Changing the gameplay by adding a rule to Mario
For this assignment, I decided to choose Mario as a starting point as I wanted to play around more with the classics of digital game. In Mario, people almost instinctively eats the mushroom, breaks the brick (I used break every single brick I possibly can even though it has absolutely no benefits), kills the enemy and basically try to get rid of anything they see. So a thought struck me, what if we play Mario without killing any of the enemies, and without hitting any boxes or bricks, what would that be like?
I tried to clear an entire world with this method, and I noticed it changed my way of playing this game. I was more cautious of the creatures’ movement patterns (as I die a lot), and also more aware of how I should move according to the map design. The game becomes more of a dodging. Usually I would just kill of enemies so that they get out of the way, and that I can focus on what is ahead, but now that the enemies are not killed and are constantly moving, the difficulty of moving increases as the space where Mario can move is limited. Timing becomes a crucial part of the game and player would need to have better control over where to jump and land. As the players are not allowed to take any of the items (coins, mushrooms, stars etc.) Mario technically only has one life per game (he cannot degrade from a super Mario to a normal Mario), which also increases the intensity of the game as players only have one chance to go through the entire level.
However, this method of playing is not entirely viable, as some parts of the game simply does not allow one to do so:
These are some of the screenshots I took from certain levels, it is impossible to proceed with the game without either killing an enemy or ‘eating’ something (the coins in this case). Perhaps the best way to play Mario in this method is to go through all the levels and pick out the most suitable ones, and rank them according to the difficulties faced.
I think that altering a game by changing or adding rules to it makes the game a much more personal experience and two times more enjoyable. It also allows you to understand the reason behind the design of the game, such as the maps, levels, movements etc.
