Gingold
Chaim Gingold
cog@slackworks.com
Title: Aesthetics of Super Mario Bros.
Abstract
This paper is about game aesthetics. What are the structural elements that give rise to a game's experience? Close readings of specific games yield theoretical tools for understanding games as a unique media form. This paper analyzes Super Mario Bros., and discusses why it is enjoyable, and how its design works. Reading Super Mario Bros. closely gives rise to
conceptual tools for understanding digital games. How does Super Mario Bros. construct a miniature, carefully abstracted, safe, and engaging world? How is a universe of compound worlds constructed, and why is this interesting? What is the dramatic pacing of Mario, and how does it work? How does Mario invite players into testing
game boundaries, and how is this similar to and different from other games? What role does transformation and instability play in the game's enjoyability? How does garden design help us make sense of Mario's use of space?
Tools from across disciplines are drawn upon to make sense of Mario. Space design, fictional world construction, play, miniature gardens (the curious phrase Shigeru Miyamoto uses to describe his aesthetic), and Papert's notion of microworld are some of the practices and theories used. I catalog design techniques used by Miyamoto in Mario, and explain their
experiental function and structural composition. Screenshots are used to connect specific spaces, behaviors, and design techniques to the analysis. I identify structural similarities to other games, and demonstrate the generalizability of the conceptual tools proposed.
Bio
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Chaim Gingold makes toys and thinks about games. He holds an MS in Information Design and Technology from the Georgia Institute of Technology. At IDT, Chaim worked with Janet Murray on conceptual tools for dealing with game form and aesthetics, designed and built a variety of software toys, and led the game morphology project. At Maxis, Chaim worked
closely with Will Wright and designed and programmed game prototypes. One of these prototypes was demonstrated by Will Wright during his 2003 Game Developers Conference lecture, "Dynamics for Designers."
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