A Thousand-Year Game

Games That's Worth Surviving [Analysed Game]:
Taiko [taiko no tatsujin]
Social games
Bubble Bobble
Picross
Flipull
Dr. Mario Game Boy / Dr. Mario Game Boy Color / Dr. Mario 64 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Mario
Boxxle / Boxxle 2 [more of a puzzle]
Bomberman
Cyraid / Cyraid
Board Game [Catan]

~ DR. MARIO 64 ~

I was asking myself why this game was so awesome and question myself where it has gone to and whether it has disappeared. To my joy, Dr. Mario is still around, surviving and worth playing all over again. They've evolve a little.

Credits

What Make A Good Game?

[ Reference1 /Reference2 / Reference3 / Reference4]

Most people would argued graphics and sound built up to a good game but to me those are just polished on the surface.  I'm not saying it is not a reason to why a game is good, but rather not the core element which make a game worthy to play. Gameboy to Gameboy color to Ds/Wii games is a good example, many of the games are just remade with colored but their mechanics/system are mostly the same. However, they still exist for an important purpose too.

Meaningful Choice

• player will have to make as little 'junk' as possible [place the pills in a way which will eliminate most pills so that there'll be less obstacles]

Win/Lose Condition [more than one way to it]

• WIN:
• opponent pills stack out of its  Megavitamin bottle [do tons of combo]
• clear all virus before opponent does
• LOSE:
• opponent cleared all virus before you
• own pills stack up to the top of the bottle

Risk VS Reward

• do combo takes up time and takes up space for a while
• but if combo successfully, players get to sent tiles down on opponent screen by random

Playing Against Time Pressure
Though the time is stated in the gameplay but the time pressure does not come from the clock really. It comes from the opponent play, as players need to complete the game before they do, or else player lose. Unlike Tetris and the older non-story mode Dr. Mario time pressure only comes from the falling blocks/pills and the speed of falling. You can actually position the pills at the correct desired position and allow it to free fall then you quickly analyse what is the possible next move. But in the story mode in Dr.Mario 64 players will tend to be more tense and like to use more on the down button due to having an AI that is pressuring the player. Also, opponent might be doing combo to sent tiles right at your area at anytime.

Replay Value
Each time you play a level its difficulty is depending on what setting you set at the beginning of the game but the sequence of tablet appearing, virus are placed where and how the opponent play throughout the game differs each time.

Dramatic Elements of Games /AKA Element of enjoyment 

[Dr. Mario 64 - story mode]

• Basic - found in all game
•  Challenge [satisfying to complete, just the right amount of work]
• players is playing against dropping pills speed 
• limitation of time to think [Dr. Mario random combination generated pills/Megavitamin] 
• slowly increases in difficulty as the story proceed
• difficulty of challenge can be choose by player
• temporary challenge: defeat the obstacles along the way ['Fighting' AI/Creatures] along the linear story [temporary motivation]
• players playing against opponent and opponent sending in chip of pills [higher level AI does more combo = more pills pieces get sent into players boundary] 
• Long term challenge: get the Megavitamin bottle back [long term motivation]
• 8 elements that help to Achieve Flow [optimal mental state where a person is complete occupied with a task that matches the person's skills, being neither too hard (leading to anxiety) or easy (leading to boredom)] 


• Challenge that required Skill
• turning the pills around and landing on the right place
• this is the skill of the player itself, how fast the player makes decision against a computer generated opponent
• Clear Goals and Feedback


