Overcoming Obstacles: A Change In Perspective
Before deciding that I wanted to get a degree in game design, I first earned a bachelor's degree in education. While working in that field, I quickly learned that the students thought about things differently than I did. For instance, while I may find certain methods of solving math problems easy, my students might consider those methods difficult and prefer alternative approaches. As such, I had to frequently put myself into my students' shoes in order to better understand how they perceived the content I was teaching them. During my research for this assignment, I quickly found that this technique can also be applied to game design. Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of games like Mario and Zelda, uses a similar strategy in his line of work. He frequently looks at things from a gamer's perspective to help him make decisions and solve problems that don't always seem obvious from a designer's point of view.
One of the earliest instances of him using this approach was in the 1980's, when Nintendo was working on the first Super Mario Bros. According to Miyamoto (2015), they started by creating fun levels for the players, but realized that they would need to design an introductory level to teach people how to play the game. “We simulated what the player would do,” he said. Rather than looking at it from the perspective of someone who had experience with the game, they instead considered how a new player would approach certain situations. For instance, because walking into the first bad guy causes the player to lose a life, they would instead jump over it. Then, curious about the nearby blocks, players would jump into them and release a mushroom. Acknowledging that players might mistake this power-up for one of the enemies they just jumped over, they force the players to touch it by making the blocks too low for them to jump over it. Upon collecting the power-up and getting bigger, they would then understand that the mushrooms were safe to collect. This particular example has made it clear to me that you should never assume that a player will understand or act the way you think they will. Instead, a designer should start off with the assumption that players know nothing about the game, and give them a safe environment to experiment and learn in. I will use this knowledge to create ways to teach players through experience, rather than making them read or watch unnecessary tutorials, which happens all too often in games these days.
This technique is also used when he comes up with ideas for new games. In an interview with Matt Peckham (2015), Miyamoto discusses how he prefers to make games that people of any age would like to play, rather than limiting them to a specific age in particular. He looks at things from the perspective of a gamer instead of the perspective of a kid or adult, and simply makes games that are fun to play. “Ideally we should be making things that can be enjoyed by the widest possible range of people,” says Miyamoto. “Even when we make something that we want children to enjoy, we always aim to achieve a level of quality and content that even adults can appreciate.” This has helped me realize that there isn't always a need to limit your target audience by age, and I intend to likewise create games that can be enjoyed by everyone.
But designing the Wii was perhaps one of the biggest obstacles that this strategy helped Miyamoto and the rest of Nintendo overcome. Since Nintendo's previous console, the GameCube, didn't sell up to par with the competition, they needed to create a new console that would bring them back on top. According to John Gaudiosi (2007), Miyamoto and Nintendo President Saturo Iwata were the two major influences that made the Wii into the success that it was. By looking through the perspective of gamers, they noticed a few things that would give them a leg up on the competition. They noticed how many people these days may not have the time or money to devote to the other consoles available at that time, that controllers were consistently growing more confusing, and that fun gameplay was far more important than graphics. With this in mind, they could take steps towards creating something far more worthwhile to their buyers. They made it family friendly, with motion controls that were accessible to people of all ages, so that families and friends could use it to spend time with one another. Since most people already had a DVD player, and most people didn't have a TV capable of displaying HD graphics at the time, they left out that functionality in an effort to reduce the cost. To top it all off, they offered a free game with every console. Thanks to all of this, the Wii went on to become a massive success. It just goes to show just how much a change in perspective can help when things aren't going the way you'd like. Instead of trying to always make things bigger and better, I think it will be worthwhile in my future to instead take a different and more unique path.
I personally find it inspiring to see Shigeru Miyamoto using such a technique in most of what he does. Designing levels, coming up with new games, and creating brand new consoles are just a few instances where a change in perspective is useful. I'd personally argue that this method would be beneficial in any situation, and I intend to practice this to become successful in my own career.
References
Bratt, C. (Editor), & Miyamoto, S., & Tezuka, T. (Speakers). (2016). Miyamoto on World 1-1: How Nintendo made Mario's most iconic level [YouTube video]. Eurogamer.
Gaudiosi, J. (2007, May). WHY Wii WON. Business 2.0, Vol. 8(Issue 4), 35-37.
Peckham, M. (2015, March 25). 7 Fascinating Insights from Nintendo’s Gaming Genius Shigeru Miyamoto. From http://time.com/3747708/nintendo-shigeru-miyamoto/?iid=sr-link1
