Miyamoto: Modern Games Need 'Play' Factor
Needs to be a balance between difficulty and enjoyment.
Shigeru Miyamoto has provided some insight into the creation of modern video games in a recent interview with The New Yorker. In it, the oft-titled Father of Video Games talks about getting the balance right between difficulty and enjoyment.
The Nintendo creative notes that, in game players, one can get pleasure in difficulty, but also in the ease of play, the mastery of performing a familiar act and the excitement that comes from completing challenges in this manner. The result is a confidence in the player that allows them to tackle more difficult scenarios.
"A lot of the so-called ‘action games’ are not made that way," he said. "All the time, players are forced to do their utmost. If they are challenged to the limit, is it really fun for them? [In my games] you are constantly providing the players with a new challenge, but at the same time providing them with some stages or some occasions where they can simply, repeatedly, do something again and again. And that itself can be a joy."
Nintendo famously houses an internal team called the Mario Club that meticulously tests many titles to ensure players can get adequate satisfaction. Miyamoto explained some of the thought processes behind getting that balance of difficulty just right.
"Sometimes the test players complain that there are too many enemies in one stage. And when I approach the designer of that scene with that kind of complaint sometimes he or she says, ‘Oh, maybe they couldn’t find the stars at the beginning. As soon as they find out that the star makes you invincible, it’s more joy.’
"And the developer insists that hiding the star in the beginning is going to be great. But if game players don’t understand this, and they can’t find the star, then the game doesn’t make sense at all. In order for a mystery or a joke to work, we have to provide the necessary amount of information. Not too much, not too little, but the perfect balance, so that in the end people can feel, How come I didn’t realize that?"
You can read the rest of the piece here.
The Nintendo creative notes that, in game players, one can get pleasure in difficulty, but also in the ease of play, the mastery of performing a familiar act and the excitement that comes from completing challenges in this manner. The result is a confidence in the player that allows them to tackle more difficult scenarios.
"A lot of the so-called ‘action games’ are not made that way," he said. "All the time, players are forced to do their utmost. If they are challenged to the limit, is it really fun for them? [In my games] you are constantly providing the players with a new challenge, but at the same time providing them with some stages or some occasions where they can simply, repeatedly, do something again and again. And that itself can be a joy."
Nintendo famously houses an internal team called the Mario Club that meticulously tests many titles to ensure players can get adequate satisfaction. Miyamoto explained some of the thought processes behind getting that balance of difficulty just right.
"Sometimes the test players complain that there are too many enemies in one stage. And when I approach the designer of that scene with that kind of complaint sometimes he or she says, ‘Oh, maybe they couldn’t find the stars at the beginning. As soon as they find out that the star makes you invincible, it’s more joy.’
"And the developer insists that hiding the star in the beginning is going to be great. But if game players don’t understand this, and they can’t find the star, then the game doesn’t make sense at all. In order for a mystery or a joke to work, we have to provide the necessary amount of information. Not too much, not too little, but the perfect balance, so that in the end people can feel, How come I didn’t realize that?"
You can read the rest of the piece here.
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Comments
Ergo 14 Dec 2010 21:00
1/2
I wish people would stop calling Miyamoto "the father of videogames". If anyone deserves that moniker, it's Ralph Baer--Miyamoto can be the uncle or something, next to Nolan Bushnell's godfather.
Dreadknux 15 Dec 2010 10:32
2/2
Are we talking video games in general though, or modern video games? Baer certainly fathered the original/classic video game industry, and there's no debating that he and Bushnell are absolute legends, but I think it's pretty inarguable that Miyamoto fathered the industry's comeback, revolution and current status.