Super Mario Maker as a toolset for future developers

My haunted house Mario Maker course.

As a student doing a computer games course I can’t help but wonder how the Games Industry is going to change over the years. When you think about what the first developers were like, you picture coders that went from creating games from scratch. In the present we have many different game engines to use, should we choose to do so. These programmers have such a vast knowledge and they came up with unique ideas and pushed a lot of genres forward. It’s becoming increasingly difficult though not impossible to come up with new genres and ideas.

However I’m going to be looking at the influences that will affect future generations of coders. The generations that grow up with Minecraft and Super Mario Maker will be practicing level design and pushing the boundaries of what these games can offer without even realizing it. They will be creating meta games without knowing the potential for these ideas to be fully fledged games. Most importantly these games give you freedom, they give you the toolsets to be able to build worlds you want to build, build games within games and allow you to come up with a creative idea in a short period of time.

Fallout 4 – Building
Most games are adding sandbox or building elements for example the new fallout entries building mechanics. Many popular games have building mechanics or sandbox elements for example GTA,Gmod,Happy Wheels,Little Big Planet, Minecraft, and Super Mario Maker. These types of games allow you to push yourself to create your own scenarios in these games a process which can be applied to games creation.

My bowling course “Crash Bowling” – ID in the linked article at the bottom

I believe the reason this is becoming easier is because the level creation tools are becoming more user friendly, and translate better from your mind to the game for example in Super Mario Maker you just drag on what you want and in Minecraft you pick up a block and you can move it elsewhere. Another reason I believe design is becoming easier with these tools is because you learn the games constraints and come up with ways around them (another great skill to have as a design/programmer) for example people that have made calculators, auto-runners, puzzles, bowling games all within Super Mario Maker.

Therefore I am intrigued and excited to see what new generations of designers and programmers will bring to the industry.

If you wish to check out my Mario Maker levels they are listed here.

-Tom =)