WEBVTT 00:00:02.530 --> 00:00:07.000 Super Mario Maker 2 came out just a few days ago. 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:11.650 This game lets you try your hand at level design, by giving you the tools to make your 00:00:11.650 --> 00:00:13.920 own Mario stages. 00:00:13.920 --> 00:00:19.130 And then you can upload your courses to the web, and see what randos online think of your 00:00:19.130 --> 00:00:20.260 design skills. 00:00:20.260 --> 00:00:25.580 The game gives you all the tools you need to make auto-scrolling levels, boss battles, 00:00:25.580 --> 00:00:27.980 crazy puzzles, silly jokes, and more. 00:00:27.980 --> 00:00:33.090 But when you first open “make mode”, you’re almost certainly going to be asking yourself 00:00:33.090 --> 00:00:36.900 the question: “uhh, where do I even begin?” 00:00:36.900 --> 00:00:42.100 So I thought I’d put together a tutorial that can help you get your first level made 00:00:42.109 --> 00:00:43.109 and published. 00:00:43.109 --> 00:00:48.660 And it should hopefully be a legitimately good, Mario-style level, and not just your 00:00:48.660 --> 00:00:53.980 name written in coins, a bunch of pipes that shower you with cash, or twenty eight goombas 00:00:53.980 --> 00:00:55.239 on a seesaw. 00:00:55.239 --> 00:01:00.170 And then, once you’ve cleared that hurdle and made your first stage, you’ll have a 00:01:00.170 --> 00:01:05.010 better understanding of what works and what doesn’t, you’ll know more tricks you can 00:01:05.010 --> 00:01:09.461 employ, you’ll have tried most of the game’s tools, and you’ll be well on your way to 00:01:09.461 --> 00:01:15.400 making an amazing stage, getting hired by Nintendo, and looking for apartments in Kyoto 00:01:15.400 --> 00:01:16.400 by the end of the week. 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:19.380 Sound good? Then let’s get started. 00:01:19.380 --> 00:01:24.100 Step One. Choose a main mechanic. 00:01:24.119 --> 00:01:29.049 One of the biggest mistakes you can make in Mario Maker 2, is to just fill your level 00:01:29.049 --> 00:01:31.960 with every single object in the tool box. 00:01:31.960 --> 00:01:37.850 You know, put a giant spike column here, throw in a few bumpers there, mix in a couple see 00:01:37.850 --> 00:01:41.990 saws, and finish off with a gauntlet of Banzai bills. 00:01:41.990 --> 00:01:46.840 These levels are often completely unfocused and, critically, they don’t have enough 00:01:46.840 --> 00:01:51.700 time to introduce each idea or explore it to its full extent. 00:01:51.700 --> 00:01:57.539 So instead, look through the toolbox and find just one mechanic that you can use as your 00:01:57.539 --> 00:02:00.289 central theme for the stage. 00:02:00.289 --> 00:02:02.090 Perhaps it’s a note block. 00:02:02.090 --> 00:02:03.170 Or a trampoline. 00:02:03.170 --> 00:02:05.640 Or on/off switches. 00:02:05.640 --> 00:02:06.890 Or the snake block. 00:02:06.890 --> 00:02:11.009 This doesn’t mean that you can’t use any other items in your level: it just gives us 00:02:11.009 --> 00:02:13.940 a strong foundation to build on. 00:02:13.940 --> 00:02:18.170 For this stage I’m making, I’m going to check out these swinging claws. 00:02:18.170 --> 00:02:19.700 They look like fun. 00:02:19.700 --> 00:02:23.459 Step Two. Consider every evolution. 00:02:23.459 --> 00:02:29.629 The next step is to think about how this one mechanic could be made more interesting or difficult. 00:02:29.629 --> 00:02:34.629 So the most basic way to present this swinging claw is to have one in the middle of a large 00:02:34.629 --> 00:02:40.220 gap: and then have Mario jump into the claw, swing over, and jump out to the other side. 00:02:40.220 --> 00:02:43.209 But perhaps we could have multiple claws in the gap. 00:02:43.209 --> 00:02:45.019 Maybe at different heights. 