[RESULTS UP!] Game Design Challenge: Change Mario's Career!

[cnutt]

[UPDATE: The winning entries have been posted: http://www.gamecareerguide.com/featu...me_design_.php - thanks to all that entered - feel free to post your entry here if it didn't make it.]

The latest Game Design Challenge is live!

This should be a fun one. We want you to change Mario's career from plumber to something else -- and envision the game that results.

As always, please submit your ideas to gamedesignchallenge@gamecareerguide.com with the subject "Design Challenge: Change Mario's Career!"

For the full details on the challenge please visit the link above.

Thanks for reading!

[bittman]

Yessss!

Say hello to Mario the hitman!

Haha, I expect some "interesting" submissions this time. I'll have to think about it a fair bit to make it feasible and not just a hilarious joke (which is also good...)

Also, anyone who submits should submit a picture I think.

[PuppyBlade]

Heh. Mario, the stoic space marine with a dark past.

Or, hey. You could make him a Doctor!

Nah, too far-fetched.

[robbway]

My problem with this challenge is that when I try to re-imagine Mario's career, it turns into a different video game character. Not to mention that he is definitely a Mario-of-all-trades: race driver, golfer, olympic athlete, time traveller, 2-D man, soccer star, tennis pro, and so on! This one will take some thought! But the good news is that once you hit on a good idea, the rest will fall into place.

[Marcamillian]

This one has my mind running in circles!

The brief seems to suggest that the change in career should change the design and my mind instantly jumps to a change of genre... and as robbway says, it seems to lose the essance of a mario game.

The other half of me asks the question, how has being a plumber impacted on the world of mario beyond a few pipe sprites? Could this suggest that mario in unhappy in his current career and ignoring it or is it merely a case of a man being more than a product of his profession?

I've been toying with this idea of mario as an civil engineer. This would explain his appearance on a half built skyscraper, traipsing the sewer systems with his brother and constant visits to empty castles at risk of subsidance.

[PuppyBlade]

I'm a little confused on this one.

I don't see how Mario's career made that much of a difference. It's not like there were wrench or plunger power ups. I didn't even know Mario was supposed to be a plumber when I first played it.

The pipes are really just doors/portals. They could have replaced the pipe graphics with anything.

Should we assume that the game play would have been the same, or is the point of the challenge to see what would have happened to the series with different gameplay?

[Adrir]

I have an idea. Mario's profession should be changed to Time Lord! Instead of each level ending in a castle, Mario takes a trip in the TARDIS. He is off on a quest to save his companion from his time traveling nemisis. Instead of pipes, I guess you could have anything remotely science-fiction...

It would be awesome!

[toyoka]

Yeeessss! Mario's new job: Adrir's avatar! But seriously, this is an awesome challenge!

[cnutt]

Originally Posted by PuppyBlade

I'm a little confused on this one.

I don't see how Mario's career made that much of a difference. It's not like there were wrench or plunger power ups. I didn't even know Mario was supposed to be a plumber when I first played it.

The pipes are really just doors/portals. They could have replaced the pipe graphics with anything.

Should we assume that the game play would have been the same, or is the point of the challenge to see what would have happened to the series with different gameplay?

There's a quote in my mind about the spirit of the law rather than the letter...

Sure, there's nothing majorly plumbery about Super Mario Bros. There's a fair bit of plumberishness about Mario Bros. But does it really matter?

Just think of it as a jumping off point for the challenge. See where it takes you. Just start somewhere and end somewhere else. It can be pretty loose. I think it's a fun idea. =)

[simonc]

Also worth mentioning - we've added to the original text:

(Note: we obviously realize that quite a lot of Mario games don't rely on his plumber persona, but we'd like you to make a game that heavily relies on his new job!)

Simon@GCG.