GCG's Game Design Challenge: DS Platformer Innovation

Author: by Staff

The platforming genre has a lot of entries on the DS, but few of them exclusively use the touchscreen to create innovative gameplay. In GameCareerGuide's new Game Design Challenge, readers are asked to devise exactly that. As the introduction to the new Challenge, which is a popular recurring part of Gamasutra's sister educational website's line-up, explains: "Though the Nintendo DS has been out for years and is one of the most successful platforms in the history of gaming, very few games have truly innovated in the standard platforming genre. The system's most popular platformer, New Super Mario Bros. plays it safe with tested 2D gameplay and button input. HAL Laboratory's Kirby Canvas Curse, on the other hand, breathes new life into a series otherwise known for being reliable and cute. And it does this with a very DS-centric play mechanic: using the stylus to draw ramps for the ever-moving Kirby to traverse. There's much more room for innovation in this genre. Your task is to create an innovative, stylus-based platforming game mechanic for the Nintendo DS. You can't use the buttons on the system; just the touch-screen. Bear in mind that you only have to concentrate on the mechanic itself, not the full game design that supports it -- but feel free to elaborate as much or as little as you like." For further details on how to participate and submit your concepts, check out the full Game Design Challenge post on Gamasutra's education-focused sister site, GameCareerGuide.com.