Are you a fan of video games? Then, you might be curious about the facts on the creation of video games! This article will provide you with some interesting information about game design.
Sonic the rabbit
Have you ever played Sonic? This popular game was developed by Yuji Naka and initially had a very simple concept.
A player of Sonic was supposed to control a character who was located inside a ball. The ball was rolling in long tubes which were leading the player from one level to another one. The final version of the game was more complex as the character was able to stop and interact with objects by picking them just like in the case with Mario. The idea was not complex indeed, however, the game turned into a very exciting form of entertainment.
A curious fact about this popular video game is about the choice of an animal who was supposed to become legendary Sonic. Not everyone knows that the character was supposed to be a rabbit rather than a hedgehog.
The team of developers were trying to integrate a rabbit into the game, but it turned out to be rather challenging since they needed to animate the long ears of the rabbit. In addition to it, the game design required a motion of a rolling ball from the animal, so, the designers switched to an armadillo.
The final proposal of a hedgehog was made by Naoto Ohshima who was one of the designers. The team decided the hedgehog will be the best choice and they first call him Mr. Heedlemouse.
The appearance of Mario
You will hardly find a person who plays video games and have never heard about Mario. The appearance of Mario comes as something absolutely natural today, however, it was not just a result of the imagination of its designers. In fact, Shigeru Miyamoto created Mario in the way we know him today in order to overcome the limited capabilities of the graphics design of that time. For instance, the iconic moustache as well as a hat helped developers to avoid tedious work with drawing and animation especially when it comes to the hair of the character.
The multiplayer component
If you are interested in the older games you might know that the first game with a multiplayer component was Goldeneye 007. An interesting fact is that the team of developers decided to make the game playable with multiplayer just a couple of weeks before the release of the final version of the game. Actually, this was an afterthought and the developers risked to add it to the game without waiting for an approval of the studio directors.
You can imagine how crucial this element of game mechanics was for the development of the entire video game industry.