers), and if I'm lucky Braid and Super Princess Peach. Since last November when I started the Critical-Gaming blog, I've critiqued other reviews, developed a body of language to communicate the intricate inter workings video games, and written a few reviews to demonstrate. Now that the foundation has been set, I can exercise a bit more creative writing liberty. After all, creative writing is my specialty. Using this new style, each review will be focused in a way that communicates the various elements of design along with my personal experience/thoughts of the game. Here's the catch. The style and themes that I choose to structure the review will also reflect the mechanics, functions, ideas, and/or themes of the game in some way. Sound intense? Don't worry. Just sit back and read carefully and lightly. If you're lo...

Designing and tuning game difficulty is trickier than it may seem. I'll try to make this one as concise as possible. For some background material, consider looking into Flow in Games: A Jenova Chen MFA Thesis , and Gamasutra's Game Design Essentials: 20 Difficult Games . Today I going to highlight a few methods of creating game difficulty/challenges. ORGANIC METHODS Optional routes/objectives : Super Mario Brothers Coins . As the player moves through each level, there are coins that are never placed in the player's "laziest" path to the goal. To nab these coins, players must jump for them which often requires the player to deviate from the efficient linear path to the end of the level. Some coins are much harder to obtain than others. Because every coin the player sees can be grabbed in a single pass through a level, the boundaries of the challenge are set. In this way, the coins that are placed in tricky areas over dangerous hazards or endless pits communicate a ...

Ever since Super Mario Brothers brought side scrolling levels to the masses, gamers have been running through the world without ever looking back. Kick a turtle shell to the left, and run away to the right for safety. Narrowly jump over a Hammer Brother and keep moving until he's off the screen and out of your life forever. Even though the majority of levels made nowadays aren't 2D side scrolling, they do have a starting point and an ending point with little to no backtracking. Today I want to focus on the kind of level design that isn't about leaving things behind. I want to focus on a type of level design that is like climbing a tall tree to rescue a cat; going one way provides one kind of challenge (ie. climbing a tree), and getting back is a different challenge that builds upon the original challenge by adding a layer of depth/complexity (ie. climbing down a tree with a cat in one hand). I call this kind of level design folded level design. Folded level design is differ...

While combing through Super Mario Bros. to write the Mario Melodies series, three topics/ideas/details in particular jumped out at me. I don't have enough material/time to expand these ideas into essays. So, it's that time again for a few "bullet point essays." Mario Out of His Element The water levels in Super Mario Bros. are intricately designed to provide a different gameplay experience from the land levels while at the same time being familiar and complementary. While the land levels are about forward momentum/flow that is punctuated with spry vertical jumps, the water levels expand the verticality by giving the player access to the whole screen to swim through. Because the water is always pulling Mario downward, maintaining one's level or moving up is a constant struggle. In the water Mario sinks rather quickly, yet with a few pumps of his arms, Mario can float gracefully forward at a nice pace. Because the run button is disabled underwater and Mario's fo...