Closing the Windows

Since the mid nineties, the warmth of Summer has shown down upon the PC development world. Windows has been the open platform to develop for. Sorry, Linux, you've just never had the market share. But like the Starks say, Winter is coming, and we must close the Windows lest we freeze to death.

Windows 8 is a closed system and we must all freak out. You won't be able to download applications from Steam or websites, only from the Windows store. Mature applications are banned. Microsoft takes a cut of all app sales. Mice and keyboards are being abandoned. The environment is impossible to navigate. The end of the PC is night! At least, this is what the pundits will tell you.

The one thing everyone is forgetting is that there are two versions of Windows 8: the desktop Intel/AMD compatible 32/64-bit version (x86), and the ARM-based 32-bit version just for tablets (aka Windows RT). ARM processors are the same ones that can be found in Android tablets, and it is this version of the operating system that is causing such a ruckus. It is a closed system, and will only be available as pre-installed software on Windows RT ARM tablets. No OEM will be made available, so if you want to hack it onto your Android tablet you'll have to go through some dark avenues to do so. Software for this version of Windows will only be available through the Windows Store, similar to the Apple App Store or Google Play, and executable programs from that scary place known as "the internet" will not be installable. This version will lack support for legacy applications. Microsoft has also stated that games with a PEGI 16+ or ESRB 17+ rating will not be allowed on the OS.

Then we come to the standard version of Windows 8, the powerhouse for x86 systems, the one for your desktop, laptop, and even eventually tablets (like the super duper version of the Surface Microsoft is putting out next year). Other than the new UI, this is Windows as you know it. It's an open environment, keyboard/mouse based, with all (read: most) of the features you've come to love from Windows over the years. You'll be able to install Steam on this one, so all your M-Rated games will be ready and waiting if they're compatible.

The 64-bit version of Windows 8 should be the standard version everyone is reporting on. Were that the case, though, there'd be no story. The closed nature of the ARM-version is much more compelling from a blogosphere standpoint. People want to read things that confirm their anger. Well, I am here to lay some truth on the situation. The ARM version exists so Windows RT can punch its way into the tablet market while reducing risk and increasing revenue on Microsoft's end. The actual standard version of Windows 8? It's boring. It's a touch-based environment for non-touch-based technology. Microsoft knows that this is not the version that has people excited. In fact, read any blog and it'll say that while people hate using Windows 8 with a mouse, it shines on a tablet. Even I'll admit, I hate the new UI on the XBox 360, but I can tell it would be a whole lot less frustrating if I had a Kinect. What they have created is a superb touch-based environment, but creating an environment that is perfect for both touch-based and mouse-based users is extremely difficult. They're very different inputs.

At the beginning of the Windows 8 development cycle, Microsoft had said that the classic Windows UI would be in there for us dedicated mouse and keyboard users. It had a start menu and everything (even if you had to regedit it in)! A couple months later they took it out, and created a sort of hybrid modern UI/classic UI setup that errs on the side of confusing. To most, it was an odd choice. To me, it made perfect sense. To reiterate my above statement: The standard version of Windows 8 is boring. The tablet version is exciting. They want you to focus on using Windows with tiles, not icons. Unfortunately they didn't quite go all-in on the tile UI, so we'll see how this hybrid setup goes with the general audience.

Microsoft is pushing Windows into the tablet space, but to put all their eggs in one basket so soon after the brilliance that was Windows 7 would be to abandon all their current users. They know they can't do that. They also know that the majority of PC's still are using Windows XP, an operating system that is more than 10 years old, but that gets the job done for schools, libraries, businesses, and the government. Heck, Microsoft isn't ending support for Windows XP until 2014. In order to entice an upgrade, they've priced Windows 8 dirt cheap, but with that upgrade comes a few concessions... to Windows 7 users. To Windows XP users, it'll be a brand new world. So really, the market for Windows 8 consists of people/organizations in need of an upgrade from Windows XP, and people interested in a Windows 8 tablet. Current Windows 7 users will, for the most part, stick with Windows 7. They should stick with it too, as it's only a couple years old, and there is no major piece of underlying technology in Windows 8 that should force the average user into an upgrade. Plus, any developers focusing on desktop applications can still target Windows 7 as their platform and anyone running the x86 version of Windows 8 will be able to run it too, so no worries there.

