dmitriidon Hacker News • Recommends
On “Nintendo's secretive creative process”
I highly recommend Mark Brown's video "Nintendo: Putting Play First, link to this video (and his other essays on Nintendo)
0:00 / 0:00
#nintendo#gamedesign#shigerumiyamoto
Nintendo - Putting Play First
Game Maker's Toolkit
1.7M subscribers • 2 videos on Hallway
- Recommended by 3 people: 3 on Hacker News.
- A classic. People kept recommending it from 2017 to 2025.
- Presented by Mark Brown, creator of Game Maker's Toolkit
- May be out of date. Uploaded 9 years ago, in an area where tools change fast.
Beginner. No background in the topic needed.
996K views9 years ago3 recommendations
Game developmentSoftware designGame designGame programming
Mark Brown analyzes Nintendo's game design philosophy of perfecting a core toy-like mechanic before building the rest of the game.
🔴 Get bonus content by supporting Game Maker’s Toolkit - gamemakerstoolkit.com/support/ 🔴 In this episode I talk about Nintendo's method of making games, which helps this Japanese developer stand out from most other studios. === Sources and Resources === Miyamoto on core concepts, time, and ambition - shmuplations.com/mario64/ Gunpei Yokoi and replacing the character with a dot - shmuplations.com/yokoi/ A focus on jumping action - 1up.com/news/super-mario-bros-25th-miyamoto Luigi's Mansion is a game about using the vacuum - uk.ign.com/articles/2013/04/02/toad-is-zelda-the-untold-stor… Pikmin's simple basic action - techland.time.com/2013/06/18/shigeru-miyamoto-apologizes-for… Why Nintendo won't make a new F-Zero game - nintendolife.com/news/2012/11/miyamoto_puzzled_as_to_why_any… Miyamoto and form follows function - iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wii/super_mario_galaxy/3… Matching aesthetics to mechanics in Splatoon - nintendo.co.uk/News/2016/October/Learn-all-about-Splatoon-s-… Splatoon's evolving character design - iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wiiu/splatoon/0/0 Super Mario Sunshine's tropical island influence - gamecubicle.com/interview-super_mario_sunshine.htm Zelda's story brings out the gameplay - nintendo.co.uk/Iwata-Asks/Iwata-Asks-Wii/Iwata-Asks-The-Lege… Ocarina of Time's time travelling story - zeldadungeon.net/wiki/Interview:Iwata_Asks:_Ocarina_of_Time_…(Original_Development_Staff_-_Part_1) A Link Between Worlds' strange artist enemy - nintendo.co.uk/Iwata-Asks/Iwata-Asks-The-Legend-of-Zelda-A-L… Miyamoto admires Portal - mtv.com/news/2457976/shigeru-miyamoto-punchout-mario-zelda-p… Additional research via Shmuplations - shmuplations.com/ Iwata Asks (US) - iwataasks.nintendo.com/ Iwata Asks (UK) - nintendo.co.uk/Iwata-Asks/Iwata-Asks-525945.html Further reading / viewing Game/Show: "Super Mario's Hidden Language" youtu.be/P5laF4uVSVg Really Freakin' Clever: "Yoshi's Island" youtu.be/ptAExMfYFVE === Chapters === - Intro - Building Around a Mechanic - Adding a Twist - Form Follows Function - Aesthetics and Story - === Games Shown === The Order: 1886 (2015) Quantum Break (2016) The Evil Within (2014) Dark Souls III (2016) Civilization VI (2016) No Man's Sky (2016) Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (2016) Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (2014) Splatoon (2015) Super Mario 3D World (2013) Luigi's Mansion (2001) Pikmin 3 (2013) Super Mario WWhy it's here
3 people recommend thisWhat people say. Highly recommended by game developers and designers as an excellent explanation of mechanic-first game design.
ecliptikon Hacker News • Recommends
On “Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]”
One of my favorite video essay's on this is "Nintendo - Putting Play First" by Game Makers Toolkit 1. It goes into when making a game, Nintendo first determines the mechanic they want to focus on; jumping, throwing a hat, shooting paint, etc and finding out how to make it fun, then building and iterating on the idea. It's how they can keep putting out essentially the same games but are completely different. 1. link to this video
forkLdingon Hacker News • Recommends
On “An Embarrassing Tale: Why my server could only handle 10 players”
Quick suggestions on usability, maybe start off the game with players on a slower speed so they get used to moving around first and then gradually speed up by accomplishing actions that you want them to do in a training sort of manner so that players start learning and don't get confused. Side note: I subscribe to Mark Brown's Game Maker's Toolkit on Game Design and Game progression, here is an example: link to this video I think it would definitely help
ecliptikon Hacker News • Recommends
On “Legend of Zelda game sells 10M copies in three days”
There's a Game Maker's Toolkit video 1 that does a good job explaining how Nintendo focuses on play first. "That's how we make games at Nintendo, though: we get the fundamentals solid first, then do as much with that core concept as our time and ambition will allow" - Shigeru Miyamoto 1. link to this video