Splatoon
Nintendo's colourful ink-based team shooter.
Where Splatoon comes up1 episode or test
- 1Tofu-like blocksBig blocks hiding in ink
- 2Rules and verbsMechanics exist before any theme
- 3Inkling charactersAdded afterwards
- 4Punk urban lookAdded afterwards
From Nintendo's bottom-up design approach
What was said about Splatoon
Splatoon grew bottom up: mechanics first, then characters and look. Splatoon began as big tofu-like blocks hiding in ink. The Inkling characters and the punk urban look were added afterwards, once the rules and verbs existed.
The source calls this a typical Nintendo approach. Its contrast is Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding, a top-down game that began as a mental image of a beach lined with dead whales. The bottom-up recipe in the quote: "You start with the mechanics - the rules, the verbs, the what you dos - and then add a story, theme, or aesthetic that makes sense."
How to find amazing game ideas
It began as tofu-like blocks hiding in ink, and the Inkling characters and punk urban look came later. A bottom-up example.
Splatoon grew bottom up: mechanics first, then characters and look. Splatoon began as big tofu-like blocks hiding in ink. The Inkling characters and the punk urban look were added afterwards, once the rules and verbs existed.
The source calls this a typical Nintendo approach. Its contrast is Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding, a top-down game that began as a mental image of a beach lined with dead whales. The bottom-up recipe in the quote: "You start with the mechanics - the rules, the verbs, the what you dos - and then add a story, theme, or aesthetic that makes sense."
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