A Critical Analysis of Wario Land 4

[Gooseberrysoda]

Wow, thanks for posting about the book, Gooseberrysoda. As David mentioned, I used to frequent these boards and contribute a bit to the site back around 2007-2008. I'm pretty busy with my writing these days, but I still follow the site and listen to the podcasts, and it's as awesome as it's always been

Your book is so comprehensive! Thanks for drawing attention to this superbly designed GBA game.

[Flake]

Wow, thanks for posting about the book, Gooseberrysoda. As David mentioned, I used to frequent these boards and contribute a bit to the site back around 2007-2008. I'm pretty busy with my writing these days, but I still follow the site and listen to the podcasts, and it's as awesome as it's always been

Without saying anything covered in your book (which I plan to purchase soon), could you explain a little how Warioland 4 stood out among an ocean of platformers for you? I agree it is an awesome game but the scale of what you have accomplished is staggering.

[Daniel Primed]

^Sure. Wario Land 4 is an extremely focused platformer. The designers removed some of the excesses from prior games and just used what they had in more clever and interesting ways. For example:

-Each level is designed around a certain game idea and each room explores that idea in continually more elaborate ways. In this way, the game's narrative units are well fleshed out.

-The levels are designed around a model of learning where the player is first taught something in a restricted environment which slowly opens up over time. This ensures that the player understands what they're being taught before they're then allowed to express themselves with it in a freer environment and thereby feel a sense of ownership of it.

-The way that Wario must reach the end of a level and then return back to the entrance (folded level design) is used to twist the player's knowledge in a number of unique ways.

In the book, I talk about the game in detail so that I can make very clear and direct observations and thereby show the audience the extent of the artistry behind the gameplay design.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

So I read all I could from this book with Amazon's "look inside" feature.

warioland1.png (41.36 KiB) Viewed 918 times

So far it's not an analysis or a critique of anything; not game criticism and not Wario Land 4. It's just a list of moves and enemies, void of commentary. Why would I read that when I can play the game? Why would I read it at all?

By claiming you've taken game criticism to its logical conclusion, you have claimed you're the best game critic that could possibly exist. I don't have a problem with that; if it's true I'll give you all the free advertising I possibly can. Since you haven't done any analysis at all in the preview, that claim rings hollow.

A preview is supposed to represent the value of the entire book. Based on the pages available to me, I concluded that it was completely worthless. I'm sure a lot of prospective buyers though the same. Some racketboys are recommending it - why? Does the book suddenly become fascinating? I have no way of knowing.

Daniel Primed, I strongly recommend you change the preview pages if possible. Show your audience the good parts. If Amazon won't let you choose which pages to preview, put a link to a proper excerpt somewhere in the description. It would do you a lot of good, assuming the book is worth reading.

I want better game criticism because that will lead to better games. If you can do that I'll support you. By support I don't mean agree, I mean actually help. Convince me your book is worth everybody's time.

[Daniel Primed]

Valkyrie-Favor, as you've rightfully pointed out, the preview on the Amazon page is hardly an ideal representation of the book. As I explain in the "How to Read This Book" section, the Need to Know chapter is all about framing the game in preparation for the analysis (you know, the other 500 pages of the book). Some people have really gotten a lot from how I laid everything out and started putting a few pieces together, others feel that it works better as a reference. Regardless, if I'm going to cover a whole game like this, the reader needs to know the fast-moving attack mechanic is called the Dash Attack and the slower one is called Attack, and so on, before I can really start talking in-depth.

I talked with the publisher about the preview issue and it appears to be out of our control (Amazon love applying arbitrary restrictions onto publishers). If you go to the book's web portal, you'll find several excerpts that I've chosen myself.

It's also worth noting that neither Stolen Projects or myself are doing anything to promote the Amazon page. In the press release for the Kindle version, we suggested that readers buy the book directly through us as doing so gives the reader access to all versions and updates to the book for free. Still, I will look into this further.

I don't claim to be "the best critic in the world" or anything of the sort. The book stands for itself, which I'm sure you'll find if you read more than just the first 30 pages.

I want better game criticism because that will lead to better games. If you can do that I'll support you. By support I don't mean agree, I mean actually help. Convince me your book is worth everybody's time.

