I'm looking for some help..., Writer/World Builder

I'm currently in the beginning stages of a large 3D Mario game, and I know that once the boundary of disbelief in possible competant developers is overcome, it will require world and story development.

The game will be created with the Elder Scrolls Construction Set, as a total-conversion mod for Bethesda's game, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. That boundary of disbelief is that many modders think it will be too great a project to take on, whereas I have the belief that with proper application of technology and a good plan, it will turn out quite well.

I'm looking for a few people who are more knowledgible about the Mario world than I am, and who are great writers. Please post here if you are up to this long and difficult task. I will give you more information once I approve your inclusion in the team.

The current team, by the way, is made up of two people. I am creating the base character races and very base clothing for the demo, as well as leading the project once it truly becomes a project. My friend Corey will expand upon clothing options throughout the game's creation.

This post has been edited by Tuah on Feb 21 2008, 08:05 PM

Yes, please.
FOR EXAMPLE, did you know that Wario's pefered weapon is a chain-chomp? That Yoshi's Island is SMW2? That Wario was introduced in SML2? That Wigglers have four bi-peds in every game they appear in? That Goombas are only different in the variation of size, color, health, and attack in Paper Mario?

Oh yeah, I can write, too.

This post has been edited by Project_MK on Feb 21 2008, 09:30 PM

Hmmm... Judging by your random knowledge, your use of grammar, and non-numbered screenname...

Mkay, you'd be great!

I'll PM you with some stuff now.


Note, topic-viewers, I am still accepting more people.

This post has been edited by Tuah on Feb 21 2008, 09:45 PM

Why thank you!
hehehe my name used to be MarioFan222...

I am excellent at level disign, and I am a pretty good writer to. I could help in both of those areas.

Hmmm... What would be your approach to designing an area? (This world is very world-like, and not very level-like as the 2D games and Mario 64 tended to be. Think Sunshine.)

MarioFan222 U r an Imposter!

Well... I love Sunshine. Its my favorite three dimensional Mario game. I always loved the beach levels in it. So if thats what you just asked me, I could disign beach levels.

Also, Phazonluigi, please don't spam.

Well, here are some random facts.

Mario's last name happens to be Mario,(fact by the title Mario Bros.) however, this has been disproved because of Shiguru Miyamoto himself stating that Mario has no last name and a few other facts, including if you talk to a toad on the second floor in Peach's castle in SM64DS, and you talk with Luigi, the toad says, "Maybe we should now call you the Luigi Bros." which clearly states that Mario Bros. was not a true name for the Brothers.

Waluigi first appeared in Mario Party 3. Ever since then, his appearence has never changed, unlike Mario.

In every Mario Kart game, the "Wario Bros."(so they call) have a stadium stage. One with a very Advanced Terrain(Wario Stadium in MKDS and Waluigi Stadium in MK:DD!!), and one that is Metallic(Waluigi Pinball in MKDS and Wario Colussium in MK:DD!!). And the final level in all Mario Kart Games there is a Rainbow Road, at the end of the Last Cup and is considered to be the most Difficult level in the entire game.

Mario's first game appearence was Donkey Kong in 1981 for arcade, which Mario, or known as Jumpman at that time was making an attempt to save his forgotten girlfriend "Pauline" and has also been called "Jumpman" in the Glitz pit in Paper Mario TTYD where an audience member shouts with great confidence, "Go Jumpman!"

Accept? Decline? I have been studying Mario for 5 years. I tend to (in a non-selfish way) consider that I am a fairly well writer if I put a tad bit of effort into it. But I have never heard of the Elder Scrolls Construction Set.

Hehe, first post. =P Ima lurker.

Anyway, I like to think I am a good level designer and story writer. I'm no good at useless trivia, though. >.> Perhaps, instead of just deciding who you want here and now, make some sort of contest to see who you think is best for the job. =)

*Attempts Trivia XD*



The first Super Mario Brothers game provides a rather odd explanation to the meaning of Toads, Super Mushrooms, and Magic Floating Blocks. *Takes SMB Backstory from memory*

The Mushroom Kindom was, aside from being magic, very normal and very like our own. The King of Koopa's (Bowser) took over the Mushroom Kingdom, killed the King, and used his minions (Koopa's, who apparently are good at Black Magic =P) to transform the residents of the Kindom into Mushrooms and Blocks. (Thus, mushroom headed people, or Toads) The only person who could stop him was Princess Toadstool, so he kiddnapped her.
Mario and Luigi are actually from Brooklyn (Le Gasp!) where they worked as plubers. They found a magic pipe, which transported them to the ailing Mushroom Kingdom. They traveled through the Mushroom Kingdom (With the help of it's transfigured residents) and found the King of Koopa's Castle and saved the Princess, who fixed everything. Then they lived happily ever after.



Now for slightly more modern things...