The only area for Windows 8 that should cause some nervousness is new computers. We all know that the new Dells, HPs, Sonys, etc. will come with Windows 8 preinstalled. This could be frustrating to some users, but I think at this point we should be used to it. Some people still have laptops running Vista. These things happen. If you need a new laptop but the idea of switching to Windows 8 bothers you, you can still buy Windows 7, and you'll be able to for a while. In fact, Windows 7 will probably run amazingly well on Windows 8-focused hardware (unless it's a touchscreen, really), so don't be afraid to downgrade! Microsoft is a good business, so they will probably just nod and say, "We understand. Thanks for your money." Or, if you now officially hate Windows, you can go to Linux and then take it one step further and install Open webOS 1.0 on top of it. It's up to you.

I think what is making the general public nervous is that blog writers are not differentiating between Windows 8 (x86) and Windows RT (ARM). At least, not in the headlines. In doing so, it makes it seem like independent developers will no longer be able to distribute their applications via their own websites, or services like Steam, or play their music on iTunes, or run any legacy apps on any platform on which Windows 8 is installed. This is politics stuff and they need to STOP. In truth, these are the concessions made for Windows RT due to the architecture of ARM processors! Not differentiating between the Windows 8 and Windows RT is nothing more than a scare tactic blog writers are using to make the general public nervous about Windows 8.

"But Dan!" you say, "What about the app store restrictions?" Well, let's think of it like this. The average user on a Windows 8 desktop (x86) goes to check out some Windows 8 games, sees yours, and downloads it. Except, it doesn't run, because it's built for Windows RT. Or vice versa. That divide could cause a lot of consumer confusion and end up with Microsoft being slapped with another anti-trust lawsuit. Make no mistake, Microsoft setting up their own marketplace for apps in Windows RT is a good thing. It protects the consumer, and it protects them. Sure you may not like it, but the underlying technological differences between RT and 8 could cause serious frustration among the average consumer if they didn't (not that they won't have other frustrations). As for the other restrictions... well, at this point, it doesn't matter. Not like you're going to be playing Gears of War on your Microsoft Surface any time soon. Windows RT has an uphill struggle in the war for the tablet market, so that's where Microsoft is is hedging their bets. In order to do so, they need an app store filled with Angry Birds, not with porn. Like I said, the majority of Windows 8 sales will be coming from users looking for an upgrade from Windows XP, and the other half will be coming from the tablet market. New PC's and upgrades from Windows 7 will be a sliver of Windows 8's market share.

In conclusion, what do I think about Windows 8? I'm conflicted, and have been from the start. As a desktop man, it doesn't fit my needs. Windows RT, though, seems exciting at first, and then you see the initial app store restrictions (which would get lifted with time, don't forget). We're yet to see what kind of a market share it will grab, and whether Windows 8 x86 or Windows RT will be more successful. Oh, and once the first tablets with Windows 8, not Windows RT come out? BOOM, there's your legacy support. Some of the Windows may be closed, but others are open as they always were. Winter hasn't come yet.

UPDATE 10/16/2012: Microsoft has revealed the final pricing for Windows 8. Back in July, upgrade pricing was aggressive, as I mentioned in this post, at $40. A price like that would definitely be enticing to the old XP crowd. But now the final pricing has been revealed, and it looks like an upgrade will be $70, with the full version priced at $100-$140, depending on the version. This puts the cost in line with previous versions of Windows.

This confuses me somewhat. As I had mentioned, it seemed like Win8 would be ~$30 cheaper in all departments. The $40 deal would run through January, but I can't find any info on it that's more recent than posts from July. It seems that this deal has changed somewhat. Microsoft's new deal is to upgrade a new Win7 PC to Win8 for just $15 through January. Of course that ends up being a $500+ investment, and once the deals run out, the upgrade cost shoots back up to $70.

Windows 8 could be a harder sell than I had previously predicted. I certainly wouldn't recommend anyone using Windows 7 upgrade to it at those prices. XP or Vista... maybe? But Windows 7 will remain at the same price as Windows 8, or possibly even get a price drop, so I'd say you're better off with that.

