Build a Better Mousetrap
WarioWare D.I.Y.
By Jorge Figueiredo - April 16th, 2010
It’s probably fair to say that every gamer – at some point – has uttered the phrase: “I could have done a better job on that game than the programmers did”. Most of the time they are wrong, but this game allows you to become a game maker without any of the prerequisite skills or academic training. WarioWare D.I.Y. is a tribute to the gaming construction sets of yesteryear (and even todayear).
In terms of a general plot for the game, I suppose you could say that Wario wants to make money: no surprise here. He hits upon the idea of creating games and selling them in mass quantities. Being notoriously lazy, he doesn’t really want to have to work very hard to achieve his goals, and thus he partners himself up with a young gaming prodigy named Penny Crygor. Penny is the granddaughter of an inventor who built a machine that assists in the creation of games. It is a fitting story for a Wario game and certainly gets you started in your adventure of creating your own microgames.
So how hard is it to create with WarioWare D.I.Y.? Not at all! The interface and suite of tools available are very simple to use and powerful for what they are. Nintendo did a great job making the game very easy to pick up and use; players can create their own microgames, customizing graphics, sound and some decent game logic, all with the convenience of the touch pad and stylus.
While you won’t be creating top-tier games with WarioWare D.I.Y., you will surprise yourself with what you can create. As with almost anything worth doing, putting a great amount of effort into the creative process will yield some decent results. Nintendo has made game-logic very accessible, allowing you to play around with objects in a way that is actually quite intuitive. It is pretty obvious that the game creators really worked hard to find a way to make “game development” as frustration-free as possible. Almost everyone trying to make a microgame will hit a snag at some point; however, recovery is actually very easy, and you will find yourself back on track in no time.
I have played many game construction sets in my time. While this is the easiest of the bunch to use, it is not really my cup of tea. First of all, the limitations on what you can create make me not really want to try too hard to make anything. Secondly, the game doesn’t really take advantage of the DSi at all (at least, not that I can tell). The DSi XL would seem to be the perfect way to present the game, what with the large screen real estate and relatively powerful processing. However, the handheld adds nothing to the game, as the game doesn’t utilize any of the unique features. Thirdly, I get bored: the tutorial is a bit long for me, and there are only so many microgames I want to create.
Even though this game isn’t something I would get for myself, I do know at least twenty people that would love it. Wario appeals to a lot of people, and having him as the star of this game will not diminish his status. The feeling of being able to create something fun is tough to beat, especially if you can upload your creations via the internet (and consequently download other peoples’ works as well). I would highly recommend this game to anyone creative that loves to play minigames and microgames. WarioWare D.I.Y. is currently available in stores and ships with 90 microgames on the game cart.
