So, the I get the feeling the west end village project will be drawing to a close soon. Various files have been sent to various people, and while I think that most of my work is over (I think...) I get the feeling that I might be able to stick around to watch the whole thing take shape. Would be nice to see it all come together. I've been working on this project since around about early July/late June and it's been quite a blast. The final meeting with all us designing folk is scheduled for next week. It's just one of the "So what are we doing meetings" the kind where we say we've actually spending our time doing something productive rather than drinking heavily and wondering what to go see at the Fringe - Which reminds me, I really should go see something before it's all over...
As for other things going on in my big ol' design world....weeeeell it's quiet. And to coin an over used phrase too quiet. But to be fair I have great plans for my folio. Within the next few months some of my work shall be cherry picked for a very nice overhaul. Everything remade to be nice, bright and shiny. And yes! To the one follower that watches this blog, you will get to see the up/dates/grades to my work. With the more advanced skills that I have picked up over the last few years I think I can stretch myself to work on some fantastic new stuff.
So, I actually have been keeping myself busy on the side. A little design thing here and there. Recently got a little request to do some design over haul - it was less than purdy. The kind that aches of that 90's era of design where there are loads of Bizzaro Helveticas lingering around the place being used in what could actually be a breach of the Geneva Convention. It's been an interesting little jaunt to keep the cogs turn and stopping the rabid insanity from taking hold.
So, it's been quiet, but I am hoping to get a job soon. The recent hail of CVs in Edinburgh should yield something, and hey, another one will strike soon. So if any design agencies do actually watch this blog, well keep an eye out for a little white envelope coming through your door.
Tuesday 23 August 2011
Monday 1 August 2011
An open letter to Nintendo
I doubt this letter would ever reach anyone of importance to company, and I doubt anyone with any connections to the company ever reads this blog - but I would like to know that somehow it one day could. Wishful thinking.
I'm a fan of video gaming. I won't deny it. Always have been, always will be. Most likely I will encourage my children to play video games. And perhaps even in the distant future when I am old and grey, I will still play video games.
That is not to say I am creating a wold devoid of life and creativity. On the contrary, I'm a designer. I'm a sociable creature, I greatly enjoy the time I have with my friends and family. Sadly, the ones who are slowly suffering from is a lack of creativity is Nintendo.
It is almost with a heavy heart that I write it. Nintendo? Lacking imagination? Surely not, they've created one of the first motion controlled consoles to sell worldwide. They took something as horrible as the virtual boy remade it and created the highly popular 3DS...and while these are all brilliant innovations, it's somewhat like have an incredibly fine dust jacket for a book. Wonderful to look at, hold and feel. But what's inside is somewhat lacking substance.
Perhaps it is me and I am feeling a little jaded at what I am being offered for games on the wii. It's so very lacking. There are good games. Yes. But they could have been so much more.
Super Mario Galaxy was probably the biggest leap forewords in Nintendo's Mario series within the 21st century. It gave us something fantastic to look at, feel enjoy and experience. The game was flawed in certain areas. However I forgive this. They tried to do something new, if a little formulaic. Galaxy 2 however. It was just something with another number added onto it.
In an age where consoles can instantly have downloadable content to add to the overall feel and the depth of the game, a plot can be expanded, altered, levels could be made harder, enemies could be added we have never seen before and we a perhaps paying just for those individual items rather than just a whole new game.
But thats what Galaxy 2 is. It's DLC, but it comes as a new game. There is nothing new to the gameplay, layout feel, look, music, not even the plot is any different. Of course, yes Mario plots are thin, but there is the difference between using the "Kidnap Peach" idea to completely recycling ideas and presenting them in a manner that they are ment to be new. Nintendo didn't ever really try that for Galaxy 2. And thats why I'm quite bitter about it. I enjoyed the game of course. It's fun to play, but it never offered me anything more than Galaxy did in the beginning. And thats the problem, no matter who your audience is your need to give them something new otherwise they are never going to see the point in buying your products if you can't be brave enough to look outside your box, or comfort zone, or the area of definition.
