Zero Kirby wrote:
Staying out of this one. I hate games like I Wanna Be The Guy which are nothing but trial-and-error and purposefully terrible design.
Games like these do not have to be about punishing the player, but putting them in a scenario that they are not expecting. A long-time Mario player is used to certain things being a certain way, but if you switch them up you can make the game feel entirely new and force the player to relearn something that they are used to (the standards you introduce should be consistent throughout and shouldn't change, or it would be forcing continuous trial and error). Some people might find that annoying, but with the right level design and story telling, I think you can make it a worthwhile experience.
What are some of the things that you can do to counter the instincts of long-time Mario players?
-Mario has always moved in specific directions with the d-pad keys or control stick while he usually jumps and runs with the face buttons such as A and B. Not only could we switch the directional buttons to the face buttons and vice-versa, but we could also invert the expected directions and functions (left is right and vice-versa for example). Maybe doing both is a little overkill, though, and maybe this is the most annoying thing you can possibly do to a player. :P
-Items have always assisted Mario while enemies such as goombas or koopa troopas have always harmed him. Switch them, and you're really messing with the player's head. For example, what if Mario ate goombas to powerup while the mushrooms poisoned Mario?
-It is a player's instinct to jump over a pit, but what if you were supposed to fall down the pit and jumping killed you instead? It wouldn't be much fun to keep the player guessing which pits to fall into, so some kind of cue would be helpful.
-It has become a player's instinct to check all of the pipes for secrets, but what if only death awaited in each of the pipes to punish Mario for his greed?
-Mario usually traverses levels from left to right and bottom to top, how will the player feel if they are going the opposite directions for the entirety of the game?
These are just a few of the possibilities.
[quote="Zero Kirby"]Staying out of this one. I hate games like I Wanna Be The Guy which are nothing but trial-and-error and purposefully terrible design.[/quote]
Games like these do not have to be about punishing the player, but putting them in a scenario that they are not expecting. A long-time Mario player is used to certain things being a certain way, but if you switch them up you can make the game feel entirely new and force the player to relearn something that they are used to (the standards you introduce should be consistent throughout and shouldn't change, or it would be forcing continuous trial and error). Some people might find that annoying, but with the right level design and story telling, I think you can make it a worthwhile experience.
What are some of the things that you can do to counter the instincts of long-time Mario players?
-Mario has always moved in specific directions with the d-pad keys or control stick while he usually jumps and runs with the face buttons such as A and B. Not only could we switch the directional buttons to the face buttons and vice-versa, but we could also invert the expected directions and functions (left is right and vice-versa for example). Maybe doing both is a little overkill, though, and maybe this is the most annoying thing you can possibly do to a player. :P
-Items have always assisted Mario while enemies such as goombas or koopa troopas have always harmed him. Switch them, and you're really messing with the player's head. For example, what if Mario ate goombas to powerup while the mushrooms poisoned Mario?
-It is a player's instinct to jump over a pit, but what if you were supposed to fall down the pit and jumping killed you instead? It wouldn't be much fun to keep the player guessing which pits to fall into, so some kind of cue would be helpful.
-It has become a player's instinct to check all of the pipes for secrets, but what if only death awaited in each of the pipes to punish Mario for his greed?
-Mario usually traverses levels from left to right and bottom to top, how will the player feel if they are going the opposite directions for the entirety of the game?
These are just a few of the possibilities.