Today I thought I'd do something autobiographical for this blog today and talk to you about the games I grew up that got me interested in making games. Without question, one of my favorite parts of game design is creating maps and levels, as well as doing scriptwork and dialogue. The following games growing up gave me an eye for adequate level design and pushed me into thinking hard about doing games as a career. But not programming-- %#%# programming!
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
My skills as a gamer hampered my enjoyment of the original Legend of Zelda on the NES, and if I was bad with that game, there was no doubt that I absolutely would blow at playing its 2D side-scroller sequel, Zelda II. No doubt indeed, as I did suck at playing that game, too. After Zelda II, Shigeru Miyamoto wanted to go back to the top-down perspective that The Legend of Zelda had. After all, he was a bit disappointed with Zelda II.
Regardless, I'm glad he found Zelda II as something that could have used more work, despite it being a highly competent game (that I absolutely suck at). He and his team created one of most memorable and replay-able games for me. I was lost and enamored with the world of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
I remember bugging my mom to bring home blueprint paper from her work so I could draw dungeon maps and an overworld map for my own Zelda adventure. I thought up block puzzles, torch puzzles, where you had to light up all the torches in a row, and other obstacles. I emulated A Link to the Past as closely as possible, because as a kid, I really didn't have the skill set required to innovate in any special way. I wish I kept those maps, as they'd be an astonishing blast from the past... pun intended.
Mega Man X (SNES)
Here's another game that inspired me to draw maps of levels, except this time they were 2D affairs, mimicking the gameplay of Mega Man X to a "T". For those unaware of Mega Man X's gameplay, it's a much more intense Mega Man game when compared to the classic series. There was much more action, a slightly darker tone, the ability to wall jump, find upgrades for both health energy, weapon energy, and armor, and introduced a whole new series of characters to the Mega Man lore.
Anyway, I devised my own series of Mavericks and Maverick names with silly names like Shield Turtle, Rampaging Ram, Force Bronco, and so forth. I concocted simplistic 2D stages and would draw a line through the levels, so it was like I was playing them. Now, my memory of these exact levels is mighty fuzzy, so I imagine these levels were horribly designed. I mean, I might have been in gifted classes as a kid (and no, I don't know how the hell that happened either), but I wasn't a genius at level design by any stretch of the imagination. It was just something fun to do while my friends played street hockey.
Breath of Fire (SNES)
Breath of Fire, a joint effort between Squaresoft and Capcom before Capcom simply took the series as its own, was one of, if not the, first RPG I ever played. It was also one of the first games that ever made me cry. No, not because I sucked at it and thought the game was cheating. Instead, it was because of the fate of two supporting characters, Alan and Cerl.
Cerl was one of four generals to the dark army (I think they were the Dark Dragons or something thereabouts?), the main villains of the game. She fell in love with Alan, a denizen of a local countryside town. Cerl's memory towards Alan was all gone, and despite his words and actions, Cerl wasn't having any of it unfortunately. That is until one key moment after Ryu's (our hero's) party defeats her. Alan and Cerl's past relationship comes back to Cerl, but her time crystal goes off, teleporting the two and Cerl's tower in a bright flash of light.
When Ryu's party reaches the remains of Cerl's tower, they find two children, one boy and a girl. "Tag! You're it!" The one says to the other. These are obviously Alan and Cerl, and they now have their lifetimes to once again be with one another. That moment made me tear up like crazy as a young child myself. Of course, this song playing during that scene didn't help matters at all.
The point is that not only did Breath of Fire get me into RPGs, but it also taught me that gaming could be used as a powerful interactive agent for telling stories. There are plenty of games out there that tell stories in a way that only gaming can, such as 999 for the Nintendo DS. I want to do the same with my games, but I still have some learning to do. Then again, life is always a learning experience in some regard or another.
Banjo-Kazooie (N64)
Super Mario 64 indeed blew my mind, like many gamers back in 1996 when it launched here in the West. While other games have surpassed its controls and camera, few can claim to be better than the actual game itself. For me, that's except Banjo-Kazooie. The game was more humorous, the worlds were more cohesive (they also didn't kick you out of them after each Power Star-equivalent was nabbed), the music was phenomenal, the sense of progression was lovely, and the move set of Banjo and Kazooie just jived with me more.
One of my earliest posts to this blog was about the Banjo-Kazooie-inspired level maps I did in high school and early college. I don't recall the exact reason I made them, but I actually still have these. Thankfully, if I lose them, I still have digital copies. All hail the digital age! It was indeed Banjo-Kazooie that opened my mind to interesting level design in a 3D platformer context. One of my biggest dreams as a game designer is to have the opportunity to create such a game with a team. It might be a pipe dream, as the 3D platformer is by no means a popular genre like it was back in the PS1 and N64 generation, but it's something I really hope I can do one day.
Perfect Dark (N64)
Most Nintendo 64 kids, like this one, grew up with playing GoldenEye, an FPS that pioneered the genre on home consoles and came out a year after the film of the same name. For me, Perfect Dark was my jam early in high school. I loved the story, voice work, objective-based missions where areas were nonlinear, offering multiple paths to Ms. Dark's goals, and I especially adored the multiplayer. The maps were big, but not too big, delivering paths, chambers, and rooms that made for complex maps and enthralling firefights; the customization options towards what kinds of matches you could do were incredible; and the game had bots. BOTS! HALO doesn't even bots, for god's sake! Any FPS with bots is better than Halo locally.
Nonetheless, I'm not the biggest fan of first-person shooters, but Perfect Dark got me so fascinated with the genre. It opened my mind to the possibilities of creating my own FPS games, or if not even that, my own multiplayer arenas. I'm still waiting for another FPS that is just as good as Perfect Dark and offers just as many options as it.
RPG Maker (PS1)
Ah... my first go at creating an RPG! I remember bawling when my third-party memory card became corrupted, and I had to start work over again on the game I was making. Sure, it was but three hours of work, but it was a major disappointment for an 13 year-old. At least that's the age I'm going with, because I'm not doing the math at this moment.
I remember actually going through the steps of making a finished RPG. It starred SuperPhillip, a character that I made up in second grade. Superheroes were all the rage with me like they are now with Marvel and DC pumping out movies like an assembly line. I wanted to create my own, so I did. There really isn't a story to tell there. I just liked superheroes and dreamed of being one at the time in second grade.
Anyway, I had to split my RPG across two memory cards, as the game's length scenario-wise was too big to just fit on one. That's not including the third memory card for system data, such as maps, battlers, enemies, items, magic, etc. It turned out well, and I used the work I did there to create a project in RPG Maker 2003 later on. Regardless, I believe RPG Maker on the original PlayStation was one of the first RPG Makers officially localized and released in the West. Bless you, Agetec, you magnificent bastards.
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