Artifact Analysis - "Super Mario Series"
The quintessential platformer developed by Nintendo, "Super Mario," is more than just a game; it's a cultural phenomenon. I will explore its design, appeal, and the lighthearted inspiration it provided for my project "Eternal Flame."
As Schell (2008) points out in "The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses," the task of discerning what players will enjoy in a game goes beyond their stated preferences. Often, players themselves are not fully aware of what they truly want from a game, which may differ significantly from their initial thoughts or assertions. This insight highlighted the game designer's role in understanding and predicting player enjoyment, sometimes better than the players themselves. The selling point of Mario has always been its meticulous and well-crafted level design, rather than the richness of level elements. The appeal of the main Mario series lies in its enjoyable and progressively challenging levels, designed with ingenuity, ideally suited for players who love exploration and are up for a skill challenge. The difference in the quality of player-designed levels can be quite significant. Even when focusing on designers with decent design quality, levels tend to prioritize clever mechanisms, unexpected gameplay, and creative concepts. If players haven't formed a concept of the "consistency" and "layering" found in traditional Mario series levels, they won't experience the surprise of breaking tradition when encountering these levels, and may quickly lose the sense of novelty.
In games, unlike other media such as films or books, players are presented with clear objectives to achieve, which is central to the experience (Fullerton, Swain, & Hoffman, 2004). This focus on objectives gives structure to the gameplay and measures the player's involvement. Unlike real life, where not all objectives need to be met for success, in games, objectives are crucial elements that drive the entire experience. The primary objective in "Super Mario" games is typically straightforward – navigate through various levels to rescue Princess Peach from the antagonist, usually Bowser. This journey takes Mario across different worlds, each with its own set of challenges. The objectives are clear-cut: complete levels, defeat bosses, and ultimately save the princess. To be more specific, in "Super Mario Bros," the primary objective of each level is to navigate from left to right to reach the end, while secondary goals include collecting coins, completing the level quickly, and achieving a high score, which depends partly on the coins collected and enemies defeated (Pedersen, Togelius, & Yannakakis, 2009). Furthermore, at its core, "Super Mario" is brilliantly simple. You run, you jump, you avoid or stomp on enemies – easy to learn but challenging to master. This approach is something I aim to mirror in "Eternal Flame," where accessibility meets depth.
In contrast to "Super Mario," where the objectives and gameplay mechanics are well-defined and structured, my approach to "Eternal Flame" seeks to blend this clarity of purpose with a deeper narrative experience. While the simplicity and directness of "Super Mario" are admirable and serve as a model, "Eternal Flame" aims to offer players a more layered journey. For the same reason, the player needs to defeat a dark boss to return to the village to restore the flame of the clan, and of course, the primary goal in each level is still progression and overcoming challenges. However, from my view, I still consider "Super Mario Game" devoid of game narrative depth, it is engaging and fun to play. But in my project, I hope "Eternal Flame" could place a greater emphasis on the narrative aspect. This is in contrast to the more linear storytelling of "Super Mario," where the narrative serves mainly as a backdrop to the gameplay.
To be honest, I am not a big fan of Super Mario games, but I do admire their enduring legacy and recognize them as a milestone for many platform games. Most importantly, the series has continued to innovate, transitioning from 2D environments to 3D worlds and evolving from pixel art to a more polygonal style. I view this as positive progress. They don't let the past become a has-been, however, the creators demonstrate that keeping pace with the times is something every game designer should strive for.
Bibliography:
Fullerton, T., Swain, C., & Hoffman, S. (2004). Game design workshop: Designing, prototyping, & playtesting games. CRC Press.
Nintendo Switch. (2023). Super Mario Bros. Wonder. [image] Available at: https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-games/Super-Mario-Bros-Wonder-2404150.html [Accessed 27 Dec. 2023].
Pedersen, C., Togelius, J., & Yannakakis, G. N. (2009). Modeling player experience in Super Mario Bros. In 2009 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Games, pp.132-139
Schell, J. (2008). The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses. CRC press.
