Paper Prototyping Video Games
Generoso Fierro has just posted a set of podcasts on paper prototyping on the GAMBIT website. Since this seems to be something mysterious that new game developers frequently wonder about I figured it’d be worth reposting here. Disclaimer: I haven’t watched the videos yet, but Gene regularly puts together kick ass stuff so I’m guessing they’re pretty good.
Gene writes:
Have you ever wondered about the first stage of creating a video game? GAMBIT’s Technical Director Andrew Grant along with GAMBIT’s Lead Game Designer, Matthew Weise lead a group of three game designers (Kevin Laughlin, Alexis Brownell and Sophia Foster-Dimino) through the paper prototyping stage of videogame development. Video Produced by Generoso Fierro, Music and Editing by Garrett Beazley.
PART ONE: Andrew and Matthew present our game designers with a concept for a game. Here begins the process of creating the gameplay! Our designers use markers on paper, blocks, string and a host of other tools to make the game a reality.
PART TWO: Our game designers have decided to abandon the “paper” stage of development and go right for the whiteboard to hash out their game.
PART THREE: Design Consultant Tim Stellmach comes by to play and review the prototype the designers have come up with based on the game concept.
If you like these videos be sure to check out episode 2. Cool Stuff!
May 24, 2010 | | Comments Off
Category: Random
Tags: Alexis, andrew, Brownell, Fierro, Foster-Dimino, GAMBIT, Gene, Generoso, Grant, Kevin, Laughlin, Matt, MIT, paper, podcast, prototype, prototyping, Sophia, Stellmach, Tech TV, Tim, Weise
On the Relative Difficulty of the Mario Kart Titles
Abstract
The four console incarnations of Mario Kart (SNES, N64, GC, and Wii) are compared in terms of difficulty to complete 150cc races (the hardest setting) with a gold medal, that games’ highest honor. A team of game development ninjas were unleashed upon the game over a 36 hour period to determine comparative difficulty, playing single player races in every 150cc cup event for the four titles. Collected data indicate that the order of difficulty is
SNES SMK > GC MK:DD > N64 MK64 > Wii MKW
With the original Super Nintendo title being the most difficult, and the newest Wii title being the easiest. Readers are welcome to verify and corroborate our findings with their own experimentation.
Introduction
The Mario Kart franchise is one of the most beloved racing series in existence, boasting a title on every major Nintendo console since the Super Nintendo. While most users simple play the game in battle mode against inebriated comrades, the astute gamer will note that hidden away in the main menu there is also a “single player” mode in which users can race against the computer in a series of races. When played on the hardest “150cc” setting these races are infuriatingly challenging, and we therefore felt it was necessary to have an understanding of the relative difficulty of the four main console Mario Karts (the SNES original, Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart: Double Dash, and Mario Kart Wii).
Methodology
For the complete game completion marathon team Fire Hose decided to race each and every Grand Prix cup event and win the gold medal on the hardest 150cc setting, meaning 20 gold medals (4 SNES, 4 N64, 4 GC, and 8 Wii). Researchers/minions were locked in an airtight room at GAMBIT and not allowed to leave for food, water, or sanitary reasons until all 20 gold medals were earned. Difficulty was determined by listening for the amount of cursing emanating from the room, how long each medal took, and how often researchers swore they would “never play this fucking game again, for any reason”.
Results
Mario Kart Wii was first title tackled and the easiest of the bunch; an expert user can expect to win these races on a regular basis, and the various boost mechanics (popping wheelies, power sliding, midair tricks, and prolific booster pads) offer multiple opportunities to get ahead of the competition. Mario Kart 64 is only slightly more difficult, as the rubber banding mechanics aren’t so punishing as to prevent the first place racer from occasionally acquiring useful items. There is a large element of chance in this game though from environmental hazards, such as cars in Toad’s Turnpike and Bullet Bills in Rainbow Road.
Mario Kart: Double Dash is somewhat harder than the previously mentioned titles; rubber banding on items is more pronounced making it harder to keep a first place lead, blue shells are plentiful for racers towards the end of the pack, and the computerized opponents are adept at power sliding and stealing items from the unwary player. However, the hardest game of the bunch by far is the original Super Mario Kart. This game’s 150cc mode can be aptly described as “dickish”; computerized players have at-will abilities such as a feather jump and special attack that are severely damaging and often unavoidable, there is no rubber banding of items to help a player catch up from behind, computerized players that fall behind gain super human speed in order to catch up, and the coin mechanic (ditched in later games) adds an unnecessary level of complexity and another potential failure point.
