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Nintendo - Putting Play First

Game Maker's Toolkit · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Game design

What it is

Game Maker's Toolkit examines Nintendo's design approach of starting from a core play mechanic, making it fun, and building around it. Examples include Mario's jump and Luigi's Mansion's vacuum.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN recommends it as a concise video essay on why Nintendo games feel good and how the company iterates.

  • 3 people recommended it
  • 4 different months
  • 2 strong recommendations
  • first 2017, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “I highly recommend Mark Brown's video”

    Video essay on how Nintendo puts play first.

    dmitriid, 2018-04 · Strong recommendation · in “Nintendo's secretive creative process”

  2. “One of my favorite video essay's on this is”

    Nintendo picks a mechanic, makes it fun, then iterates.

    ecliptik, 2025-01 · Strong recommendation · in “Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]”

  3. “I subscribe to Mark Brown's Game Maker's Toolkit on Game Design and Game progression”

    Game Maker's Toolkit on game design and progression.

    forkLding, 2017-08 · Recommendation · in “An Embarrassing Tale: Why my server could only handle 10 players”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: nintendo, game design, mario, iteration, video essay

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