A Look Back at Making Mario 64

Press the Buttons has commentary on a short, interesting piece at the Miyamoto Shrine site. There, they look back at the making of Mario 64. From the article: "Possibly the most important part of Mario 64 was making sure Mario was easy to control. Before any of the levels had been created Mr. Miyamoto had Mario running around and picking up objects in a small 'garden' which he uses in all his games to test gameplay elements. 'Alot of the animation was actually in there before any of the game' explains Goddard. 'The Mario that he had running around basically looked the same as he did in the final version. Mario's movement is based on good physics, but you have bits on top that you plug in so you can do things you shouldn't be able to do. They spent a lot of time working on the swimming, it's harder than running to get the feeling right, they didn't want you to avoid the water, the wanted to make it an advantage and fun to dive in.'"

Comments

Cameras Still Don't Work

[MBCook]

I loved that game, still do. It is right up there with Super Mario World as one of the best games ever made, bar none.

I think it is a bit sad we still don't have the camera right in most games. You would think we would by now, but we don't. I just finished Shadow of the Colossus (great game), but there are real camera problems.

When you are fighting a Colossus and there is lots of room, the camera works very well most of the time (like when you are climbing on their back). But as soon as you walk around a confined space or fight a colossus in a small room, the camera is a MAJOR pain and caused me to get motion sickness very quick (I'm susceptable to that). And in other situations (like on the final colossus when you are climbing on his hand) the camera doesn't work well even though you are in a big space (the camera has a hard time figuring out which side of his hand to show you) and this makes it hard to see what you are doing.

The biggest problem with all these is that they try to fit the camera into the world. The camera shouldn't model a phyical camera that can't be inside a wall, it is supposed to show a "mind's eye" view that doesn't have those limitations. Imagine if they tried to shoot sitcoms in real rooms instead of rooms missing one wall. It would be a disaster.

Yet in SotC and many other games, the camera must "obey" the world and can not be "in" a wall. Why not let the camera go there and make the wall invisible? If I am pivoting the camera to try to get a sense of where I am, having it suddenly run into the wall my back is up against and stop is very disconcerting. It takes you right out of the expiriance. There you are, about to fight a giant monster, up against a wall, and the only view you can get is that of yourself and that wall because the camera can't show you the oposite view.

It was a great game, but most camera systems still suck. The only games that don't really have problems are fixed camera games (Tycoon games, Warcraft III, first person shooters, driving games, etc). I haven't seen a 3D platformer yet that has a "perfect" camera system. They all have problems.

But they all have the same problems that Mario 64 had 10 years ago. 10 years ago. Loot at how far we've come in other respects (graphics being the obvious example), yet we can't fix the camera system.

Great game though. It is a Shakespere or Dickens or Hemminway of video games. Not in story (very generic), but in getting everything right (pacing, little extras, challenge, presentation, etc).

"6 years after its release..."

[Anonymous Coward]

The simple fact that now, 6 years after it's release, the game is still leaps and bounds above it's nearest rival makes you wonder what exactly the 15 man Mario 64 development team were doing differently.

6 years after 1996 makes... 2002. This is four years old.