00:02:45.019 --> 00:02:47.730 Perhaps put a platform to jump over in the middle of them. 00:02:47.730 --> 00:02:50.060 Or a floating enemy. And so on. 00:02:50.060 --> 00:02:54.940 We’re trying to find ways of saying “okay, so you know how to deal with this mechanic: 00:02:54.940 --> 00:02:58.459 but how do you fare when I do this?” 00:02:58.459 --> 00:03:02.409 Some twists will be boring, some will be way too hard. 00:03:02.409 --> 00:03:06.909 So make these different permutations in a test bed yourself, and find out which ones 00:03:06.909 --> 00:03:08.680 provide the best experience. 00:03:08.680 --> 00:03:13.170 Step Three. Introduce the mechanic. 00:03:13.170 --> 00:03:16.500 Okay, so let’s get building the actual level. 00:03:16.500 --> 00:03:19.880 The first step should always be to introduce the mechanic to the 00:03:19.880 --> 00:03:22.660 player in a safe and controlled manner. 00:03:22.660 --> 00:03:27.300 So while the stage will generally involve swinging over perilous, insta-death, bottomless 00:03:27.310 --> 00:03:31.739 pits - for the very first instance of these claws, we’re going to give Mario the chance 00:03:31.739 --> 00:03:34.840 to fall onto safe ground, and try again. 00:03:34.840 --> 00:03:38.750 But it’s important to make sure that the player can’t just cheat their way across. 00:03:38.750 --> 00:03:44.090 They have to prove that they’ve used and understood the mechanic before they can move on. 00:03:44.090 --> 00:03:49.180 So I’m going raise the wall, and raise the claw, to force Mario into the claw’s grip. 00:03:49.180 --> 00:03:53.739 Step Four. Ramp up the challenge. 00:03:53.739 --> 00:03:55.980 Remember those evolutions we explored earlier? 00:03:55.980 --> 00:03:58.129 It’s now time to bring them in. 00:03:58.129 --> 00:04:01.719 Or, at least, the four or five best ones. 00:04:01.719 --> 00:04:06.060 So after mastering the mechanic in its most basic form, the player will now have to 00:04:06.060 --> 00:04:10.569 contend with all sorts of extra challenges, twists, and complexities. 00:04:10.569 --> 00:04:16.299 Ideally, the mechanics should ramp up in challenge quite smoothly, with a gentle difficulty curve. 00:04:16.299 --> 00:04:20.830 It’s not always possible to get a perfect hierarchy of challenge in these things, but 00:04:20.830 --> 00:04:25.930 something that definitely makes things harder is when the obstacle extends beyond the camera. 00:04:25.930 --> 00:04:30.000 This means the player can’t get a good look at what’s to come and plan their movement: 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.030 and instead has to play reactively to whatever dangers crop up. 00:04:34.030 --> 00:04:36.500 Leave those for the end of this section. 00:04:36.500 --> 00:04:39.820 Oh, and make sure you give the player time to rest. 00:04:39.820 --> 00:04:45.060 Don’t just jump from one challenge to another, but create moments of downtime. 00:04:45.060 --> 00:04:50.110 This provides moments to take a rest, and gives the level a modulated pace of tension 00:04:50.110 --> 00:04:55.860 and release that is way more fun to play than just constant non-stop action. 00:04:55.860 --> 00:04:59.690 Step Five. Find combinatorial mechanics. 00:04:59.690 --> 00:05:03.880 Okay, so now the level has a main mechanic and it ramps up neatly. 00:05:03.880 --> 00:05:07.069 Sweet. That’s the first half sorted. 00:05:07.069 --> 00:05:09.539 Chuck down a checkpoint, and let’s move on. 00:05:09.540 --> 00:05:15.960 Now, the goal is to find other parts in the toolbox that combine well with your primary mechanic. 