Stealth Jam, Day 3: The Mistress Lives

The only level I was able to add today is also the biggest challenge in the whole game so far!

Well, when all was said and done, this is what I was able to implement into Moonlight: Mistress of Mischief on the last day of the Stealth Jam:

• Moonlight's sprite! Still needs Up and Down-facing sprites though.
• Moonlight's Takedown, for instantly killing enemies. You need to be right on top of a guard to kill them. Hit Space to slash your knife while you are not in a box.
• Two animations for Moonlight: Idle and Takedown. (the Takedown came out cooler than I expected)
• Floor tiles, which makes the turrets MUCH more visible!
• Horizontal Guards (which, at the moment, can't attack, though they're supposed to. Yay bugs!)
• Turn points for Guards. As of now, to prevent heavy lifting on AI development, guards will work just horizontally (white knights) or vertically (black knights, to be implemented). At some point there will also be knights who can hunt you (red knights) as well as hopefully many other kinds of baddies! Teleporters, magic snipers, maybe spiders that pop out of boxes when you try to hide in them?
• Three animations for Horizontal Guards: Idle, Attack, and Dead.
• Level 3 had an odd glitch where you would die for no reason so I rebuilt it from scratch.
• Level 4 is the last level of the Stealth Jam build and introduces moving enemies. There are a LOT of boxes for you to hide in and block the turrets should you need to. The Red Door is your way out, but there is no visible key at the start of the level. HMM WHAT TO DO?!
• Moved the score back to the top middle, but visibility on it could be better.
• Lives changed to an icon of Moonlight's face with an X3, X2, or X1 next to it as planned.
• Knife icon with selector around it. This area will be used for other items in your inventory as I add them, as well as controls for choosing items.
• Invincibility/invisibility period of 3 seconds after death. This was implemented to prevent any guards who end up near the Spawn Point right after killing you from killing you repeatedly.
• Key Spawners. This is actually the feature that excites me the most. There is a tiny line of code in there now that states "Are all the enemies gone? Then spawn key at key spawner." With these I now have even more options for level flow as certain areas can be blocked off until a group of enemies is defeated. I can probably think of more ways to activate key spawners later on. Needless to say they'll work well for boss battles.

Level 2. I showed this one earlier today, but this is how it looks with the new spritework.

Well, that's all for me today. Make sure to check out the latest build! It still is only for Windows. It is also still free, but considering how easy this game is to develop that may change at some point, ya know, when I have more than four levels.

Stealth Jam, Days 1 + 2: Creating Moonlight

I'm no stranger to Game Jams. I'm a huge fan of them as they allow me to practice my programming chops, not something I get to do very often these days. As I am also a developer of a stealth game, when I heard a Stealth Jam was coming up, I couldn't wait for the opportunity to make something COMPLETELY different from Children of Liberty. As much as I love the kids, they really have been eating me alive the last three years and it feels great to make something fresh.

Epic title screen, inspired by Apogee's Hocus Pocus.

Thus, I am creating a game entitled Moonlight: Mistress of Mischief. I decided to look back to my shareware days for inspiration, to a game called Crusher by William Soleau. The goal of that game was to collect bits and pieces of treasure scattered around a randomly generated castle, while crushing monsters via blocks you could push. You had a limited resource for survival, Oxygen, and if that ran out it was game over. There was also dynamite you could pick up should you need to explode a block in your way.

This game gave my mom nightmares.

Immediately upon starting Moonlight, I knew I had to do away with the resource for survival. As this is a stealth game, the goal should not be on frantically searching for a tank of oxygen (or in the sequel's case, a candle). No, the goal of Moonlight is to clear each room of treasure to the best of your ability.

I am yet to get Moonlight's sprite done, so for now she is a smiley face.

There are three kinds of jewels, Small, Medium, and Large, which are worth 1, 10, and 100 points respectively. The only enemy type so far is a turret which shoots in 1 of 4 directions, but can only see you if you move within two tiles of it. You can also hide in crates and move around (they even shake a bit when you step inside them!). Turrets will not shoot you while you are in a crate, and crates can even be used to block turrets completely or obstruct an enemy's view. This is probably the closest Moonlight will get to Crusher's original crush-to-kill mechanic. However, you cannot pick up treasure while you are hidden in a crate, so it's not like you can just run around willy-nilly and get all the treasure with little effort. There are also traps which hold crates in place should you run into one while skulking around.

