Sequelitis - Mega Man Classic vs. Mega Man X
Egoraptor3 HN recommenders · recommended in 3 months, 2012-2020
15.7M views · 15 years ago · commentary · evergreen
Egoraptor's Sequelitis compares Mega Man Classic and Mega Man X, analyzing how the games teach players through level design without explicit tutorials. It mixes comedy with design analysis.
HN commenters use it as the standard example of invisible onboarding and good game design, praising it as funny and insightful.
1:44:09Jonathan Blow: Video Games and the Human Condition
rubbermuck
158K views • 15 years ago
48:27Jonathan Blow: Game design: the medium is the message
CreativeMornings HQ
119K views • 13 years ago
53:58GDC 2010: Sid Meier Keynote - "Everything You Know is Wrong"
GameSpot
101K views • 16 years ago
1:17:21Sid Meier's Psychology of Game Design
GDC Festival of Gaming
137K views • 10 years ago
1:02:15Classic Game Postmortem: Sid Meier's Civilization
GDC Festival of Gaming
225K views • 9 years ago
44:23The Immoral Design of Diablo Immortal
Josh Strife Hayes
4.4M views • 4 years ago
20:38What Games Are Like For Someone Who Doesn't Play Games
Razbuten
16.9M views • 7 years ago
42:53Ross's Game Dungeon: Deus Ex - Human Revolution
Accursed Farms
1M views • 10 years ago
14:05TUN: Un-Ruining the MMO
MrBtongue
291K views • 13 years ago
5:43Design Club - Super Mario Bros: Level 1-1 - How Super Mario Mastered Level Design
Extra History
1.2M views • 12 years ago
12:02Nintendo - Putting Play First
Game Maker's Toolkit
997K views • 9 years ago
52:54Antichamber: An Overnight Success, Seven Years In The Making
GDC Festival of Gaming
129K views • 11 years ago
25:09The Next Major RTS Will Fail. This Is Why.
GiantGrantGames
985K views • 4 years ago
1:30:33We Play Doom With John Romero
IGN
854K views • 12 years ago
11:17[Highlight] StarCraft Remastered Rant
Day9TV
453K views • 9 years ago
1:07:26Procedurally Crafting Manhattan for Marvel's Spider-Man
GDC Festival of Gaming
89K views • 7 years ago
1:17:43Diablo: Original Game Development
jon d
12K views • 9 years ago
21:19Manufactured Discontent and Fortnite
Folding Ideas
1.7M views • 7 years ago
19:49Let’s go whaling: Tricks for monetising mobile game players with free-to-play
PocketGamerbiz
757K views • 10 years ago
23:06Bob Nystrom - Is There More to Game Architecture than ECS?
Roguelike Celebration
301K views • 8 years ago
4 comments from Hacker News
So I just don't see that. To me the original doom is always more clunky than fast and fun, and the game has the annoying habit of releasing enemies from behind you. But yes, I think Mega Man X has aged fantastically, as in - the developers spent a really large amount of time on good level design and on teaching the player how the game works, so you could pick it up for the very first time in 2020 and get into it immediately. And no, I haven't played this when it came out first either. I think this highlights exactly what I'm talking about, look at the little things they are doing design wise, it's truly brilliant: ▶ this video (Sorry, I know the video is meant to be a "funny" one, but it does make some very very good points about video game design)
The way I see it you should treat it like any other UX problem: The user is going to be at home anyways, so if you can get a "conversion" (even a short 7-minute one) that can easily bridge them into the next step. Just like video games start you off in tutorial levels and help you develop the skills you need (e.g. Mega Man X [1]). For example I tried out the 7-minute exercise simply because I could, it was easy. If I can't even be bothered to spend 7 minutes on exercise there's no way I'm going to the gym, so it's not as if the short exercises are interfering with work at the gym. [1] ▶ this video
Obligatory link to the Sequelitis Mega Man UX video: ▶ this video The article hit the nail on the head: the best walkthrough is the one that it nearly invisible to the end-user, yet still accomplishes its goal of progressively introducing a UI to them in a long-lasting way.
Game designers have known this for years. For a (hilarious) examination of how Mega Man X employed the same philosophy, check out Egoraptor's video on it: ▶ this video