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:20.340 With the swinging claw, I found that you can put it on one of these tracks. 00:05:20.340 --> 00:05:24.520 And from there, you can have the tracks fork off into two lines - which is controlled by 00:05:24.520 --> 00:05:26.169 an on/off switch. 00:05:26.169 --> 00:05:30.440 You can also have the claw drop off the end of a track, and then automatically latch onto 00:05:30.440 --> 00:05:33.020 a track that runs below. 00:05:33.020 --> 00:05:37.419 Swinging claws can also hold things other than Mario, such as trampolines, enemies, 00:05:37.419 --> 00:05:39.150 and exploding bombs. 00:05:39.150 --> 00:05:43.330 Perhaps you could chuck a bomb into the claw and have it blow through a wall, so Mario 00:05:43.330 --> 00:05:44.920 can make progress. 00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:48.440 What happens if a bullet bill fires into a claw? 00:05:48.440 --> 00:05:50.460 Hm, interesting. 00:05:50.460 --> 00:05:54.020 This is all about experimentation and playing around. 00:05:54.020 --> 00:05:58.360 Just like how Jonathan Blow made levels for Braid by playing around with the game’s 00:05:58.360 --> 00:06:03.540 basic ruleset and hunting for interesting consequences, you too are trying to find surprising 00:06:03.540 --> 00:06:08.300 outcomes of combining Mario Maker’s parts. 00:06:08.300 --> 00:06:13.830 Step Six. Create the second half. 00:06:13.830 --> 00:06:17.979 So now the player has shown that they have mastered the basic mechanic, we can use these 00:06:17.979 --> 00:06:23.300 combinatorial set-ups to make the second half of the stage even more interesting. 00:06:23.300 --> 00:06:27.570 The process is largely the same: we want to start by giving the player a chance to explore 00:06:27.570 --> 00:06:29.819 this idea in a safe environment. 00:06:29.819 --> 00:06:32.729 And then ramp up in complexity throughout the stage. 00:06:32.729 --> 00:06:36.080 So I’m gonna start with the claw on a simple track. 00:06:36.080 --> 00:06:38.009 But then have multiple tracks at different heights. 00:06:38.009 --> 00:06:40.699 And introduce ideas from there. 00:06:40.699 --> 00:06:43.449 Sometimes an idea just won’t come together. 00:06:43.449 --> 00:06:48.349 I had this mad plan to have it so a claw picked up a bob-omb, and then you have to hit the 00:06:48.349 --> 00:06:52.370 on/off switch at the right time to make the claw fall down to the track below and carry 00:06:52.370 --> 00:06:55.190 the bob-omb to a wall so it can blow a hole through. 00:06:55.190 --> 00:07:00.209 But with the timing, the camera, the way the claw drops stuff when Mario is underneath 00:07:00.209 --> 00:07:01.750 - it just didn’t quite work. 00:07:01.750 --> 00:07:06.270 Don’t be afraid to kill your best ideas if they’re being uncooperative. 00:07:06.270 --> 00:07:08.260 Or change them substantially. 00:07:08.260 --> 00:07:12.660 The end goal is often a good chance to make one final test. 00:07:12.660 --> 00:07:17.110 Most of the Mario Maker game styles have a flagpole, or similar, which rewards the player 00:07:17.110 --> 00:07:19.770 with more points if they touch the top. 00:07:19.770 --> 00:07:25.220 So you can make a really difficult final platforming puzzle to get to the top and reward your best 00:07:25.220 --> 00:07:30.139 players: while those who can’t hit those highs can just touch the bottom of the goal. 00:07:30.139 --> 00:07:34.750 Another idea worth considering, is to go back to the first half of the level and drop in 00:07:34.750 --> 00:07:37.180 small clues and hints of what’s to come. 00:07:37.180 --> 00:07:41.539 It makes the latter half feel more cohesive to the level as a whole, and can also be used 00:07:41.539 --> 00:07:43.470 to avoid surprises. 