The Red Key and the Blue Key make a triumphant return, along with their new friend the Yellow Key. All you need to do to open doors is step on a key, and all doors of that color open at the same time. This allows me to do many things in terms of a level's design. One, I can control the flow of up to 4 or 5 separate areas, which is a lot in a 608x480 space (640 pixels -32 for the UI on the left). Two, I can create gated puzzles which, though optional, can really test the player's stealthy skillset. Finally, I can lock off the exit, meaning that the goal of each level, and in fact the only way to progress, is to find the correct colored key which leads out of the current room. There are also gray doors I have added in as extra details to show blocked off passageways. Originally, I had wanted to make the game free-roaming like Crusher, but went with a linear game instead.

The first level has no danger, but instead teaches the player to appreciate treasure and how keys work.

Right now, treasure collection is the most important part of the game. After all, who doesn't love collecting treasure?! Before the Stealth Jam is through, though, I'd like to add a few more things, and change a few others.

1. Moonlight really needs a sprite. I'll do my best to do her justice.
2. I'll be returning the scoring system to number-based instead of bar-based. I had thought it would be neat to watch a bar fill up as you collected treasure, but there's a real disconnect with your progress. It'll look better to have the actual amount of treasure you've collected displayed prominently top-center.
3. Moving enemies. The turrets are fine and all but their use is limited, especially in terms of level design. Getting some real enemies in there who can at least move back and forth and shoot at you when they see you will be key to making this game awesome and truly stealthy. On that same note:
4. Takedowns. If you can get up behind an enemy, you should be able to stab them and kill then. Similarly, I may also put in Crate Takedowns, which would hold the crate where it is like its been trapped but with the bonus of you having just taken out an enemy!
5. Nicer looking life icons, maybe just Moonlight's face with an X3, X2, or X1 next to it to save space on the side for an eventual inventory.
6. Sounds. I love SFXR. If you've never heard of it, you should check it out!
7. MUSIC?!
8. MORE LEVELS! Mainly because I've made them really easy to make so I can crank out 1 or 2 more by 5:00pm tomorrow.
9. Scoring system. This could be neat, based on how many gems you collected out of the total in the level and in how much time. However, considering how much more I need to get done, I may put this off for a future update.
10. Decide on a platform. As of right now, the game is a basic Windows executable. However, because of its simplicity, I could easily see this working on mobile, in Flash, in XNA... Multimedia Fusion has so many exporters now my choices are pretty much endless. I'll leave it as a Windows game for now but with the plan of porting it everywhere when it's done.
11. So much more I want to do. Items, different enemy types, different environments with modified gameplay (slippery floors in an icy world anyone?), long ranged attacks, a shop to make use of your stolen goods, the scoring system (as mentioned), tons more levels... but unfortunately I have less than 24 hours remaining in the Stealth Jam, and not nearly enough time to implement all this.

Please try out the game and let me know what you think. There are only three levels right now but, despite that, if you go for every treasure, you should get a good 10 minutes of game time out of it. You'll need a Windows PC and that's about it.

David Perry Challenge #003 - Metroid

Metroid is a fully open and explorable 2D platformer released for the Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom back in the mid-eighties. It has since gone on to be one of Nintendo's premiere action/adventure properties, with award winning games such as Super Metroid on the Super Nintendo, and the Metroid Prime series on Gamecube and Wii. Furthermore, the series protagonist Samus Aran become a shining example of a strong, female protagonist in games (pathetic attempt at deeper narrative in Metroid: Other M on the Wii aside). It also takes half the credit for establishing the “Metroidvania” genre, a type of platformer with open worlds as opposed to linear corridors, along with Castlevania. Despite this, Metroid is not a game that is as fresh today as it was twenty-seven years ago. Though amazing for the time and beloved by those who remember playing it upon release, game design as a philosophy moved so far beyond Metroid in such a short time that what may have been acceptable shortcomings or even respected rules back in 1985 stand out as serious flaws today.

