Miyamoto On Putting Gameplay Before Branding

The Wooster

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Jul 15, 2008
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Miyamoto On Putting Gameplay Before Branding


Legendary dev, Shigeru Miyamoto, explains why Nintendo tends to stick with tried and tested IPs.

It must take Mario weeks to fill out his CV. Among other things, he's a plumber, a professional go-kart racer, a martial artist, an accomplished golfer and, even though I question his over-reliance on antibiotics as a method of treatment, a licensed doctor. His perpetual presence on game covers is partially down to his expertly charming design, but it's also somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Nintendo makes games about Mario because he's popular; he's popular because he's in so many great games. Money obviously plays a part in his seeming omnipresence, but there's also the design philosophy of legendary developer and gaming trendsetter, Shigeru Miyamoto, to consider.

As he reiterated in a recent interview with Polygon, Miyamoto's design philosophy begins with an almost exclusive focus on gameplay, as opposed to narrative, character design or branding.

"From my perspective," he explained, "we approach it not from, 'What is the next character?' But really, 'What is there within this structure of video games or this sphere of video games, from which we can create new play structures?' and 'How can we develop these new types of play structures and new types of games and deliver those to consumers in a way that will be satisfying for them?' In some cases it may be that those new structures will use existing franchises. So we're focused more on the play and the interaction rather than necessarily on a specific character as the IP."

The statement echoes one he made to Time Magazine back in 2007.

"I try not so much to create new characters and worlds but to create new game-play experiences," he explained. "If a new experience is better suited to a new type of character or world than one of our existing franchises, then we might create a new character or world around it."

Want a concrete example of how effective this approach can be? When Miyamoto sat down to design what would eventually become The Legend of Zelda - arguably one of the most influential games of all time - he didn't have a green-clad, pointy-eared classical hero figure in mind. The earliest design document for Zelda [http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/ds/zelda/1/4] was found in a binder labeled, "Adventure Mario." Yeah, think on that for a moment.

Source: Polygon [http://www.polygon.com/2013/3/12/4089612/shigeru-miyamoto-interview-wii-u-3ds]

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Lunar Templar

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Sep 20, 2009
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:/

I can understand why that design philosophy, but still.

I grew up on Nintendo, still look forward to releases from them, but even I think they should branch out a bit more then they do character wise. different characters, different personality's, different worlds to build
 

Guffe

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Jul 12, 2009
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I can certainly understand the thought behind this way of thinking...
Why put extra effort on a whooe bunch of new chars when we can just alter already known ones a little... certainly saves time and effort AND it is familiar to people from before.
Then again having Mario run around with a sword in Hyrule... no thanks :/
 

R.Nevermore

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Mar 28, 2008
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I've never understood people complaining that Nintendo sticks with Mario... It's not a complex character with a deep storyline... It's like complaining that Kellogg's keeps putting the same damn tiger on every box of frosted flakes...

Don't look too deeply into it... It's a Nintendo platforming game. It's fun, it's excellently crafted, the character isn't important... Stop complaining about it and enjoy the game. If you want depth of character or plot, look elsewhere.
 

BrotherRool

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Oct 31, 2008
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It's not a bad idea, games are so broad there's plenty of space to choose a design philosophy that makes interesting games for some people that doesn't suit me. But it feels a bit self-limiting, like he chooses only to use the tools on the left side of his toolbox
 

Falterfire

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That is certainly one way to start the game design process, but it's definitely not the only way. I think there's a lot to be said for the "Start with a story idea -> What does that mean in gameplay terms?" style of game design. At bare minimum it tends to create odd challenges and solutions in terms of game play.