Discussion
The original Super Mario Kart was likely so brutally difficult due to an inability to program especially smart AIs. Rather than spending lots of time trying to (most likely unsuccessfully) make smart AIs the programmers simply opted to create a set of advantages for computer players that just feel flat out unfair. Perhaps this helps to explain why the N64 version was easier, as maybe the developers wanted to create a more accessible sequel that would be less frustrating. With the advent of the Gamecube, a system designed to speak more to “hardcore” gamers, it seems that Nintendo made their greatest effort to create a truly balanced Mario Kart that would appeal to and work for a broader slice of audiences. Of course, with the Wii’s focus on a more casual audience it made sense to tone down the competitive nature of the game to make it easier for less frequent gamers to pick up and play (and play well).
Was this Nintendo’s actual thought process making these games? We don’t know, but after playing these games all weekend we’d like to think so.
References
Complete Game Completion Marathon Website (you can still donate!)
Fire Hose for Haiti’s games list
March 1, 2010 | | Comments Off
Category: Games, Rant
Tags: 150cc, Abe Stein, abstract, discussion, frustrating, GAMBIT, Gamecube, GC, gold, Kart, marathon, Mario, medal, methodology, N64, nintendo, Rainbow Board, research, SNES, Wii
CGC Marathon, helping Haiti
Yeah, I just did a blog post about this last week, but it’s a good cause so here it is again. The Complete Game Completion Marathon is this weekend and they (we?) need your support! As of writing this we’re just above $2,200, well away from our rock star goal of $10K. Donate if you can afford it! And then check out the website and watch us make fools of ourselves for you and the rest of the intarwebs this weekend.
Not sure how to donate? Click this big link below! Want to see what we’re doing? Check out last week’s blog post.
February 24, 2010 | | Comments (1)
Category: Events
Tags: charity, complete, donate, GAMBIT, game, Haiti, marathon
Fire Hose for Haiti
We’re taking part in the GAMBIT Complete Game-Completion Marathon in two weeks, it’s a fund raiser with all proceeds going to help the victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti. Over one weekend we’ll be spending tons of time playing some crazy games and trying to get people to donate to the cause. Here’s what we’ll be up to!
Games: It’s the Three Ring Circus!
1. Final Fantasy, All White Mage Run (NES): We will complete the entire Final Fantasy with the worst party possible, four white mages. No partial credit here; we only get points if we finish the game and defeat Chaos.
2. Mega Man 9 Challenge Run (XBLA/PSN/WiiWare): Mega Man 9 is a ridiculously hard game with 50 insane challenges that make the game that much harder. We will attempt to finish AT LEAST 40 of the 50 challenges, with extra credit for each achievement beyond 40.
3. Mario Kart Extravaganza (SNES, N64, GameCube, Wii): We will play through every 150cc cup in every console Mario Kart game. Our success will be based on the LOWEST trophy level we get; thus if we get 19 golds and 1 silver then our performance is rated silver. We will be trying for all golds!
Bonus: While we play we will blog, pontificate, and generally do interesting stuff in front of the webcam for people following online.
Extra New Bonus! World famous Fire Hose artist extraordinaire Jacques Pena will be making incredible video game art of the games we are playing and taking requests during the weekend. Contributors who donate a certain amount (probably $100) will be getting free one-of-a-kind art as a thank you! Details coming soon.
If you want to donate go to our page on Partners in Health, or just click on the big thermometer up top!
February 12, 2010 | | Comments (2)
Category: Events
Tags: charity, complete, donate, fantasy, final, fund, GAMBIT, Haiti, Jacques, marathon, mario kart, mega man, Pena, raiser, thermometer
Words of Wisdom: Eran Egozy talks about Harmonix at GAMBIT
Another lecture blog post? HELLS YES. We’ll stop putting these up when the awesome guys at GAMBIT stop making them. Thanks to Gene, Abe, Ken Zolot, and anyone else who was involved with making this that I’m not aware of.
