
Nintendo's secretive creative process - gyre007
https://amp.theguardian.com/games/2018/apr/25/nintendo-interview-secret-innovation-lab-ideas-working
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susanhi
“The thinking that guides us is: what can we do to pleasantly surprise
players? It’s not that we’re consciously trying to innovate; we’re trying to
find ways to make people happy. The result is that we come up with things
other people have not done.”

Love this. Focuses you without restricting what you’re doing. We have a now 10
year old app/social community that we’ve been trying for several years to
grow/innovate. In past years, we focused on growing revenue, which we needed
to do to pay the bills. It helped some but not as we expected. Recently we
decided to double down on our product, innovating our community and app to try
help users. I really like the concept of “pleasantly surprising” our users.
Will be putting that into play.

~~~
ekianjo
> I really like the concept of “pleasantly surprising” our users.

Except that when users complained about the WiiU not being fun or remotely
interesting, nobody listened at Nintendo and they kept marching to release it
as is.

It's nice to have narratives, but when facts don't match it, it's just a nice
PR story and nothing more.

~~~
rangibaby
Nintendo have released some turds of consoles before (Virtual Boy, N64, Wii U)
but they all had some good games.

Super Mario 64 was the first 3d platformer and it is still fun and innovative
now. The only thing dated about it is the camera control and it’s not _that_
bad.

~~~
eckza
> N64

In what universe is the N64 a turd?

(I am asking objectively, not as a frothing-at-the-mouth fanboy.)

~~~
khedoros1
I like the N64, but for the sake of argument (from a few different directions,
and each one debatable whether it made it a "turd"):

\- Sony moved over three times as many Playstations, and there were about 2600
PSX games and 400 N64 ones. In contrast to the previous generation, the SNES
handily outsold the Genesis, even with somewhat fewer released games.

\- The cartridge format caused problems with production price and storage
potential, which disk-based systems didn't have

\- It was an overly-complex, difficult-to-program machine

\- The 4K of texture cache and other weird design choices really hampered the
graphics quality.

~~~
eckza
Aha. That's the answer I was looking for.

All fair points, all objectively true. Thank you!

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bitwize
One of the really impressive things about Nintendo is their corporate culture
has encouraged passing on of institutional knowledge to younger minds within
the company. Shigeru Miyamoto is coming up on retirement age, and some of us
have been wondering how Mario and Zelda would fare without him. Well, we
needn't wonder: Miyamoto was not very actively involved in the development of
Mario Odyssey or Breath of the Wild, and those games turned out great.

~~~
nothis
And, as the article says, _in Japan!_ There has been some fair criticism of
the Japanese games market lacking in innovation compared to the West. Their
indie scene is pitiful, AAA games stuck in 90s mechanics with fairly boring
use of modern 3D hardware and a complete avoidance of online gaming trends.
But, except for the online thing (although Splatoon might be among the
strongest Japanese contenders), Nintendo manages to be maybe the most
innovative AAA game developer in the world (especially when you consider their
integration of hardware innovation in input devices). It’s quite remarkable.
It’s an example of a very different culture being able to arrive at success in
entirely different ways. It’s refreshing.

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Sniffnoy
Non-mobile link: [https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/apr/25/nintendo-
inter...](https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/apr/25/nintendo-interview-
secret-innovation-lab-ideas-working)

------
dmitriid
I highly recommend Mark Brown's video "Nintendo: Putting Play First,
[https://youtu.be/2u6HTG8LuXQ](https://youtu.be/2u6HTG8LuXQ) (and his other
essays on Nintendo)

~~~
TillE
There are millions of people making videos about games, but Mark Brown is the
only YouTube person I've found who always has something interesting to say
about game design. The Zelda series was particularly good.

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ggm
There is a kind of game design which works for me, and keeps me coming back. I
don't think you can bottle it, any more than you can sell pixar to disney
without keeping the brains inside the can. If you just sell the name, you
don't get whats marked on the bottle.

 _Amici di / scuola di "Nintendo"_, but moved forward from the renaissance?
Seriously, maybe you have to study at the feet of the master and accept
his/her teachings and method, to make one just the same (but different) ?

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erikpukinskis
I don’t think the author understands console cycles. These are decade long
cycles.

Nintendo released Wii, one of the best selling consoles of all time, in 2006.

Then they released the 3DS, another of the best selling consoles of all time,
in 2010.

Then they released the the Switch, the fastest selling console ever for them,
in 2017.

This is not a company who is “on the ropes” and then off again. This is a
company that is consistently at the absolute top of the charts year after
year.

You can say the WiiU was a failure, but that risk helped them nail the switch.
The only sense in which they were “on the ropes” is that they take risks which
don’t work every single time. But that’s an absurd expectation. Of course bets
don’t pay off every time.

The author is anthropomorphizing the design process. As if failed experiments
are some sort of existential moment for the company. But these are just the
natural ups and downs of an ambitious design team.

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jordache
they source game/creative ideas from developers?

I'm sure it's not impossible to achieve success from that source, but more
likely not.

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megaman22
I find it a little weird the exalted position that Nintento seems to occupy in
most peoples' minds. Maybe it's that I've always been a PC gamer first, and
that's skewed my whole view forever, but Nintendo's offerings have always felt
a little... meh. I don't have any use for actiony platformers, and the cutesy
art style doesn't do much for me. Nor do I care about gimmicky controllers.
Since the end of the SNES generation, their catalog of third-party games has
lagged behind the other options. It's all pretty underwhelming.

I expect this to be an unpopular oppinion, but it needs to be said.

~~~
on_and_off
>it needs to be said

What exactly do you feel needs to be said ?

You not liking what Nintendo does, while fair, does not sound like a very
interesting opinion to me.

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megaman22
I have a compulsion to poke at sacred cows and point out when the emperor has
no clothes. It's really hard to rein in.

Edit: It's also quite entertaining. There's certain fan groups that have
elevated liking a product into quasi-religious stature. Pointing out the
absurdity of that tends to bring out the sticks and pitchforks.

~~~
soneca
Now you presume you know the "truth", not that is a personal opinion of yours.
That you are the only one in the crowd with the wisdom to see things as they
are. That's why you are downvoted, not because your opinion is unpopular.

If you presented your opinion as just a subjective opinion, not the revealing
of truth to illuminate the ignorant, your opinion would be treated fairly I'm
sure.

BTW, I believe that there are a lot of people who are not impressed at all by
Nintendo products. You are not that special.