This is sadly's Nintendo's defining flaw. There are only a few occasions where a team has been brave enough to take a game idea and actual make it real. The best example? Super Paper Mario Witty, fun an actual plot it holds more water than the Galaxy series. And the sad part? Super Paper Mario is a sequel. Yes. It sits in the same corner as Galaxy 2. But it tries. It gives us something and doesn't take the audience for granted.
Of course, you could argue "But it's a children's game. Are you that petty you will try and dissect something that is intended for children?"
My response? It's not just for children. Nintendo broke into the world of family gaming when they created the wii. Creating a console that could span across a much wider audience than they ever did before. Perhaps not just with the wii, but with their entire business model was made with a family in mind. So why talk down to your audience with a game that doesn't try? I honestly have no idea. But I think sooner or later Nintendo will need to show some creative innovations within their games that need to show that they not only have good ideas for consoles. But good ideas for games as well. Maybe the second Wii game will do this. But I'm usure. Hopeful but unsure.
So, what do I want from Nintendo? Well, I want a Mario game that will make me stop and stare at what is happening. Something that will finally top that feeling I got when I fist played Mario 64. Do something no one has ever dared to ask. And don't talk down to us. There was a helping in condescension in every aspect of Galaxy 2, the protective box on the cd case game with instructions, it came with a tutorial DVD, and a poster on how to play the game, and with an instruction book, not to mention the game gives you constant controller prompts. This just feels backwards. Playing a game and getting to that point you've been struggling to reach for so long is such a good feeling because you got there yourself, and you didn't use cheats, you got through on skill. How does it make me feel then that at every turn I am reminded how to play the game? As if I am too ham fisted to use the controller, I can't possibly jump a ledge without a helpful NPC to remind me to do so?
In the future I want Nintendo to actually look at what they are producing, and think. "What do the fans want?" Yes we could do with another Mario game. But a better Mario game. Perhaps even make a new addition to the Nintendo family? All your characters that you featured in games such as Super Smash Bros Brawl? Perhaps introduce someone else? Create a whole new character that can carry the weight of the Nintendo legacy. Perhaps even let Mario rest for a little while. Create us something truly new and origonal. And don't treat us like children when you show it to us.
Now perhaps this ramble was something I needed to get out of my system. A collection of thoughts that I felt I needed to share. And I know people have done it before. But I'm doing it again. But I want to remind people that I love Nintendo, I love their contributions to games young and old what they have done has been so interwoven into my childhood that if it never existed I would probably never be where I am today. So deep down I would somehow hope this would reach them in an effort to show them from a fan's perspective what is so very wrong. And perhaps prod them into a direction. And who knows what comes of this. If Nintendo ever wanted someone for their ideas team. Well I would be more than willing to live out my life's dream of making games.
So, if anyone from Nintendo does somehow manage to read this. It doesn't matter what part of the building your in, you could be the janitor, or Miyamoto himself. It would just be nice to know that someone out there has read this. And perhaps would agree that things could be changed for better.
Well. That's that out of my system. See you people around.
I'm a fan of video gaming. I won't deny it. Always have been, always will be. Most likely I will encourage my children to play video games. And perhaps even in the distant future when I am old and grey, I will still play video games.
That is not to say I am creating a wold devoid of life and creativity. On the contrary, I'm a designer. I'm a sociable creature, I greatly enjoy the time I have with my friends and family. Sadly, the ones who are slowly suffering from is a lack of creativity is Nintendo.
It is almost with a heavy heart that I write it. Nintendo? Lacking imagination? Surely not, they've created one of the first motion controlled consoles to sell worldwide. They took something as horrible as the virtual boy remade it and created the highly popular 3DS...and while these are all brilliant innovations, it's somewhat like have an incredibly fine dust jacket for a book. Wonderful to look at, hold and feel. But what's inside is somewhat lacking substance.
Perhaps it is me and I am feeling a little jaded at what I am being offered for games on the wii. It's so very lacking. There are good games. Yes. But they could have been so much more.
