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Wednesday 20 February, 2008
GAMEPLAY
I really love the graphical style of SMW: exaggerated and goofy. In fact, the graphics contribute to the mood much like the music does. The simple graphic style and bright colors makes SMW very cartoony, which, like the comical death-riff, limits how "seriously" I play the game, even if only subconsciously.
SMW is an excellent example of good flow in a game. There are speaker boxes that Mario can bump into that explain how to play more or less, and even give the player hints. Even as the game progresses, there are still boxes to be bumped into, which just illustrates that the game forces the player to build a repertoire of skill over the course of the game (rather than learn everything in a tutorial at the beginning). Moving through the different worlds (I'm in the Vanilla Dome now), the foes and puzzle are becoming harder, and that seems to be the only significant change in gameplay since last session (besides the new visual and audio theme of the Vanilla Dome). The most difficult challenges I face at this point are finding the alternate exits to secret levels. These secret places to unlock keep the game interesting even to someone who has played the game before.
DESIGN
When I started a new game (before writing the last log entry) there was a certain identifiable theme with the levels. The game utilizes spatial segmentation on multiple levels, so there are several themed worlds within the game and each has many levels consistent to the theme of that world. This consistency makes the gameworld feel more engaging and is vital to the smooth flow of the game.
Besides presenting players with a gameworld that is consistent and absorbing, SMW keeps players interested with the reward system. One-ups are distributed relatively generously throughout the gameworld. If you get hit by an enemy and become the smaller Mario, there will no doubt be a mushroom or item nearby. Additionally, the game does a great job of keeping players (even experienced players who have beaten the game several times) coming back. Players like these and who exhaust the gameworld will be directly rewarded because there are certain bonus stages and secret levels that can only be found by completing a level an alternate way (finding the alternate exit). Ultimately, I'd say that the simple gameplay makes this game easy and fun for anyone, but the vast gameworld keeps people playing.
Oh, one last comment, on music design (the effect that the music has on the player is particularly interesting to me). Lots of people agree that SMW is really fun, but also agree that the source of fun is hard to pin down. I think the music has more to do with the gamer's experience than it is normally credited for. In the case of SMW, the main music is happy and moves rather fast. By making such upbeat and whimsical music, music designers can "trick" players (in the sense that they are affecting players subconsciously) into taking the game less seriously and, in turn, allow the player to have more fun. At least, this is the purpose I believe Koji Kondo had in mind when writing the score.
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