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Minigame Masters IRL

  1. Suichiro Nishiya has directed almost all of the mainstream Mario Party titles except for the first few, in which he worked as a standard developer. Nishiya’s ability to explore different iterations of the classic Mario Party formula illustrates his passion for giving long-time Mario Party fans a new and exciting way to play. Take Mario Party 10, for example. Typical Mario Party games have players individually move around a board, but in the 10th iteration of the series, Nishiya established a new mechanic of having all of the players journey around the board together. This brought a whole new element of strategy to the game, and surprised many players. Altogether, Mario Party is one of the most beloved series in Nintendo’s history, and much of its success is thanks to Nishiya. However, Nishiya has worked on other titles as well, including Wii Party, a more generic version of Mario Party with wider varieties of modes. Although Wii Party wasn’t as resounding a success as any of the Mario Party game, it has a special place in my heart for bringing me and my family countless hours of fun.

2. Palmer Luckey used his experience with working for a military technology company to create the Oculus Rift, one of the world’s first commercial VR headsets. He had always been interested in virtual and augmented reality, even going as far to make prototypes in his parents’ garage at age 17. While these prototypes were rather ineffective, Luckey’s Oculus Rift was a massive success, earning $2.4 million dollars to fund the project back in 2012. Fast forward to today; Luckey’s invention is as successful as ever, especially with developers leaning more to creating VR games and applications.

3. Piotr Iwanicki developed Superhot, a game where time only moves where you do, in 2016. Since then, the game has grown a pretty sizable cult following, especially due to its minimal and stylish look. The game is not very long, but the replay potential is through the roof, especially considering the game gives you multiple ways to execute the red crystal guys that chase you through each level. Superhot was one of the first bigger games to get VR support, and I can confirm the game is SO COOL in VR. This game was definitely one of the reasons I became so interested in VR, and it’s all thanks to the brilliant design of Iwanicki.

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Minigame Masters

It’s a game where you play minigames. In VR. That’s pretty cool!

I’m not great at making games, so I’d like to design games instead. Having made games before, I know the kinds of things that go into them and the different kinds of workflows that development includes. As such, this document will be the “everything you need” to make my game: Minigame Masters.

The ups will definitely come in designing each of the minigames. However, there is so much more that goes into a game other than just the games itself. I have to think about the UI, the music, the player experience, and so on. It’s going to be a lot less fun when I get into the actual building part. My skillset just isn’t as proficient as it should be for that kind of work.

If all else fails, I could jump into one of the other 30 ideas I have: Esports set design, voice acting an interactive meta/4th wall-breaking story, Dragon’s Lair-esque game…

I’ve already posted my design document, but here it is again: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JhwvaiGwqwkBxH0IY7rEHbV4f1-gaTnqvjX4YQjqyTA/edit?usp=sharing

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A Story of Love and Loss

Steve Job’s second story, that of “love and loss,” hit me at a degree that was very close to home. As many of my friends know, I am really in love with a competitive game called Smite. I have worn many hats in the time that I have played the game, but none have ever been as amazing as the time when I coached an amateur team that got a chance to compete at the international level.

This team was called We Garn Servo and was an Australian team comprised of 5 male players ages 16-22. I completed their lineup as their sixth member, and although we spent so much time together, it was obvious I didn’t quite fit in for a number of reasons. Firstly, they were 16+ hours ahead, and I wasn’t really able to spend the quality time a teammate typically does getting to know them. Our scrimmages were from 3-7 AM for me, so as soon as we were done, I was off to bed or else I was definitely not going to make it to class later that day. Secondly, the team was all guys. Normally, you would hope that wouldn’t mean anything, but there always seemed to be a bit of a divide; I was never really “one of the lads” as they would say.

Despite this, I worked incredibly hard to review their scrimmages, devise strategies, and compile statistics in order to give them the best possible chances at dominating their Oceanic league. And that’s exactly what they did. Though it was a rocky start, I have never felt more proud of anything that I’d ever done than the moment that we won our best of three set that secured our tickets to the international Smite Masters LAN event. That feeling of pride didn’t last forever.

A week after we won, I had been getting some mixed signals from the boys. A little later, I was told I was kicked from the team.

Kicked? You’re joking, right?

Alas, it was the truth. They decided that the ticket I had worked so hard to earn would be snatched from my hand and ripped to shreds. To say I was devastated was an understatement. Even as I think back now, I wish I had been able to change my fate, for my life could have been so different if I had actually been able to go.

However, that doesn’t mean I dislike where I ended up. That doesn’t mean I left my passion to float away with the cruel breeze like my ticket did. In fact, it made it much, much stronger. Since then, I have grown within the Smite community to a place where I am much happier — not to mention I actually have gotten paid to play it. Although I lost something very dear to me, I was able to reassess and find the place where I truly wanted to be. Rather than waking up to a deafening alarm at 3 AM to groggily watch scrimmages, I can create my own content and reach an audience beyond those that are interested in the niche international leagues.

I did love my coaching position with We Garn Servo, and though I lost it, I didn’t lose my love for the game, the community, and the job.

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Minigame Masters (Feedback Requested)

My thesis project will be a design document of a Mario Party-esque collection of minigames that would be played in VR.

I will be updating my design document at the following link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JhwvaiGwqwkBxH0IY7rEHbV4f1-gaTnqvjX4YQjqyTA/edit?usp=sharing

Please feel free to check it out and send me any feedback you have.

I especially am looking for feedback on fonts for the logos of the minigames, so please take a look at section 9a and tell me which you think looks best.