00:07:43.470 --> 00:07:47.790 So in the first half, I introduce the on/off block, which should help players know what 00:07:47.790 --> 00:07:51.600 to do when they come across the same block at the end of the level. 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:55.700 Step Seven. Add in enemies and items. 00:07:55.700 --> 00:08:00.500 A Mario level is never just an endless gauntlet of platforming mechanics. 00:08:00.509 --> 00:08:05.069 There are also enemy encounters, which can be used to ramp up complexity, or provide 00:08:05.069 --> 00:08:06.690 a change of pace. 00:08:06.690 --> 00:08:10.490 But, as with everything in game design: less is more. 00:08:10.490 --> 00:08:14.960 Sprinkle in a few enemies, rather than filling the screen with bullet bills and goombas and 00:08:14.960 --> 00:08:15.960 bob-ombs. 00:08:15.960 --> 00:08:20.870 And don’t forget items, like coins and 1-up mushrooms, which can be used to show players 00:08:20.870 --> 00:08:22.040 the way to go. 00:08:22.040 --> 00:08:26.740 Items are a good way to reward the most skilled, or reckless players. 00:08:26.740 --> 00:08:31.610 Make getting from the start to the finish a relatively easy-going experience: but then 00:08:31.610 --> 00:08:37.460 add in extra coins and pick-ups in areas that require more skill to reach. 00:08:37.460 --> 00:08:42.360 Step Eight. Playtest and bugfix 00:08:42.360 --> 00:08:47.180 Don’t wait until your level is available to the world online, to get your stage in 00:08:47.180 --> 00:08:48.440 front of people. 00:08:48.440 --> 00:08:53.020 You know your level inside and out: you’ve been working on it for hours, after all, and 00:08:53.020 --> 00:08:55.480 you know every single pixel, like the back of your hand. 00:08:55.480 --> 00:09:01.420 But someone who plays the stage for the very first time could easily be confused, lost, 00:09:01.420 --> 00:09:04.080 or find the stage way too demanding. 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:09.510 So get your friends, your mum, your brother, and their friends to try your stage first. 00:09:09.510 --> 00:09:14.060 Watch what they do, ask them for their feedback, and make changes to your stage. 00:09:14.060 --> 00:09:18.960 You can also playtest your own level by purposefully trying to break the game. 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:23.690 If you can bypass a lot of your challenges and ignore all of your hard-work, then you 00:09:23.690 --> 00:09:26.680 might need to add in some extra parts to block access. 00:09:26.680 --> 00:09:30.230 Here are three things you always need to check: 00:09:30.230 --> 00:09:35.220 First: Make sure that Mario can’t simply sail over your obstacles entirely, with his 00:09:35.220 --> 00:09:37.390 utterly massive jump. 00:09:37.390 --> 00:09:41.980 You might need to stretch out gaps and add in blocks and slopes to stop this from happening. 00:09:41.980 --> 00:09:47.750 Second: While you, as a Mario expert, probably always run at full speed through your levels 00:09:47.750 --> 00:09:50.460 - many newbie players won’t. 00:09:50.460 --> 00:09:54.960 So make sure your stage can be completed at Mario’s normal speed, by forcing yourself 00:09:54.960 --> 00:09:58.800 to play through your stage without touching the run button at all. 00:09:58.800 --> 00:10:02.740 Third: What happens if you don’t get something right first time? 00:10:02.740 --> 00:10:07.340 Imagine a jump like this, where you bounce on a Koopa to clear a gap. 00:10:07.340 --> 00:10:12.550 That’s cool if you make the gap, but what if you don’t and end up killing the Koopa? 00:10:12.550 --> 00:10:15.020 The level is now impossible to finish. 