In this talk Eran Egozy (co-founder and CTO of Harmonix, whom you know and love for Guitar Hero and Rock Band) talks about how Harmonix started out, how they got off the ground and shifted into (and ultimately defined the genre of) music games, and then fields a bunch of questions from some really smart MIT and Sloan students. Check it out!
December 7, 2009 | | Comments Off
Category: Words of Wisdom
Tags: Abe, Egozy, Eran, GAMBIT, Gene, Guitar Hero, Harmonix, MIT, music, Rock Band, Zolot
Words of Wisdom: Clint Hocking at GAMBIT
So while we were busy crunching for some competition deadlines, GAMBIT was in full swing with some awesome speakers. Most recently they had Clint Hocking, a super famous developer and the creative director of Ubisoft Montreal, in to give a talk on hyper realism in video games. Being the main guy behind Far Cry 2 and Splinter Cell I think this guy has some serious cred in that area, and the talk looks fascinating.
Gene was awesome enough to video tape the entire 90 minute talk and following Q+A, watch it here!
November 16, 2009 | | Comments Off
Category: Words of Wisdom
Tags: cell, Clint, far cry, GAMBIT, Gene, Hocking, MIT, splinter, ubisoft
Game ideas born at the lunch table
I know that a lot of the people reading this are game developers who make games themselves. So to that audience I ask, how often do you find yourself sitting around, talking with friends, and coming up with hilarious ideas for weird little games? If you’re like me then it probably happens a lot – I find that at GAMBIT we discuss weird concepts for little games all the time, especially when we’re eating lunch. Normally these ideas are funny in theory but would probably be terrible in execution, however this time I think that we came up with something that could actually be both funny and enjoyable to play.
So I think we’re going to try to actually give it a shot, and maybe put on a small game jam to make the game a reality. I won’t spill the beans about what the idea is about, but I will say that it involves explosions. I’ll either post a link to the results in a few weeks, or I will come back on the blog and admit, head hanging heavy in shame, that we did not succeed in making the game because we are super lame. Stay tuned!
June 29, 2009 | | Comments (1)
Category: Games, Random
Tags: challenge, explosion, GAMBIT, game jam, MIT
Who wants to join a Fire Hose D&D campaign?
Dungeons and Dragons is something that I’ve always wanted to play, but in shame have never really gotten around to it. Sure, I’ve played variants like Final Fantasy (the original) and Baldur’s Gate II, and last summer I even played around two minutes of an awesome campaign headed up by Josh Diaz at GAMBIT, but I can’t say that I’ve honestly ever spent time with it.
Well, no more! I’m planning on starting a new campaign using the new 4th edition rules. And I need people to join me! 4-6 people, specifically. So I thought I’d have some fun and invite you, loyal Fire Hose blog reader, to play. Want to join? Here are the requirements:
- Must live in Boston/Cambridge
- Must be free on Monday nights, from 7-10pm
- Must be super awesome, and have fought dinosaurs before
- Ideally we’ll have a mix of guys and girls, game developers and non-game developers
If you’re interested shoot me an e-mail! You can use my super secret address of my first name at firehosegames.com to profess your desire to join, and if you make the cut we’ll get you set up.
June 19, 2009 | | Comments (3)
Category: Random
Tags: baldur's, campaign, diaz, dragons, dungeons, fantasy, final, GAMBIT, game night, gate, josh, wizards of the coast
GAMBIT Prototyping Slides Available Here!
Today Sharat and I gave a talk at the Singapore MIT GAMBIT game lab on rapidly building video game prototypes. It’s something of a rip off of Ethan’s and my IGCE talk from last month but this has a stronger focus on development and how to make different types of prototypes. I suggest checking it out! For more info on prototyping you can also see my guest blog from last week on Sande Chen’s game design website.
June 15, 2009 | | Comments Off
Category: Words of Wisdom
Tags: Ethan, GAMBIT, how to, MIT, prototype, prototyping, Sharat
Using Mojo for Games
Our fearless leader was interviewed recently by Play As Life, discussing his role as founder of Fire Hose Games, his ideas about video games (and space), and he even got hockey in there. Eitan discussed his ideas for games, especially accessibility, learning, and having fun. He used these ideals for examples of how video games can have an impact and the obligation he, and Fire Hose, feel as developers to aspire to having this kind of impact through video games.
Random trivia – did you know Eitan bought his first game console with money earned from his paper route in 6th grade?
You can find the full text of the article here. Enjoy!