Admittedly I get almost all of my Game Design insight straight from Mark Rosewater and Extra Credits, but it seems like a sound strategy. It worked for Innistrad at least.
 

weirdee

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Apr 11, 2011
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for the record, given how sony's "all stars" thing panned out, I think nintendo sticking to its guns is not a bad strategy

think about it this way

if the game design absolutely requires a new character, then that character is obviously best suited for the job, and therefore becomes another great character in the lineup specifically because they were the only one for the job, so to speak

over time, that character has a better chance to become more iconic because they aren't just filing through the game cycle with hundreds of other nobodies, they're a persistent concept that holds up to scrutiny
 

Mr. Omega

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Jul 1, 2010
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The only time it really seems like Mario is actually stagnating is in the "New" series, but even then, the WiiU game went out and showed all sorts of crazy ideas between the typical "plains, desert, water, snow, so and so forth" so it's not completely devoid of new ideas.

And Nintendo HAS been making new IPs. Pushmo/Crashmo, Sakura Samurai and HarmoKnight all released within the last year and one was successful enough to get a sequel. People just like to ignore that fact because it doesn't fit with their narrative.

That being said, I love Mario as much as the next guy, and I also want new IPs as much as the next guy, but I also want some other franchises to get some love. F-Zero, a follow-up to Kid Icarus: Uprising or maybe even Advance Wars would be STUNNING in HD is all I'm saying...
 

FoolKiller

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Guffe said:
Then again having Mario run around with a sword in Hyrule... no thanks :/
Actually, that would be an interesting crossover. Link on shrooms would entertain me as well.
 

Evil Smurf

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Nov 11, 2011
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FoolKiller said:
Guffe said:
Then again having Mario run around with a sword in Hyrule... no thanks :/
Actually, that would be an interesting crossover. Link on shrooms would entertain me as well.
Maybe he was high the whole time, I think him always seeing Faeries is an indication.
 

Canadamus Prime

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Jun 17, 2009
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That actually makes a lot of sense. Obviously this design philosophy has it's downsides, but really how many people say that gameplay is the most important element anyway?
 

Kal-Adam

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May 7, 2010
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I would love to read an analysis comparing the Japanese games industry to other, more western ones. I wonder if this sort design philosophy is, in part, fairly well rooted into the Japanese entertainment culture.
 

Starik20X6

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Oct 28, 2009
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j-e-f-f-e-r-s said:
Can we... Can we just keep this post somewhere? For the next time someone starts whining about the perceived 'lack of originality' by Nintendo? Put it somewhere everyone can see it, so we don't need to go through that argument for the bazillionth time? That'd be great.
 

duchaked

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Dec 25, 2008
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I do feel Mario's run his course, but that's just me. I was down with Legend of Zelda until the Wii took over. Then I was just like :/
lol think I'll go replay Wind Waker a bit
 

ZippyDSMlee

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Sep 1, 2007
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Putting old cloned everything before branding is rather disingenuous... You can only move forward IMO by taking the old and the new and then making something that has both without being utter crap or half assed...Like gee I dunno Metroid prime.....
 

Ukomba

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Oct 14, 2010
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Seems to be working for Nintendo. They certainly have some of the best and most recognized characters of any company. It also seems to allow them to take the burden off of marketing and allow for a more polished product.

It's kind of like how authors or game designers tend to borrow from Greek/Roman mythology in fantasy stories as a kind of mental short hand. Allows you to move forward with the story without having to explain what a creature/being is and it's entire back story. It's a Unicorn, you know what a unicorn is, you know what it means and how it should behave.

It's Link, you know who Link is, you know what he means and how he should behave. Seeing a boy in green with a sword and faerie burning down Hylia Castle would imply something huge, the same character but all in black with dark skin and red eyes also allows for a huge amount of implied story. Some faceless knight in silver armor burning down some faerie tail castle would mean nothing and wouldn't have the same emotional impact unless you spent a large amount of time building up who he is what the world is, what the castle is and why it's important. It frees you up from having to put in a whole lot of exposition and lets you get down to the game play.
 

BytByte

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Nov 26, 2009
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Whenever that man talks, he always sounds so sincere and passionate about making the best game he possibly can. I would be so cool to sit down and just watch him work (yeah, that doesn't sound weird).