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Miyamoto Lecture At Smithsonian Documented
Thanks to 1UP for its report on last week's Smithsonian lecture featuring game industry luminaries, including Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto, and as previously mentioned on Slashdot Games. After Miyamoto's entrance, heralded with "hoots and hollers [so loud] that you'd think Natalie Portman had just walked out on stage at a Star Wars convention", the article quotes the Nintendo mainstay on his entrance to the industry ("When I originally I came to Nintendo it was to do industrial design... I wanted to make the new Rubix Cube. I never imagined that I would work in video games, especially since I don't like computers"), and his concern over making videogames accessible: ("Everyone should be able to pick-up a controller and play a video game... But still so many people think games are too complex. So I developed the L/R buttons and analog stick to simplify things.")
He developed the L/R buttons? Did anyone else notice these on the Super Nintendo?
Game makers don't have to use all the buttons on a controller. If a D pad and 4 buttons are all a game takes, then the developers shouldn't feel the need to use all the buttons. There just there in case a game company wants to use them.
At any rate, I personally don't think controllers are to blame, but that's just my $0.02
/me whacks parent with clue stick. if you've ever watched a young kid or even average middle aged or old person trying to play a game, you'd know that many buttons are confusing. whether they are used in the game or not is irrelevant, they'll be trying to push them anyway, and that includes wondering why some aren't doing anything.
This is my Sig, this is my Gun. One is for Slashdot and one is for Fun.
The trick when designing a videogame is allowing the average gamer to pick up the controller and have fun playing the game while simultaneously allowing a level of complexity and difficulty that will challenge even the most accomplished gamer... something that, not all but a majority of, game developers have seem to have forgotten lately. With the exception of a few games like Ninja Gaiden, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Ikaruga, today's games often lack the ability for a player to create and optimize advanced control strategies - often at the expensive of over-the-top graphics that serve as little more than eye candy. Miyamoto at one point knew this and it was the foundation on which the Nintendo Empire was built. Somewhat older Nintendo games such as Mario Kart 64 offered that. Any n00b can pick up the controller and drive around the track firing random weapons at other racers and have a good time. However with the addition of the mini-turbo world-class gamers have the ability to refine their skills on a ridiculous learning that can take up to several years to master (as evidenced by the guys at www.mariokart64.com). Other games that come to mind are GoldenEye and Perfect Dark... anyone, regardless of ability, can have fun in a GE or PD multiplayer match but the games offer players the ability to use advanced strategies that can take months upon months of practice and refinement to truly master.
Ah, the good old days...
My guess is Power On System Test.
Jisho - A Japanese English German Russian French Dictionary for the rest of us.
All I'm saying is, you can't satisfy everyone, to few buttons and you limit game play, too many and inexperienced people get confused, at least at first. I'd prefer to have too many than not enough, since like I said not all buttons are required in every game (for example, tetris worlds), but in a game like Unreal, they're nice.
On a slightly off topic, everyone I know who played video games but doesn't anymore doesn't play them because they can't find games they like. IE: Gone are the 2-D Sonic games, now they have this half-baked 3-D version that's crap, IMHO.
IMO the only time a game is truely a 'pick-up and play game' is when a newbie can play the game with one hand and be able to beat the stage (though he'll probably die a couple dozen times). Atari 2600 games? A joystick and a button, you could play with one finger and chin. Turn-based games, nuff said. Tetris, Super Mario Bros (early ones), Sonic are all pick up and play games. Looking at modern ones is kinda... well strange when you look at how many buttons there are. (ALL FPSs, RTS games, any online game, even the new Sonic and Mario games.)
Making things simpler by adding more buttons? Anybody can play an NES game (not necessarily well) with it's 5 buttons. Try and teach somebody who has never gamed how to play just about anything these days and you spend half an hour answering "What's this button do again?". Lets see off the top of my head PS2=13 buttons, XboX=13 buttons, GameCube=10 well Nintendo is still less complicated, but 5 10 = TRUE!
Trust Your Technolust
Wasn't Will Wright speaking at that conference? Miyamoto's cool, granted, but some of the other designers are just as brilliant, if not so popular. Does 1up have transcripts of their discussions?
I attended the discussion and found it very enjoyable. Mr. Yee did a good job moderating - although the questions to the panel seemed to be a bit generic and occasionally confusing to the participants. Despite the well deserved attention to Miyamoto, I felt the best responses came from Garfield. In particular, he explored his work in more "traditional" board/card games and how they translate to the video world. I enjoyed his use of math / modeling for designing games - some people may be intimidated by that connection but I thought he made a good point of having a solid understanding of rules as the base of the game design. Church gave off the vibe of a very talented artist designer. The show had a nice display of his past projects. Although he has obviously graduated to senior management, he seems like he could still relate to the actual code producers. He definitely gave the impression of a "big picture" person and a useful resource for bouncing off game ideas. The most interesting discussion was on the role of luck. Garfield clearly emphasized its importance - and this was echoed by Church. I didn't get the feeling that luck played much of a part in the world of Miyamoto games - you either make the jump or fail. Anyway, clearly an interesting issue for any designer on how to balance skill vs. chance.