Though the environment tiles are highly detailed, the backgrounds are just flat black due to the NES's shortcomings and the already unstable framerate.

To understand just what is flawed about Metroid and why it is flawed, we need to look at a game with similar problems: Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. The first issue is that of control or lack thereof. Under normal circumstances, there is nothing wrong with Samus Aran's run, jump, or shoot. The controls are loose and maybe a little slow but nothing that can't be learned in time. It is the interruption of these controls that cannot be excused. Each time an enemy hits Samus, she is knocked back several tiles and player control is briefly revoked. Due to this, the player will often find themselves hitting other enemies or falling into deadly pits. The high number of enemies at any moment, which slows the game's framerate down considerably, also does not help this issue. Due to the extremely limited range of your shots, and the fact that most enemies take at least four hits to kill, getting hit by enemies and thus knocked back is almost inevitable. By 1987, in Castlevania II, players were already complaining about knockback from hits and so, as a general rule of game design, knockback in extreme forms was discouraged. One need not look further than the original Mega Man for proof that knockback did not have to be as extreme as the forms seen in Metroid or Castlevania and that it could still be an effective deterrence from running into enemies.

Swear to God, this just came up coincidentally when I searched for "Metroid Screenshot."

The pits are another matter entirely, as they hinder the player's ability to jump. In most games, you fall into a pit and you die. In Metroid, if you fall into a pit you are tortured, quickly losing health over time until you either die or escape. With enemies dive-bombing you the whole time, pits become frantic moments of frustration with the player unable to jump or shoot effectively, at least until you've found bombs which allow you to hit enemies in the air and bounce on the explosions.

Finding these things is almost like cheating.

My biggest issue with the game, though, is the lack of feedback. Items you find are complete mysteries until you discover their use for yourself as there are no tooltips or demonstrations. Missile doors don't open unless you shoot them with five missiles, and yet there is no sense that your shots are having any effect on them at first. There is no map of the world and so it is incredibly easy to get lost or have the sense that you are on a wild goose chase for items that may or may not exist, the purposes of which are uncertain. Hidden passageways containing important items, like under a normally torturous lava pit, also do nothing but confuse the player without proper visual feedback to the change in rules.

In Metroid, finding something rewards you with a tune. You are never shown what your reward is until you figure it out for yourself.

Several of these problems were eliminated in future iterations of the Metroid series. In Metroid II on Gameboy, Samus's shots traveled the full distance across the screen, making enemies easier to hit. Super Metroid was much faster; had greatly reduced knockback; unlike the original Metroid on NES, enemies did not take four or five hits to kill but just one or two, keeping the pace of the game fast and tight; and save states, as opposed to Metroid's 24 character password system, were a very welcome change. It is good then that Nintendo learned what they needed to for future iterations, and learned it quickly. Metroid is a prime example of how fickle game design is as a philosophy, and how in just a few short years a game can go from being a masterpiece to a goulash of mechanical missteps.

Consoles are no longer Consoles

People these days talk a lot about how the next console generation will be the last console generation. They are wrong. The era of the XBox, PS2, and Gamecube was the last console generation. What we have now are not consoles. They are entire home entertainment systems contained in a small chassis. Other than the ability to receive phone calls, your smartphone and your entertainment chassis are pretty much the same thing. Everyone wonders when the next "console" generation will come out, and many were disappointed about the lack of announcements at this year's E3. Well, I hate to tell you, but it won't be for a while. Why? Contracts.

Let me break it down for you. Sony and Microsoft have contracts with many different companies to deliver media on their systems for a price. XBox alone has Netflix, ESPN, Hulu Plus, Amazon Video, DVR capabilities for Verizon and Comcast, and contracts with dozens of different production companies to stream and sell movies and music via their Zune service. With a new console, they would have to double up these contracts to get the same services on next generation hardware. Furthermore, the price of these contracts would go up. A more expensive console means the service providers would want a bigger piece of the pie. The apps for delivering all this content would have to be rewritten to be compatible with next generation hardware. The cost of a new entertainment chassis would be at least $699, or the price of a cheap computer.

