Hey there! Welcome to Design Club.
So, let's get down to business.
Today, we have decided to start at the beginning,
and when it comes to modern gaming,
things really don't get much more "beginning"
than Super Mario Bros.'s Level 1-1.
Level 1-1 is a master class in level design.
An incredible amount of thought and care
went into modulating the player's experience
and crafting the learning curve,
even in the first two screens!
Given the tight limits on resources for an 8-bit game,
a lot of clever decisions had to be made
to make this game appeal to a generation
completely unfamiliar with games.
Of all the 8-bit greats, Super Mario Bros. has
some of the best examples of well-used affordances
and well-designed learning curves,
and it does it all without blocks of text
or requiring people to actually read the manual.
So, let's take a look at the opening screen.
Mario starts, facing right,
with a ton of negative space in front of him.
Nothing is moving, nothing is apparently threatening.
This static screen gives the player some time
to mess around with the controls and get used to them.
The way Mario starts also informs the player
where they'll be going for the entirety of the game:
Going right.
Just looking at the screen shows you
the wide open path.
Despite the fact that Mario spends most of his time
in the center of the screen, the designers made
a deliberate choice to start Mario elsewhere.
This affordance through the use of space
does a mountain of work that games today
spend lengthy cutscenes on.
The player never feels lost in purpose,
and they know how to begin
without even needing to be told what the goal is.
Just move right.
So, along Mario's wayward journey to the right,
the first thing we see is a question mark,
bright and flashing so we can't miss it.
It invites exploration without being threatening.
You can approach it at your own pace, so you do.
But just as you get close, something else appears.
Our first enemy slides on screen.
How does the player know it's an enemy?
Well, two reasons:
1. The sprite itself has some distinctly angry eyebrows.
2. The Goomba, unlike the object
you've already encountered, is moving right towards you.
Imagine if the Goomba was stationary.
Not nearly as threatening.
Your first encounter with the Goomba ensures
that you've learned a major skill before proceeding.
You cannot get past this spot without jumping.
Given that the NES controller had
four nondirectional buttons to explore
and, as a designer, we already know
the player's already used the directionals,
it was totally reasonable to expect
the players to experiment with them
without the need for explicit instructions.
And if the player dies, nothing big is lost.
The player's just sent back a very short distance
and has to try again.
Short iteration cycles are your friend.
Immediately after the first enemy
comes the first encounter with the power-up system.
The player, being intrigued by
the question mark and all the flashing,
usually hits this question block, releasing a mushroom.
The mushroom does a few interesting things.
First, it moves right, usually following the player.
This gives the player plenty of time
to watch this new entity and learn how it moves.
Second, it moves above the player
and then drops down.
This teaches the player about how
other objects are affected by gravity,
unlike the block it originally came from.
As an extension, it bounces off the green pipe,
showing how mushrooms interact
with other solid objects
while virtually ensuring that the player will get it.
Even if the player decides that,
based on what they've experienced so far,
that mushroom-shaped objects are generally bad,
and tries to jump over it,
the natural path to try and jump over the mushroom
puts the player on a direct collision course
with the blocks above Mario.
The angle which the player would use to jump over it
causes them to be knocked right down into the mushroom.
While still allowing the player complete autonomy,
the clever designers at Nintendo managed to
induce the players to touch a mushroom that,
at first blush, seems like a dangerous enemy.
The next terrifying obstacle the player has to overcome
is a set of pipes of increasing height.
The increasing height of the pipes requires
the player to learn a slightly unintuitive mechanic:
Mario's jump height is related to
how long the player holds the jump button.
Again the player cannot advance
until they learn this mechanic.
But these pipes have way more to teach.
The movement patterns of the Goombas
and how they interact with each other
are revealed below the pipes,
and once the player fails to clear the jump,
they're in the pit with the two Goombas
where it's possible they'll learn that you receive
bonus points for stomping multiple enemies.
More importantly, these pipes give you a safe space
to practice the pit-jumping the player will do later.
They mirror challenges that Miyamoto plans
to present the player with down the line,
but here he makes sure they have basic facility with the skill
before really presenting it in a threatening way.
Lastly, we have the final pipe and the first pit,
where the designers put the game's first two secrets.
The last pipe in the row allows the player
to enter a secret room full of coins,
and, really, this is for old hands of the game.
It's for veteran players to be able to get through the level
more quickly and back to a place that challenges them,
so it doesn't have much impact
on the new player experience.
The invisible block before the first pit
is another story, though.
While 95% of new players will never see it,
it's placed in such a way
that if you're really going to miss your jump,
if you're really going to jump early
and dive right into that pit, you'll find a secret instead!
And with that, we will wrap up this week.
There's a lot going on here,
and that's just the first 30 seconds.
Try breaking down the rest of Level 1-1
as an exercise for yourself.
Why are these two pyramidlike objects here?
What's the purpose of these four Goombas right in a row?
If you haven't played through at least
the first few levels of Super Mario Bros.,
you definitely should make the time.
It's also worth a quick trip down memory lane
even if you have played it.
and you will see it so much differently
looking at it now as a designer rather than
simply playing it like your first time through.
You'll be surprised how much fundamental game
design knowledge displayed here is still used today.
We gotta get going, but let us know
what you think of the show in the comments.
If this is something you guys would love
to see more of, let us know.
Good luck and good gaming.