Malstrom explains how he would make his own 2d Mario game

[Mise]

theprof00 said:
@avalach or mr kahn

here's a couple problems with what your saying.

1. most people probably won't go back and replay the levels. Which means that a lot of the content is going to be ignored or never seen.

Quote-box monster go!

EDIT: Isn't 1. a common thing in gaming anyway, even when the content is completely static?

2. This is ok if the content is user generated. However, that either means that users needs to be in on the ground floor, as designers, which means they should probably be getting paid, which means that the bonus of user generated content (free content) is moot.

I don't think he meant that ALL content in the game is user-generated, unless there's some sort of design contest planned before the release - which would most likely be completely infeasible and costly as hell.

3. Even if the User generated content comes post sale, there is no guarantee of quality, regularity, consistency, accessibility, piety, or likability.

Which is a permanent problem with any and every game that supports (or is made to support) custom content.

Also - Piety? Since when did 2D platformer levels have to adhere to religious values?

4. Those games you listed change very small aspects of the levels. For example, water is simply a speed change, enemy list change, and background color change. User generated content is not simply changing the enemies.

Maybe, but the changes don't have to be that minor. For example, a rainy weather effect could affect your jumps, flight capabilities and powerups (ie. Fire and ice flowers, frog suit), make certain surfaces slippery, raise the present water level so you can (not) access some areas, unlock some lightning-based puzzles, raise or lower some areas of the level etc.

And having drastic level-changing effects and custom content in a game also means that levels should be designed with a high level of redundancy in order to guarantee their quality, which is not something your average gamer will even consider.

5. Even if you think that slightly changing levels is enough, it's certainly not what this guy is talking about. He's talking about ever changing levels, a living environment of change.

Which would be completely infeasible in this case since there's no real way to implement quality control in a game where the maps are completely random.

It's a nice vision, though.

He's basically talking about LBP:Mario edition, where the levels you select are on a level map, rather than a globe like in LBP. And user made levels get incorporated into the existing map groups. So instead of picking the maps you want to play, they pick themselves for you.

I don't think Malstrom was going for just a Mario game with a physics engine and downloadable levels.