• goal is to eliminate all virus simple to adhere to as virus are the bad thing
• when the pills died there is an indication of it disappearing/defeat
• when player lost the game [when the pills hit the top of the bottle] Dr. Mario will give the total disappointed/'WTH' look as though you did something wrong and when you manage to defeat the opponent Dr. Mario will give you the 'hurray' animation
• same goes to the opponent that appeared along the story they'd have the same good and bad feel kind of feedback, each differs as the player win/lose the match / players are clearly aware that they must clear the viruses in the bottle before the opponent does
• when a game provide well positive and negative feedback, it tell the player when they must put in more effort to play or they need not put as much effort to win. When player know they're behind they'll start putting in more effort or change their strategy so as to increase the possibility of winning opponent. Thus feedback serve an importance. In Dr. Mario 64 there 'Oh Yes' [high tone] and 'woo' [low tone] during gameplay to tell the player that something good/bad is happening so that they know that there is incoming pills part. Basically, player are given audio feedback if they are 'attacking' or ahead of enemy. [each enemy have their own set of sound feedback]
• uses a different set of sound to indicate player themselves making a combo and the opponent making a combo [combo will sent bits of pill down on the opposite screen]
• Concentration on the task at hand
• there is only one task at hand which is to eliminate the viruses [easy and straight forward]
• players need not fear if they have lost a match as all they'll need to is replay  that match instead of restarting from the start
• player could fully concentrate on their own screen and need not keep looking at enemy screen due to the audio and visual feedback easily accessible 
• Merging Action and Awareness
• this game will make player try focusing and concentrate within the game as once you day dream the pills might land on the wrong place or too late for player to change
• Paradox of control
• players know approximately what is going to happen next as before the game start there is a countdown [3,2,1] and before count down finish player already know what is coming down the medicine bottle [show on the top]
• player also can quickly scan through how the viruses are place on the field 
• player have a certain degree of what is going to happen next, they won't be totally be attack by surprise
• like Tetris there's only a certain amount of combination of the Megavitamin but still predictable [2 (single colored) to 4 (double colored) turning possibility]
  
• Loss of self-conscious
• since the controls are really simple and little [down,left,right and A], it becomes part of conscious after just a while of playing
• Transformation of time
• makes player lost of time as one game come after another and story [seems as though the time have yet to pass but in the real world hours may have passed without the player even knowing]
• Experience becomes the End in Itself
• Play [player approach, without violating game rules]
• player could do a horizontal elimination of virus of color combination of pills
• they can also do multiple combo in any way they want
• position the pills at the ideal position, allow it to free fall for a while to gain extra timing to analyse next pill possible move 
• players form queues of pills to eliminate those unneeded [stack pills up like in Tetris and eliminate them along the way so that there'll be more space] 
• Do as many combo as possible to sent bits of pill down on opponent
• players need not only clear one virus with one pill 
  

  

  a illustration of possible play, which is using one blue pill to eliminate 2 blue virus at once

Another illustration of what I'm Trying to Convey

• Traditional - enhance the more abstract elements of a formal system, creating a deeper sense of connection for the players and enriching their overall  experience
•  Premise [State by way of introduction]
• Dr. Mario Megavitamins is stolen and had to get it back
  
• Character
• protagonist: Wario or Dr. Mario depending on what the player choose
• different character choose result a different plot
• Empathy towards character due to the story [e.g. Dr. Mario is such a nice guy must help him get his stuff back]
• Player is just a 'helper' to the protagonist though
• Story - make player empathize with the character they are playing [Reference]
• It's flu season
•  Dr. Mario's duty to use his Megavitamins to heal the infirmities of the citizens of the land
• Wario attempts to steal the Megavitamins
• He believes that if he has them, he will be rich. 
• Before he can do so, Mad Scienstein steals the Megavitamins
• Dr. Mario runs into Wario, believing he has the Megavitamins, and they duel. 
• Afterwards Dr. Mario saw Mad Scienstein had it instead, they both go after Mad Scienstein. 
• Throughout their adventure, both of them meet up with many creatures, all of them being villains taken from Wario Land 3. 

