GDC 2007 - Miyamoto Part 2: How Shiggy Gets Busy
Miyamoto's performance was so long, as you might have noticed, that I've broken it up into two parts. Apologies for the delay...this is not a two-man show! While it's true that Miyamoto's speech may read as boring to the gamer community, it was clearly targeted at the developer community - quite unlike Sony's spectacle, which seemed more about damage control than reaching out to inspire new developers.
I'll try to keep it brief this time. No promises.
After wrapping up his summation of the "Nintendo Difference," Miyamoto outlined the three facets of his own personal design philosophy. First up, "Communication." He brings up the original Zelda, which he says did not initially go over well in Japan. Players didn’t know what to do or where to go. Miyamoto didn’t listen to advice to simplify the game: "Instead of making it easier, I took away their sword at the beginning of the game. Then they’d know what to do first. They’d think about the game, and try to figure out what to do next." They’d talk to their friends and exchange information about the game. In this way, Zelda became the inspiration for an entirely different type of game: Animal Crossing. A game almost entirely without competition, a game that would make its players happy simply by moving around the world. And while this appealed to non-gamers like Mrs. Miyamoto, hardcore gamers also picked it up and became entranced with the series. Balancing risk with a drive for communication, Miyamoto expanded his audience.
Make the jump to learn more...including a bit about Super Mario Galaxy...
Miyamoto brought up the topic of “prioritization” as the second aspect of his personal vision: using Wii Sports as an example. He’s a huge baseball fan, so that aspect of the game was a natural fit. But the game lacks most of the realism of actual baseball, especially the characters. They don’t even have real arms…but Miyamoto's time was better spent finding new ways to make the game feel realistic: like the feel of pitching and hitting. (what, no catching? He’s a top!) They tried using Mario characters, on a lark, but found that people preferred the stylized, nearly limbless characters instead.
The final aspect of Miyamoto’s personal vision was “Tenacity” – people at Nintendo say that once Miyamoto has an idea, he never lets it go. He’s always wanted to make a baseball game, but rather than push the issue, he held on until the technology came along. That is, indeed, tenacious.
In a similar vein: years ago, Miyamoto had an idea for facial customization and even dancing in a game that was rejected multiple times across multiple platforms: “I thought that nobody at Nintendo would be able to resist this idea. They did!” But a showing at E3 in 2002 brought back the idea, coupled with a funky dance routine and fully customizable dancers. Miyamoto believed it would be a huge hit, but his collegues responded, “It may be funny, but you can’t make a game out of this.” He acquiesced, but remained tenacious.
When the Wii was in development, however, a similar notion was being pushed forward on the DS. Miyamoto was frustrated that his pet idea of 20 years had come to nothing, while an upstart DS team had cinched the concept for a different system. But he realized that his idea could be used within the Wii system, not so much as a game but as an enhancement for the experience. Instead of alienating his audience with a creative but pointless game, he could invite a whole new audience with a friendly, pretty interface and a fun way to create characters representing themselves, their friends, and more: and so was born the Mii Channel.
Finally, Miyamoto used an old friend as an example of tenacity. An old friend in red overalls. “I’m often asked in interviews, ‘What happened to Mario 128?’” He’s at a loss as to what to say… “Most of you have already played it. But you played it in a game called Pikmin.” But of course, that doesn’t sate our Mario hunger; Miyamoto points to Super Mario Galaxy as that answer: we saw incredible footage of Mario running around Little Prince style miniature planets, jumping and shooting and spinning around a galactic playground of seemingly endless diversity and potential…careening away from suns and lava planets, riding beautiful flowers into the hearts of spiral galaxies…it’s entrancing, it’s delightful, and it’s Nintendo. And we want it. Well, I want it. Check it out if you haven't seen it already.
“But your vision,” Miyamoto told the gathered designers, “Does not have to be my vision.” Miyamoto defines a successful game as a game that breaks out of past restraints and becomes a cultural phenomenon, a-la Mario. There are those who still fear or deride video games. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could bring them in, too? I believe we can do it.” After today, so do I.
“If we can convert my wife, I believe we can convert anyone. Hai?”
tiny dancer
Posted to Hot Stuff, Miscellany on 8 March 2007
Other stuff like this: gdc 2007, keynote, nintendo, personal design vision, shigeru miyamoto
