Stories of how Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto draws inspiration for game design from his everyday life have become beloved bits of video game mythology. The Legend of Zelda sprang from his experiences playing outside in caves as a child, his familyās pet canine sparked the idea for Nintendogs and so on.
But the principles that makes the execution of these brainstorms flow come from another part of Miyamotoās past. According to a Gamasutra interview with Super Mario 3D Land director Koichi Hayashida, itās the Nintendo iconās comics-drawing background that influences the level designs of his games:
In the article, Hayashida explains that the same principles show up when new game mechanics appear in Nintendo titles. And itās all because a young Shigeru used to read and draw comics as a youngster:
āHe drew comics as a kid, and so he would always talk about how you have to think about, what is that denouement going to be? What is that third step? That twist that really surprises people. Thatās something that has always been very close to our philosophy of level design, is trying to think of that surprise.ā
The full interview gives a fair amount of insight into the considerations that go into a Mario game, so go give it a read.
The secret to Mario level design [Gamasutra]