It seems, though, that Microsoft may have a leg up on the competition in the form of Windows 8. Windows 8 was only briefly mentioned at their E3 press conference, and what was mentioned was the fact that XBox 360 games will be playable in the operating system. Also remember that Kinect is now compatible with Windows and Windows 8 uses the Metro UI, the same UI found on XBox 360 and Windows Phone 7. What this says to me is that the next XBox will be a Windows 8 computer, one with an app store where Microsoft can let these companies program their own executables. Unfortunately there will be no way to guarantee all the services at launch of the new XBox that are available as apps on the 360, but if it does just ship with Windows 8 then all those services will be accessible via their websites anyway.

One other bullet Microsoft will have to bite with a Windows 8-powered next gen XBox is that the platform will have to be more open. They can do their best to close it off, eliminating access to the registry, command prompt, control panel, etc. but they won't be able to do anything to stop developers from distributing apps over their own websites, or competing services like Steam. The only way they could would be if it did not have Internet Explorer installed from the start (which it will, what with it coming out on 360 this fall) or blocked installation of programs without some kind of digital approval stamp, much like what Apple is doing for OSX programs now. No matter how closed they try to make it, at its core it will be Windows 8-powered, and someone will find a way to gain access to the full Windows buried deep inside. At that point, there'll be no stopping it from becoming the rumored Steam Box.

So where does this leave Sony? Well, pretty much in the dust, unless they team up with Microsoft to create a Playstation-certified Windows 8 VAIO which, believe it or not, is a definite possibility. Heck, we've heard rumors that the next XBox will have a Blu-Ray drive. Since 360 games will be playable in Windows 8, they'll just all become PC games. That would just leave new, specialty Blu-Ray games to be playable in the system's drive, ones that would only be compatible with this system. Yes, I understand there is a lot of conflict here, mainly between Playstation Network and Xbox Live, but are either of those going to matter when you have Steam games running on your 60" TV? Don't think so.

In the end, the PC is going to be the winner, just as it has been for every console generation. At the beginning of a console generation, everyone thinks the PC is dead. By the end, PC game sales have embarrassed console game sales (cough Diablo 3 cough); they end up with more services, openness, usability, and power; no contract requirements on the end of the manufacturer; and PCs do not become outdated as quickly as consoles (with the exception of laptops built to be weak like netbooks).

Windows has won the console war. Deal with it.

Oh, right, Nintendo. Yeah, um, whatever.

Thank God I Make Crap (And So Can You)

Today marked the end of 38 Studios and the second end of Big Huge Games, whom 38 Studios bought a couple years ago when they were going under. It's been a tumultuous week for Curt Schilling's company, with the news that they couldn't pay back their $75million loan from the state of Rhode Island, and now every employee getting pink slips. Sometimes business management is so bad it's inexcusable.

Cough

Which brings me to why I'm here. I mean, I'm in the same boat right? I run a company that makes games. Am I going to completely fuck over the hundreds of people I work with too?

The answer is NO and here's why. First, I work with about four people. We're small, close knit, and we're doing this out of love for the game we're making, not out of a desire to enter a market we know nothing about. Second, when we started out, we'd already made games and we found other people who'd made games to help us and determine the creative direction of the project, not just writers and comic book artists (protip). Finally, I'm not that guy. I keep my budgets at small as possible for a reason. I haven't had that many people play my games, Children of Liberty's Kickstarter wasn't anything to brag about, and its current alpha funding isn't doing so hot either (though it's on sale, 50% off for #becauseWeCan week). For this reason I keep my expectations on Earth.

Furthermore, when I started out, I didn't dive into the deep end of the pool without knowing how to swim. The MMO market is dangerous, and has been since 38 was founded. At any given point, there are about three subscription-based MMO's that make money: World of Warcraft, EVE Online, and a "MMO of the Month" (Age of Conan, Rift, Star Wars: Old Republic, take your pick). I started out with really small games, ones that hardly anyone has played. But you know what? I am fine with that. I am also fine with the fact that I have 4 or 5 gigs worth of unused prototypes. Like I was telling a friend of mine, I consider it my sketchbook. The only way to get good at any kind of artform is to keep making the art. 38 launched one game, which was already in development at Big Huge. Schilling bit off more than he could chew and the taxpayers of Rhode Island are going to have to eat the rest of it.