Good. I co-run a games criticism discussion group that will be releasing a mixed media project on indie platformer/puzzler Starseed Pilgrim in the coming days. Droqen, the creator of Starseed Pilgrim, has used our criticism to develop a modification on the game that will be releasing shortly as well. We've prepared a broad palette of initial content and will be looking for additional contributions once the site goes live. If you want to understand games, we'd be happy to work with you and provide support. We also have weekly google hangouts and often co-edit and give feedback on each other's work. Hit me up on [email protected] if you're interested. Balls in your court.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

Thank you for pointing me to those excerpts. I've read all the freely-available material now. I still suggest linking to some longer excerpts of the good stuff on Amazon. There's certainly no harm in it.

About the excerpts: They were comprehensive lists of stuff, and I'm impressed with the care you took with the screenshots. However, the only commentary I could find after a close reading was stuff like "getting hit makes players realize they made a mistake and that they should improve" and "it was pretty awesome how the camera let the player see what was going on." So Wario Land 4 did these things...so what? You're so dedicated to objectivism that you've determined not to draw a conclusion from your research so what was the point of the whole book?

I don't claim to be "the best critic in the world" or anything of the sort.

Only the best possible critic could create the best possible criticism. Could the logical conclusion of games writing - of writing - be anything less than the best?

If you want to understand games, we'd be happy to work with you and provide support.

I already understand games.

We also have weekly google hangouts and often co-edit and give feedback on each other's work. Hit me up on [email protected] if you're interested.

When are these hangouts, and what kind of work are you doing?

[Daniel Primed]

I don't know what to say. You either haven't read the articles close enough or you're just intentionally being antagonistic.

The psychology excerpt explains how the various game elements persuade the player to behave in particular ways. I talk about education, level variation, game ideas, camera design, and various other topics in the 40 Below Fridge piece. And the Mario and Wario article covers the contextual to the mechanical make-up of both character.

Again, you're putting words in my mouth. The logical conclusion of games analysis is a piece of writing that explores an entire game. Comprehensive != best.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

I've got better things to do than harass people on the internet. I'm talking about this book because I actually care about it - which is why I'm going to buy a copy.

Like I said, I've properly read all the freely available material. The psychology article in particular never goes beyond the blindingly obvious. Nothing I've read so far has been constructive - no evaluation of the game in question and no conclusions useful for improving game criticism or games themselves.

I'll be back in more detail once I've read the whole book.

[dsheinem]

Nothing I've read so far has been constructive - no evaluation of the game in question and no conclusions useful for improving game criticism or games themselves.

What in your mind counts as a constructive "evaluation" of the game? What for you counts as "game criticism" and how would it be improved?

Are you looking for him to argue about it being good or bad? Are you asking that he compare it to other games? Are you suggesting that games criticism needs to be about helping someone decide if they should play the game?

I'm asking these questions not to antagonize - I am genuinely trying to figure out what you are looking for in this book (and in the Chrono Trigger one that you initially dismissed in the other thread). You seem to have a sense that these books aren't living up to some promise, and I am trying to understand what you think that promise is (or should be).

[Valkyrie-Favor]

I'm asking these questions not to antagonize

Yes, I know. Don't worry about it.

It's sad we have to have that kind of qualifier, isn't it? "I thought this about what you said, but it's not like I'm trying to make you mad or anything." Really there's no point in trying to make anyone mad or in trying to convince them of your opinions; once you have stated your opinions clearly you've accomplished your purpose.

When I said there was nothing constructive in the excerpts so far, I meant they weren't useful for any purpose. Not that every book about games has to accomplish the same kind of thing. BTW it's pretty dumb to write a whole book on whether a certain game is worth buying.

In the case of the Chrono Trigger book, I thought it was stupid to write so many pages about CT's world and story. There's very little to write about. There will also be some nonsense about genre conventions the story follows and subverts - i.e. a paraphrasing of the game's TVtropes page. Maybe the developer interviews will be cool.

Game Design Companion 2013 was supposed to advance the state of game criticism, but is written like an FAQ or wiki page - pretty much the opposite of analysis. Nothing I've read so far would be useful for creating better games or better game writing, which are the only two things game criticism could possibly be good for. The standards which this book ought to be judged by are present in the first few pages.

I evaluate games criticism through the proposition of games analysis, a new type of games writing which seeks to improve the art and science of video games...I would contest that there has never been a deeper, more comprehensive piece of writing ever written about a video game.