Back many years ago, there was a dude named Christopher Columbus. He went off the map and rediscovered the Americas. His story isn't important to this article, however. What IS important? That map screens in platformers, popularized by Super Mario Bros. 3, are either done terribly or done well, depending on how implemented. This article will examine the following Nintendo (and one CAPCOM) games:
- Super Mario Bros. 3
- Kirby's Adventure
- Donkey Kong Country 3
- Kirby & The Amazing Mirror
- Mega Man Zero
- New Super Mario Bros.
- Donkey Kong Country Returns
- Paper Mario: Sticker Star
- Map screens are not just level selection screens, but must have an element of choice and interactivity to them.
- Non-linearity in and of itself is not a good thing, and linearity in and of itself is not a bad thing.
- If characters are fun to control, then literal map screens take away from the experience.
- Skipping levels is a bad thing and is the level designer admitting that their levels aren't worth playing.
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You can maneuver around certain levels and entire worlds with certain items. |
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World 3 and World 4? Forget about 'em! We'll pretend it's REPLAY VALUE! |
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Beating level 1 gives you access to level 2 and the crane game minigame. |
However, as you can see from the screenshot above, Kirby's Adventure did NOT do it in the same map style that Super Mario Bros. 3 did. Kirby has the same controls in the levels as he does in the overworld. That's the right way to do things. That means the designers have confidence in how Kirby moves around. This is literally expanded on by Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, where the overworld is expanded massively. There are PUZZLES in this overworld. Things to accomplish. All with the same movement system as the levels. Because games that are fun to play and fluid to control are better off.
So what about games that do have an overworld map screen like Super Mario Bros. 3 that are done well? Look at Donkey Kong Country Returns and Paper Mario: Sticker Star. Donkey Kong Country Returns in particular had this remarkable overworld mechanic in the Factory world. You hit red switches across the different levels to activate a rocket. It makes you wonder what's going to happen as you continue playing through the world. It gives additional motivation, hype, and excitement. The levels you play actually interact with the overworld and it changes and they're connected. That's a great feeling. You can skip levels in Returns, but that's your own loss and also not as a result of map manipulation. You can go back and play them very easily.
“Hold on Ludwig, your whole point throughout this article is that certain overworld map styles make you feel good! What kind of overarching game design principle is there to get from that?”
- If you're going to have non-linearity, provide incentives to make the player go back to complete what they missed. These incentives must be extrinsic (intrinsic being the fun of the level design) because if you believed the intrinsic value of your level design is good enough, you wouldn't have people skip over it. Examples of extrinsic rewards are 100%-completion goodies. If the level you want people to skip is too hard, you didn't do a good job scaffolding. If it's boring, well, there you go. If you want to pretend you're giving players a “choice” and “freedom” by letting them pick divergent paths, just know your medium is a platformer and your consumer had enough choice and freedom buying your product to begin with. Artificial psychic utility of non-linearity in platformers is a waste of budget, a fake sense of replay value, and leads to lazy level design because people won't *have* to even see your level.
- Momentum-based platformers are all the rage these days. Whether it's momentum or not, just the act of controlling your character should be fun. If it's not fun, then it's probably slow. If it's slow, it can still be cool, cute, or eye-appealing. You're hiding things by making overworld maps just a selection screen. If you're doing it to save the player time between point to point, consider not having any overworld at all. “But how do you get to replay levels for fun?” Selection screen from the main menu. No baggage of an overworld between levels leads to a fantastic seamless montage of game design that we haven't seen in a while. In other words, selection screens are okay if they're intended and marketed as selection screens, not overworld maps.
- Empty space is a waste of programming and also the player's time. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess may boast of a massive overworld, but it's empty and not filling.
- Elegant presentation is pointless (“Super Mario Bros. 3 is more elegant than Super Mario Bros. because of the map!”) if you don't consistently do clever things with it.
Some games work better with overworld maps. Others don't. Don't make the mistake of having incompatible choices because you think you have to follow what's an “industry standard.”
And the speedrunners can handle not having your levels be skipped. Compare Yoshi's Island to Yoshi's Story for the effect forcing the skipping of levels has.
Empty space is also a problem with many open-world games. In some instances, it's procedurally-generated.
Well, looks like my images and videos died between publishing and now. ...Oh well.
ReplyDeleteI finally repaired it.
DeleteI've finally played Kirby Amazing Mirror. I stand by what I said here.
ReplyDelete