If you have ever played new super mario bros (both Wii or DS), it has something that make most people laugh when dying (and almost most of the time).
Why?
Which are the elements that produce this event?
How can we achieve this in our games?
thank you!
Why is it fun to die in new super mario bros? (or how to achieve fun when dying?)
I would say that game plays a lot like super smash bros. Plus unlike games like Contra, you don't feel your life is danger every 5 seconds. So there's a jovial air/vibe to the whole game playing experience. IMO, anyway.
I think part of it is the abundance of extra lives you can find. It takes off a lot of the pressure you might feel otherwise.
Yes, indeed, extra lives being plentiful (but easilly lost in my experiences on the Wii), not always having a Contra-level threat at your neck, and, I would add, just being able to go to another level (if one is available on a side-path) or replay levels (including for stuff like collecting power-ups and dragon coins besides just for the re-experience) makes death in all its hilarity not that big of a deal and a motivator to keep playing and mastering the levels.
You can achieve this firstly by making the game bright and colourful to start with. No one dies in a dark gloomy game and is cheerful about it. Aside from that checkpoints and lives are a great way to bring this about. People feel at ease when they have no fear of losing the mass progress they've made.
Most games also have an interesting and happy kind of death. for example, newer PS3 games will often have some really low deadly sounding music when you die, games like uncharted make everything go black and white, games like call of duty make the screen blurry and then fade out. All in all it brings about a very "real" dying experience. Games like Mario will play a mini cheerful tune and display a funny "oh no!" face when you die, with no real aspect of death involved. Its about making the players feel relaxed and okay about losing a life or two.
Most games also have an interesting and happy kind of death. for example, newer PS3 games will often have some really low deadly sounding music when you die, games like uncharted make everything go black and white, games like call of duty make the screen blurry and then fade out. All in all it brings about a very "real" dying experience. Games like Mario will play a mini cheerful tune and display a funny "oh no!" face when you die, with no real aspect of death involved. Its about making the players feel relaxed and okay about losing a life or two.
You can achieve this firstly by making the game bright and colourful to start with. No one dies in a dark gloomy game and is cheerful about it. Aside from that checkpoints and lives are a great way to bring this about. People feel at ease when they have no fear of losing the mass progress they've made.
Most games also have an interesting and happy kind of death. for example, newer PS3 games will often have some really low deadly sounding music when you die, games like uncharted make everything go black and white, games like call of duty make the screen blurry and then fade out. All in all it brings about a very "real" dying experience. Games like Mario will play a mini cheerful tune and display a funny "oh no!" face when you die, with no real aspect of death involved. Its about making the players feel relaxed and okay about losing a life or two.
The game doesn't necessarily have to be bright and colorful. I remember many many times playing Gears of War and getting shattered to a million pieces afterwards proceeding to laugh my ass off. I think it has to do with the tone of the gameplay itself. Gears of War is really grim but its deaths entertaining because of its ridiculousness.
I believe death isn't fun in games like Call of Duty, for example, because the game doesn't make an effort to entertain you during it, nothing visual, nothing interactive, nothing auditory (specific to dying of course).
That's a good question! I can't give my direct opinion because I've never player this game, but let me throw another example of a game that is fun to die:
N the way of the ninja
N the way of the ninja
I think it has to do with frustration. If dying means a great loss, having to replay a huge chunk of some part that is not very fun etc, then it's frustrating no matter how pretty and colorful the deaths are. In this game I posted above, N, besides the deaths being funny (the ragdoll jumps and explodes, it's pretty cool) the levels are incredibly short! they fit in the screen. So the it doesn't feel like a great loss, the player doesn't have to replay much to get there again (about 15 seconds, usually)
If dying in Contra wasn't in some way "fun," people wouldn't have played Contra. Many other games come to mind. I think dying can be "fun" if you learn something from it. Also, it's not so much the dying itself that is fun, but without risk, players don't gain a sense of mastery. Beating Contra without the Konami code is an accomplishment. Beating some kiddie game where you cannot possibly lose is probably fun for some (most?) gamers, but I play games to get a sense of mastery, of getting into the flow. Dying is negative reinforcement that drives you closer to the flow, the Zen-like state of pulling off something difficult with seeming effortlessness. This could be in any genre...I'm not even a twitch gamer...but you get in a flow playing Tactics Ogre, too.
Edit: More heresy: I think there should be permadeath in MMO's.
Edit: More heresy: I think there should be permadeath in MMO's.
without reading previos replies..
what makesdying fun? FAILS!!!!
something epic or really weird.. something gone incredibilly wrong etc etc..
But that only lasts in the newbie stages... once you are a good player it stops being fun.
dying should not be fun... it is supposed to suck... why?
its a punishment.
and in that way its "fun" or. rather it makes the game fun... not dying by it self.
you shouldnt die.
what makesdying fun? FAILS!!!!
something epic or really weird.. something gone incredibilly wrong etc etc..
But that only lasts in the newbie stages... once you are a good player it stops being fun.
dying should not be fun... it is supposed to suck... why?
its a punishment.
and in that way its "fun" or. rather it makes the game fun... not dying by it self.
you shouldnt die.
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