Super Mario Maker – Nintendo’s tips on making a good level, e-manual details
This information comes from Takashi Tezuka…
In Mario games, each one has 60 to 80 courses, and each course needs to have its own unique defining element. If you build too many elements into every course, they start to feel the same. That’s something you need to be careful of. To me, the real trick is limiting [the number of] course objects. That’s what makes it really special.
People try to have a tendency to cram every cool feature into one. The role of Super Mario Maker isn’t trying to recreate a course or compete against something that you would purchase created by a professional level designe. It’s trying to do what you haven’t seen in a game and make it your own, to have fun. I think it’s great to find something that you think that works really well, copy it, mimic it and try to think of ways you can improve it. It’s a good way to learn.
I think the book that comes with the game will help people hone their skills and learn techniques they can add to their own courses. If we were to name this book, we would call it ‘The Seeds of Super Mario Maker.’ We give you all the basics to make something great.
Tezuka and director Yosuke Oshino on the e-manual:
“We’re actually really, really proud of our e-manual because we found that players get stuck in creating a course, they can look to it for inspiration again and again in getting them on their way.” – Oshino
“With a browser-based e-manual, we can make anything we want. We have a lot more creative freedom to design [compared to a text-based manual]. We made it so that it’s something enjoyable all on its own. E-manuals aren’t known for being the most interesting reading. We don’t know people who read them, but we think you can read the Super Mario Maker manual all day. It’s going to be packed with all sorts of interesting content.” – Tezuka
– e-manual has tips and tutorials explaining the best practices of Mario level creation
– Brief videos that players can watch
– These clips teach the basics, like where players should place coins and how to build objects for Mario to jump on or over
– There’s even an advice column included in the digital manual