  

  Left - Wario linear story Ending / Right Dr.Mario Linear Story Ending 

• Dr. Mario:
• In the end, it is revealed Mad Scienstein stole the Megavitamins for the diabolical Rudy the Clown, who wishes to cure his cold. 
• Dr. Mario defeats Rudy, takes back his trusty Megavitamins, and makes Rudy happy by curing his cold.
• Wario:
• story features enemies that Dr. Mario doesn't face
• In his ending he defeats Rudy but then Dr. Mario comes and tries to get the Megavitamins back. Wario rushes away, but he trips, making some Megavitamins falling out. Dr. Mario swallows all of them and transforms into Metal Mario. After Wario beats him, Mad Scienstein comes and runs off with the Megavitamins. Wario chases after him and the chase keeps on going forever.
• in the game the character you choose would affect how the story is told [still linear though]
• example: choosing Dr. Mario, will show as though Wario is sort of the smaller bad guy who gets you into trouble along with mad Scienstein [thus making player feel bad for Dr. Mario as he was not the one who disturb some of the creatures encounter]
• World Building
• uses past mario games character to put into game refrain player from having the need to regenerate a feel for the creatures all over again
• each creature have their very own animation and 'speech' [sound effect during gameplay] which made the world built within the environment/gameplay feel more surreal
• Dramatic Arc  
• Exposition - introduces Dr. Mario is going around using his Megavitamins to cure flu
• Conflict - Megavitamins is stolen and have to get it back
• Climax -Megavitamins is actually stolen by Mad Scienstein and is running away
• Falling Action - Rudy is actually under a flu and needed the Megavitamins
• Resolution - Defeated the clown, get back the Megavitamins

Worthy 'A Thousand Year'

•  good consideration of flow to keep the game enjoyable, not too frustrating and boring by balancing the ability and challenge [slowly increases challenge, allowing player to slowly learn within their ability and get use to the game difficulty change as level increases]
• story built on as a polish and also a layer to keep player engage and have a sense of purpose and reason why they're doing so-and-so and gives a drive for player to strive towards a goal
• 'Realism' of environment built, different creatures and character have their own sets of animation and voice [as though they're 'real'] 
• the game has restriction but yet provide player with ample amount of freedom for the players to play
• Games which limits players too much is not a 'good' game as player don't have a choice thus making it a meaningless choice kind of game
• while I was playing i felt that the game has a Balancing feedback, because when I'm far behind the opponent will be playing 'badly' as though waiting for me to catch up. But as I am about to clear the opponent quickly speed up its move clearing all the extra pieces. [Player will tend to give up when they know it's impossible to win, but Dr. Mario has considered this point]
• Temporary goals to motivate players for that instant of play, and long term goal to motivate player to continue after temporary goal. 
• Easy control which almost anyone can play
• Thousand years later even when language change this game will still be playable as you need not learn like hell in order to play it is like an instinctively knowing how to play within a few minutes of observation
• People are the key to  survival of a game, in research Dr. Mario scored an average vote of [6.5 to 7 in rating over the full of 10] 

Reception
Classic NES Series: Dr. Mario (GBA)
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	69.25%[21]
Metacritic	66 / 100[22]
Review scores
Publication	Score
GameSpot	7.4 / 10[23]
IGN	7.0 / 10[24]
Nintendo Power	7.2 / 10[25]
Play Magazine	67%[26]
Nintendojo	7.7 / 10[27]

Other reasons people would probably still be playing in a thousand years from now [reference1 / reference2]

• most people have have a urge to build, solve and create 
• Dr. Mario holds our attention by continually creating incomplete task and completing them
• each action a player does either creates a solution or another problem to solve
• human mind tend to reorganized around a goal and desired which we've already set and revolve around it until a solution or goal is acquired
• Dr. Mario trickily made the game a endless cycle frustration to mind in wanting to get rid of this virus then the next and so on until all the virus are gone
• player feel the satisfaction and wants to challenge again at a higher degree
• a roller coaster of feelings being played ['yes I did it' then 'Arg, miss' then loop]
• a bitter sweet game that will trigger on and off the feeling of player thus making the players wanting to and remembering the game despite numerous years later
• thus making this game unforgettable and urging player to come back to play and feel the trill all over again