Asobi Project
Gaming | at 11:10 PM
I posted today my attempt at Nintendo Japan's Asobi-Project. This project is actually a contest in which participants submit ideas for a game they invent and use the original features of the Nintendo DS. A jury of four/five persons, among which famed Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, will select the best entries and give money prizes. The winning project might become an actual game.
It's the kind of opportunity I've been waiting all my life and yet, procrastination took over and I only finished sketching my last idea today in a rush. I sent three ideas that I will keep secrets for the time being. What was particularly difficult is to express your ideas in the best possible way knowing that:
1/ you should keep it as brief as possible because the jury is probably going to browse what you've done very quickly, after all there's going to be many contestants.
2/ in these conditions, clarity is a must, and I suspect drawings, sketches are too, because...
3/ ...the jury is Japanese only and they might not want or not be able to read through long English sentences.
4/ keep focused on your core idea, something creative.
It was a really difficult exercice, but very interesting. I learnt two things from it: how bad I am at drawing and how bad I am at presenting well. Of course I knew about that for a long time, but it's been a while since I used pen, pencils and papers in such a dedicated manner. It felt very awkward because of the time I spend on computers; with them, everything is neatly sorted, letters clear and readable, shapes are geometrically perfect, when going back to the old paper and pencil and trying to do the same, a neat, redable and appealing presentation, it's much harder.
Overall though, I think I succeeded in conveying my ideas. It's another problem to know if they will catch the jury's attention of course. I'm afraid other contestants with more professional skills and tools will send much better material. But Nintendo in the end is judging, and that for me is where my chance stands, because I trust they will not judge so much on the quality of the presentation as on the quality of the idea. It's a bit like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, everyone has a chance to win, rich or poor, it's not a matter of being a rich kid to be lucky enough to find the gold ticket, likewise it's not a matter of being a rich or professional designer to come with the right ideas. It's not even a matter of being the smartest, it just comes to one thing: imagination.
After I sent the letter, I searched on the Net to see if other people discussed about the contest and what kind of ideas they sent. I found one forum (I will not reveal the name) where some people had posted ideas they had sent and I was sincerely relieved to see their ideas were... plain bad ! I think they completely missed point number 4, the most important, about originality. What they all proposed, was just a rehash of a known genre with something slightly different, with practically no creative input, something anyone could come up with. If a game like this had to be scored on the originality factor, it would get a very low grade. But of course, they think their ideas are fine because they accept games which are just equally uncreative.
Another interesting fact was that their ideas always had a brutal theme: a beat'em up, a shoot'em up or a violent RPG. It confirmed some of my beliefs, that it's easier to come up with something raw, violent, that it takes much less imagination and anyone can come up with something like this in mind. But to invent an entirely original concept such as Super Mario Bros., Zelda, Animal Crossing or Pikmin, that's where imagination really shines. Violence doesn't require much creativity obviously. Completely unique universes such as those afore mentioned, on the other hand, are all about imaginations and are truly a gift of the mind. Unlike the ugly, beauty and peace seem hard to create.
Today's retro game: Super Mario Bros
Today's recent game: Pikmin 2
It's the kind of opportunity I've been waiting all my life and yet, procrastination took over and I only finished sketching my last idea today in a rush. I sent three ideas that I will keep secrets for the time being. What was particularly difficult is to express your ideas in the best possible way knowing that:
1/ you should keep it as brief as possible because the jury is probably going to browse what you've done very quickly, after all there's going to be many contestants.
2/ in these conditions, clarity is a must, and I suspect drawings, sketches are too, because...
3/ ...the jury is Japanese only and they might not want or not be able to read through long English sentences.
4/ keep focused on your core idea, something creative.
It was a really difficult exercice, but very interesting. I learnt two things from it: how bad I am at drawing and how bad I am at presenting well. Of course I knew about that for a long time, but it's been a while since I used pen, pencils and papers in such a dedicated manner. It felt very awkward because of the time I spend on computers; with them, everything is neatly sorted, letters clear and readable, shapes are geometrically perfect, when going back to the old paper and pencil and trying to do the same, a neat, redable and appealing presentation, it's much harder.
Overall though, I think I succeeded in conveying my ideas. It's another problem to know if they will catch the jury's attention of course. I'm afraid other contestants with more professional skills and tools will send much better material. But Nintendo in the end is judging, and that for me is where my chance stands, because I trust they will not judge so much on the quality of the presentation as on the quality of the idea. It's a bit like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, everyone has a chance to win, rich or poor, it's not a matter of being a rich kid to be lucky enough to find the gold ticket, likewise it's not a matter of being a rich or professional designer to come with the right ideas. It's not even a matter of being the smartest, it just comes to one thing: imagination.
After I sent the letter, I searched on the Net to see if other people discussed about the contest and what kind of ideas they sent. I found one forum (I will not reveal the name) where some people had posted ideas they had sent and I was sincerely relieved to see their ideas were... plain bad ! I think they completely missed point number 4, the most important, about originality. What they all proposed, was just a rehash of a known genre with something slightly different, with practically no creative input, something anyone could come up with. If a game like this had to be scored on the originality factor, it would get a very low grade. But of course, they think their ideas are fine because they accept games which are just equally uncreative.
Another interesting fact was that their ideas always had a brutal theme: a beat'em up, a shoot'em up or a violent RPG. It confirmed some of my beliefs, that it's easier to come up with something raw, violent, that it takes much less imagination and anyone can come up with something like this in mind. But to invent an entirely original concept such as Super Mario Bros., Zelda, Animal Crossing or Pikmin, that's where imagination really shines. Violence doesn't require much creativity obviously. Completely unique universes such as those afore mentioned, on the other hand, are all about imaginations and are truly a gift of the mind. Unlike the ugly, beauty and peace seem hard to create.
Today's retro game: Super Mario Bros
Today's recent game: Pikmin 2
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