Over the last month, since I got my Wii U, I have been hooked onto Mario Kart 8. Mario Kart has been a series which took the overly used racing genre and put a Mario spin on it with power-ups that can help you attack as well as defend yourself against other racers. Mario Kart is the pioneer of the “kart series” and was first released as Super Mario Kart on the SNES. One common aspect of Mario Kart since it’s inception are the use of environmental hazards incorporated in conjunction with the attacks made by other racers. So you better concentrate a LOT during these races! Environmental hazards are a very useful of game design for players in order to encourage them to learn from their mistakes. For example, at the end of each lap of Rainbow Road, we have two Thwwomps alternately falling down which hurt the player when it falls down on the car. We have also have a leading ramp over a pit of nothingness which gives the player three options to choose while driving. The player in his first lap will learn the pattern of the Thwwomps and that the player should have a high speed before approaching the ramp to cross the pit. Over the course of the next two laps, the player will learn and then master the pattern and use the pit to his advantage by hurting other racers at his point. In the Bowser’s Castle map, we have an active volcano in the distance which is erupting in the first lap. This visual indicator is excellent use of feedback as well as indirect control. In the second and third lap, we see chunks of rock and lava crashing onto the race track every time the volcano spurts a bit of it into the air. The first lap programs the player into noticing and later avoiding the volcano and the projectile it spurts out. Another very good of environmental hazards as a way of setting up the interest curve to it’s peak In the final lap is through the use of music in each individual map. The music speeds up and becomes pulsating with the player realizing that it’s do or die. Rosalina’s Ice World is yet another excellent map where environmental hazards teach the player how to drive in different conditions. The first turn in Mount Wario has a descending cliff with many players falling into it because of the skidding the snow causes. The player either himself falling or seeing other people falling realizes that the snow causes skidding in this level, so he must drift cautiously. This is another excellent use of visual feedback and game design to produce indirect control over the player and teach the player the rules in the game. These are three classic examples among many of Mario Kart teaching it's players to drive and learn the maps design through the design of environmental hazards.
4 Comments
1/20/2016 10:51:34 pm
It is interesting you talk about interest curves in a racing game. It is hard to bring about that in racing games and interest games are usually present all through racing but can never be forced a points. From the little that I've played Mario Kart, I completely understand the author's stand-point on how the interest curve has been introduced. This makes me wonder how interest curves can be improved in all racing games especially in a lap based environment. Its not like titles like Forza Motor Sport and Gran Turismo can introduce the same mechanics of Mario Kart as the game is more photo realistic. It will be an interesting area to explore.
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Ben Gansky
1/23/2016 04:20:41 pm
Nice points here about how interest curves and indirect control operate in a repetitive environment--a situation exemplified by racing games. The ways that players learn how to leverage the environment definitely include, as you say, environmental signs (like the erupting volcano) and seeing other players fail (another element probably best represented in the racing genre). I would be interested to hear your take on how the latest Mario Kart uses carrots--positive feedback to encourage the player to explore unexpected or out-of-the-way routes.
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Tony Fusco
1/27/2016 03:26:17 pm
I'll echo Ben Gansky that the most useful principle here is the idea of interest curves and control in recursive environments. I'd point out though that the examples Milind gives are all ways that the designers break that mould; that is, ways they change the map (music, effects that occur only on later laps) despite the obvious repetition. Do you think there's a role for the portions that really don't change?
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Carrie
1/28/2016 12:50:58 am
I liked that you point out the interest curve being created by using the environment and music, especially in a racing game. That’s something a game designer can think about to add into a game. The way that the game designers of Mario Kart use environmental hazards to teach players the rules and skills they need to master is really smart.
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Milind NilekaniLove Nintendo games and game design. This blog is to detail my love for both. Archives
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