Super Mario Galaxy was probably the biggest leap forewords in Nintendo's Mario series within the 21st century. It gave us something fantastic to look at, feel enjoy and experience. The game was flawed in certain areas. However I forgive this. They tried to do something new, if a little formulaic. Galaxy 2 however. It was just something with another number added onto it.
In an age where consoles can instantly have downloadable content to add to the overall feel and the depth of the game, a plot can be expanded, altered, levels could be made harder, enemies could be added we have never seen before and we a perhaps paying just for those individual items rather than just a whole new game.
But thats what Galaxy 2 is. It's DLC, but it comes as a new game. There is nothing new to the gameplay, layout feel, look, music, not even the plot is any different. Of course, yes Mario plots are thin, but there is the difference between using the "Kidnap Peach" idea to completely recycling ideas and presenting them in a manner that they are ment to be new. Nintendo didn't ever really try that for Galaxy 2. And thats why I'm quite bitter about it. I enjoyed the game of course. It's fun to play, but it never offered me anything more than Galaxy did in the beginning. And thats the problem, no matter who your audience is your need to give them something new otherwise they are never going to see the point in buying your products if you can't be brave enough to look outside your box, or comfort zone, or the area of definition.
This is sadly's Nintendo's defining flaw. There are only a few occasions where a team has been brave enough to take a game idea and actual make it real. The best example? Super Paper Mario Witty, fun an actual plot it holds more water than the Galaxy series. And the sad part? Super Paper Mario is a sequel. Yes. It sits in the same corner as Galaxy 2. But it tries. It gives us something and doesn't take the audience for granted.
Of course, you could argue "But it's a children's game. Are you that petty you will try and dissect something that is intended for children?"
My response? It's not just for children. Nintendo broke into the world of family gaming when they created the wii. Creating a console that could span across a much wider audience than they ever did before. Perhaps not just with the wii, but with their entire business model was made with a family in mind. So why talk down to your audience with a game that doesn't try? I honestly have no idea. But I think sooner or later Nintendo will need to show some creative innovations within their games that need to show that they not only have good ideas for consoles. But good ideas for games as well. Maybe the second Wii game will do this. But I'm usure. Hopeful but unsure.
So, what do I want from Nintendo? Well, I want a Mario game that will make me stop and stare at what is happening. Something that will finally top that feeling I got when I fist played Mario 64. Do something no one has ever dared to ask. And don't talk down to us. There was a helping in condescension in every aspect of Galaxy 2, the protective box on the cd case game with instructions, it came with a tutorial DVD, and a poster on how to play the game, and with an instruction book, not to mention the game gives you constant controller prompts. This just feels backwards. Playing a game and getting to that point you've been struggling to reach for so long is such a good feeling because you got there yourself, and you didn't use cheats, you got through on skill. How does it make me feel then that at every turn I am reminded how to play the game? As if I am too ham fisted to use the controller, I can't possibly jump a ledge without a helpful NPC to remind me to do so?
In the future I want Nintendo to actually look at what they are producing, and think. "What do the fans want?" Yes we could do with another Mario game. But a better Mario game. Perhaps even make a new addition to the Nintendo family? All your characters that you featured in games such as Super Smash Bros Brawl? Perhaps introduce someone else? Create a whole new character that can carry the weight of the Nintendo legacy. Perhaps even let Mario rest for a little while. Create us something truly new and origonal. And don't treat us like children when you show it to us.
Now perhaps this ramble was something I needed to get out of my system. A collection of thoughts that I felt I needed to share. And I know people have done it before. But I'm doing it again. But I want to remind people that I love Nintendo, I love their contributions to games young and old what they have done has been so interwoven into my childhood that if it never existed I would probably never be where I am today. So deep down I would somehow hope this would reach them in an effort to show them from a fan's perspective what is so very wrong. And perhaps prod them into a direction. And who knows what comes of this. If Nintendo ever wanted someone for their ideas team. Well I would be more than willing to live out my life's dream of making games.
So, if anyone from Nintendo does somehow manage to read this. It doesn't matter what part of the building your in, you could be the janitor, or Miyamoto himself. It would just be nice to know that someone out there has read this. And perhaps would agree that things could be changed for better.
Well. That's that out of my system. See you people around.
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