Don't let this discourage you from going into game development, even if you have no previous experience. Just don't have newbie ambition. If you're starting a company, you don't need to make an MMO. You can be as indie as you want, have a small team, and still make awesome games. The tools are available, even if you're poor. Or, if you're rich and want to get into game development, why not help fund some indie studios that can show you the ropes of development in return?

David Perry Challenge #002 - Dr. Mario

Dr. Mario is a puzzle game created by Nintendo in 1990. The game has you lining up pills of 3 different shades to clear viruses on the puzzle board. It's a very simple premise that ramps up the difficulty as the game goes on. Few puzzle games manage to create a perfectly straight difficulty curve as the game goes on. Dr. Mario does.

The primary resource in the game is the pills which Mario throws onto the board. Each pill has two halves, and each half is black, gray, or white. On the NES the colors are Red, Blue, and Yellow, probably one of the earliest examples of colorblind-friendly gameplay. This means each pill can be one or two colors, with six total variations. The game avoids falling into the tropes of Tetris or Match-3 by adjusting how the game is scored. Instead of awarding the player for just making matches with pills, players are only rewarded for making matches of four or greater that include the viruses scattered throughout the board, each of which is also black, gray, or white and the size of half a pill. When all viruses on the board have been cleared, the levels progress, and four more viruses are added to the board. While this does double the number of viruses on the board from the first level to the second, after that it actually becomes a smaller percentage increase per level (50%, 25%, 12.5%, etc.). This may seem like diminishing returns on the difficulty, but it gives the game value for your time spent playing and the board does start filling up pretty quickly. It allows the game to be elongated while never feeling like the player's time is just being milked.

The original Dr. Mario on NES is an early example of colorblind friendly gameplay.

To mix things up, there are also three speeds at which you can play the game (Slow, Medium, and Fast), two different songs to listen to while playing, and you can start at any level, from 0-12. However, starting at a higher level will not give you a higher score by default, so the challenge becomes a matter of survival instead of high score. Starting at a higher level is a great way to train for marathon sessions of the game, to help you get used to the higher pressure of a board that is nearly completely filled with viruses.

What makes Dr. Mario so much fun is its simplicity. All of its systems are on the surface, clear as day to the player. There is no back-end trickery, no subtle balance adjustments if you're doing too well (or too poorly), and no random powerups that throw the game for a loop. It's an old enough game too that your high score isn't even saved (on the Game Boy at least), so it's up to you to want to improve, not an online leaderboard laughing at your pathetic attempts to reach the Top 10.

In case you thought I only emulated it, here's proof of having the real thing!

There have in fact been many Dr. Mario games released, the most recent of which being Dr. Mario Express on the DSi. Yet, none of the future Dr. Mario titles have messed with the formula. Why fix what ain't broke? There have been some minor tweaks, though. For example, in the original Dr. Mario you would only see the next pill before it came onto the board. In the DSi and Wii versions, you see the next three. Dr. Mario on the Wii also had online play, a welcome (and rare) addition for any Nintendo game.

Dr. Mario on Wii features competitive online play for the first time in Dr. Mario's history.

Nowadays, with the introduction of microtransactions and online-gated gameplay (i.e. blocking out the player from enjoying the game if they are not connected to the internet for purposes of preventing piracy), I fear that a lot of the magic of Dr. Mario could be easily lost. Imagine if you dropped a dollar on the game and all of a sudden your next ten pills were “wild cards” that would make matches no matter where they went. Where would the challenge be in that? What about the fun? What I love so much about Dr. Mario is that it reminds me of a time when games were games, when developers weren't afraid to teach you all there is to know about a game in the first 30 seconds and that little bit created an infinite amount of replayability. If developers nowadays care about the gameplay, and not just about milking their players for all their money, they should take a serious look at Dr. Mario and revel in its simplicity. They should take note of how the formula for the gameplay hasn't changed in over twenty years, and yet it and its followups are amazing. That is truly saying something, and Dr. Mario is a truly great game.