00:10:15.020 --> 00:10:17.280 That’s just bad design. 00:10:17.280 --> 00:10:22.160 There are some easy ways to fix this, though, such as having enemies, p-blocks, trampolines, 00:10:22.160 --> 00:10:25.220 and so on, infinitely pop out of pipes. 00:10:25.220 --> 00:10:31.060 Or just using indestructible stage elements like, in this case, a note block. 00:10:31.060 --> 00:10:34.300 Step Nine. Do your research 00:10:34.300 --> 00:10:39.360 Now you’re in a level-making mood, this is the perfect time to boot up your favourite 00:10:39.370 --> 00:10:41.810 Mario games and play through some stages. 00:10:41.810 --> 00:10:46.590 You’ll no longer just be a passive player: but you’ll be actively looking for level-making 00:10:46.590 --> 00:10:48.180 tips and strategies. 00:10:48.180 --> 00:10:53.810 So look at how Nintendo introduces, evolves, and twists its ideas across each level. 00:10:53.810 --> 00:10:56.430 Consider the placement of enemies and items. 00:10:56.430 --> 00:10:59.890 Look at how it paces each stage with moments of action, and moments of rest. 00:10:59.890 --> 00:11:02.330 There’s no need to stop at Mario, mind you. 00:11:02.330 --> 00:11:05.800 As I’ve shown on Game Maker’s Toolkit, there’s plenty to learn from games like 00:11:05.800 --> 00:11:10.730 Mega Man and Rayman, and games I’ve yet to cover like Celeste and Shovel Knight. 00:11:10.730 --> 00:11:15.670 Mario will be the most useful because Mario Maker, obviously, has the same mechanics and 00:11:15.670 --> 00:11:20.920 player physics, but good level design is good level design, and is almost always universally 00:11:20.920 --> 00:11:22.440 applicable. 00:11:22.440 --> 00:11:27.150 So replay these games with a more analytical eye, and see if theres anything you can learn 00:11:27.150 --> 00:11:30.280 to make your own course even better. 00:11:30.280 --> 00:11:34.240 Step Ten. Start again 00:11:34.240 --> 00:11:39.370 Okay, so now you’ve made your first stage you’re ready to try new things. 00:11:39.370 --> 00:11:44.260 You could repeat this tutorial with a different mechanic, or flex your creative muscles and 00:11:44.260 --> 00:11:46.370 see what else you can produce. 00:11:46.370 --> 00:11:50.520 Perhaps you want to be more like Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, and explore multiple 00:11:50.520 --> 00:11:52.810 mechanics throughout your stage. 00:11:52.810 --> 00:11:56.680 Perhaps you want to try the weirdo twists you get when you enter night mode, toy with 00:11:56.680 --> 00:12:01.370 the water levels in the forest and castle theme, or change the clear condition. 00:12:01.370 --> 00:12:06.640 Or maybe you want to build a level around a thematic concept, or a Mario skill, rather 00:12:06.640 --> 00:12:08.540 than strictly around a mechanic. 00:12:08.540 --> 00:12:13.330 It’s all up to you, now - but hopefully these basic tips will prove useful no matter 00:12:13.330 --> 00:12:15.020 what you make. 00:12:15.020 --> 00:12:20.100 Introducing mechanics, proper pacing, adding surprising twists, and rewarding skill - these 00:12:20.100 --> 00:12:23.260 are all things that every good level design will include. 00:12:23.260 --> 00:12:28.320 So, make some cool stuff and leave your level codes in the comments below. 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:34.990 I’ll play as many stages as I can next week - on July 10th at 7PM BST, on a livestream 00:12:34.990 --> 00:12:36.740 here on YouTube. 00:12:36.740 --> 00:12:40.960 You guys and gals can help me out by playing levels in the comments and giving a thumbs 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:42.820 up to the ones you like best. 00:12:42.820 --> 00:12:44.550 Thanks for watching and happy building!