Taking a brief lesson in game design from Nintendo

The premise is exquisite: a peek beyond the gates of that curiously nondescript Kyoto office block that Nintendo calls home to see the magic is made; not so much getting a golden ticket for the factory tour and more about getting a step-by-step guide from Wonka himself on the process, so you might see where all that sweetness and light comes from. The execution seems typically Nintendo; often inspired, at other points frustrating but never anything less than fascinating.

Game Builder Garage previewPublisher: NintendoDeveloper: NintendoAvailability: Out on Nintendo Switch on 11th June 2021

After its reveal earlier this month, Nintendo recently afforded us another, more detailed look at Game Builder Garage. At its very heart are the Nodons, anthropomorphic embodiments of the building blocks of each creation, and each with a distinct personality. The Nodon that controls the camera function, for example, is a luvvie, while the Nodon assigned to each button is a hardy little thing. Elsewhere the Nodon that governs the in-game timer is a thing of strict logic, while the retry button is an old-timer filled with regrets wishing he could do things over again.

Game Builder Garage – Announcement Trailer – Nintendo Switch Watch on YouTube

If the Nodons are the heart of Game Builder Garage, its backbone is provided by the seven lessons that guide you through the game making process. There’s Tag Showdown, a side-on two player affair; On A Roll, a marble madness-esque tilt puzzle powered by motion control; Alien Blaster, an old school shooting game; Risky Run, your garden 2D platformer; Mystery Room, which introduces the third dimension into your toolbox and Thrill Racer, a driving game with AI elements for your opponents.

Finally, there is Super Person World. It’s this brilliantly bluntly titled that’s almost the endgame of Game Builder Garage, a proper 3D action game whose tutorial will soak up some 90 minutes as you’re shown what this software is truly capable of. The lessons are each broken down into smaller stages – so that 90 minutes, which is at the extreme end, can be whittled down into sections more suitable for playing when on the move, and with each lesson slowly folding in new concepts, features and – of course – Nodons.

1 of 4 Caption Attribution There’s a lot of Labo in Game Builder Garage, and it feels like a natural extension of Labo’s Toy-Con Garage.

When you’re working within these tutorials – and indeed on your own creations – you can instantaneously switch between the Program Screen and the Game Screen, enabling you to see any changes you made in action straight away, and allowing for fairly straightforward iteration. There’s also the ability to customise your creations to give them a more personal flavour, be that in simply changing the colour palette or tinkering with the soundtrack and adding custom designs and textures of your own in a fairly rudimentary yet effective paint tool.