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GCG's Game Design Challenge: DS Platformer Innovation
by Staff
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July 2, 2009
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The platforming genre has a lot of entries on the DS, but few of them exclusively use the touchscreen to create innovative gameplay. In GameCareerGuide's new Game Design Challenge, readers are asked to devise exactly that.
As the introduction to the new Challenge, which is a popular recurring part of Gamasutra's sister educational website's line-up, explains:
"Though the Nintendo DS has been out for years and is one of the most successful platforms in the history of gaming, very few games have truly innovated in the standard platforming genre. The system's most popular platformer, New Super Mario Bros. plays it safe with tested 2D gameplay and button input.
HAL Laboratory's Kirby Canvas Curse, on the other hand, breathes new life into a series otherwise known for being reliable and cute. And it does this with a very DS-centric play mechanic: using the stylus to draw ramps for the ever-moving Kirby to traverse.
There's much more room for innovation in this genre.
Your task is to create an innovative, stylus-based platforming game mechanic for the Nintendo DS. You can't use the buttons on the system; just the touch-screen.
Bear in mind that you only have to concentrate on the mechanic itself, not the full game design that supports it -- but feel free to elaborate as much or as little as you like."
For further details on how to participate and submit your concepts, check out the full Game Design Challenge post on Gamasutra's education-focused sister site, GameCareerGuide.com.
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Its nice to see interest in plat-formers, I really miss them.
I bought Klanoa 2 on the PS2 recently and that was great dose of fresh air.
I have to say that one thing bothers me, is how overrated most of the later
and current Super Mario Bros games are. I played That game and it was so
same thing I had back in the 80s. It lacked so much. how do you go from
Mario 3 and all its great costumes and worlds to the new one, which is very
dry( I cont care if its a throw back) and call it "innovative"
(no gimmicks please)
A rule I strongly live by is, come up with the idea 1st, and THEN find out
what platform caters to it the most, not "here is what you have to work with, go!"
The problem is, designers in this contest case are given"Here is touch screen tech
make something cool" as the root of creativity, as oppose to, I have this great idea for
a platformer, then fleshing out the schmatics and then seeing what platform suits it
best.
Yes I understand that this is just a neat lil contest to explore some touch tools, but
I just hate seeing this support for a dead aspect (platformer wise)of the DS tried to be justified back
into respectable popularity.
I don't want to give the wrong impression. The lil Ds has a soft spot in my heart and
gets plenty of game time from me.
1st Castlevania game on DS had touch screen parts and were a great idea and
were done well, but they were not missed one bit later on and going back and
playing it now, it seems tedious and annoying to sway that stylus around in the
game.