In Mario Kart DS, the Mission Mode featured 6 bosses and one Super Secret Boss. Each of these bosses were based on a boss in Super Mario 64 DS, which is in turn based off of Super Mario 64. These Bosses are,

The Big Bully (SM64: Leathal Lava Land; In order to defeat him, you needed to punch him until he was knocked into the Lava) (MKDS: To defeat him, you needed to knock him into the water by bashing him with Mushroom Dashes)

Eyerok (SM64: Shifting Sand Land (Inside the Great Pyrimid); In order to defeat him, you needed to punch each of his two hand's eye's three times) (MKDS: In order to defeat him, you needed to hit his eyes a total of three times with green shells)

Bomb-omb King (SM64: Bomb-omb Battlefeild; In order to defeat him, you needed to pick him up from behind and throw him three times) (MKDS: In order to defeat him, you needed to hit him with three Bomb-ombs)

Goomboss (SM64DS: In order to defeat him, you needed to hit him with three Eggs or Goomba's) (MKDS; In order to defeat him, you needed to beat him in a rather un-fair race, where the key is to grab the mushrooms and avoid the Goombas)

King Boo (SM64DS: In order to defeat him, you needed to punch him three times. But he would occasionally dissapear from view, leaving you to rely on his reflection in a mirror) (MKDS: In order to defeat him, you needed to collect 100 coins, finding and hitting King Boo whenever he took them from you)

The Chilly Cheif (SM64DS: In order to defeat him, you needed to knock him into the water three times, which got difficult due to his speed and jumping abilities) (MKDS: Roughly the same as above, but in a way similer to the Big Bully)

Wiggler (SM64: Tiny/Huge Island; In order to defeat him, you needed to jump on him three times, with his speed gradually increasing. It was easy) (MKDS: In order to defeat him, you needed to beat him in a rather unfair race, where the trick is to get all item boxes as often as you can, and DON'T SCREW UP!)



A but of info on my Mario History...

I started with Super Mario Bros. for my first NES. Yep. I loved it.
I later got Super Mario 64 for my shiney new N64. Beat it, loved it. I even got Yoshi's Story, which was also friggin awsome. I also owned Mario Party 2 and Super Smash Brothers for that system.
Later on, I got a GameBoy Advance, and I got Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island. Beat both and loved them. In fact, SMW was the first game I ever perfected. Then I got Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga. One of the best games of all time.
Then came Gamecube. I got Luigi's Mansion, Super Mario Sunshine, Paper Mario 2, Mario Kart DD, and Super Smash Bros. Melee. Beat and loved all of dem.
Then came the DS, where I got New Super Mario Bros., Mario Kart DS, Super Mario 64 DS, Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time, and Yoshi's Island DS. Great games.
Now for the Grand Finale, my still-new Wii! Right now, I have on it Mario Party 8 (Not all that great), Super Paper Mario (One of the best games ever!), and.......... SUPER MARIO GALAXY! BEST GAME EVER IMO!

Yeah, well, I'm off to bed. Consider me, alright?

This post has been edited by KangarocKing on Feb 22 2008, 01:26 AM

Main thing I could help with is level design, I also know quite a bit of things from some mario games (prominantly paper mario's, the 3 3d platformers, general enemies and much detail about them (there are actually facts that conflict each other sometimes), and by the way Project_MK, not all wigglers have 4 segments, on very rare occurances (mostly on the biggest of them) they have more, such as the example of the Wiggler in SMS. Koopas which come in green, red (and only in one game(SMW), yellow and in two (SMW and NSMB) blue) green just walks off cliffs, red doesnt fall off and is rarer, yellow moves faster and doesn't fall off and is even rarer. I don't know about blue though, which is the rarest of all I believe.

For level design, I know how to make a good 3-d level with hidden secrets, and also being fit for multiple missions (like you said sunshine), with enemies suited to the area and fit to have a simaler boss, which again I can help think of what makes it different, what it's moves are, and the way to beat it. I would really like to help on this


For the type of level, I would be best on cave-like, mountain/cliff-like levels, (reminds me of Noki Bay, saying that), lava-like levels and so on.

This post has been edited by Doomlord250 on Feb 22 2008, 08:17 AM

Ahh, you got me in that one, but Yellow koopas are rarest and follow Mario without turning at edges, and Blue is Red but faster.

Doomlord, you seem like you would be great for world-building and enemy design.
Kangaroc, I think you'd be good at world-building also.

I'll like to see a few concepts though. Doom, what would you design in an area to characterize it and differentiate it from other, similar worlds? Also, Oblivion was great about the random battle aspect of RPGs, including wandering bandits, beasts, and explorers. However, they all tended to differ from each other in equipment, race, ability. What would you do to replicate this with Mario characters?

Kangaroc, textually create a large city and a small village (that are actually in the series) with a few notes that characterize the places. (Such as Oblivion's Cheydiinhal has purple roofing, specializes in chainmail armor, and has a secret Dark Brotherhood sanctuary.)

Mariofany, I might consider you, but tell me something that stands out about your skill.

... I suppose that I could enhance a story. Give me a simple story(and not Bowser Kidnaps peach) and maybe I could enhance it.

So Magikoopa captures Peach...


Kidding. xD

Well, storyline will come very much later. Right now we'll be planning world-building and character creation. If we get stuck later though, we'll come to you for inspiration.

Well for places, I like to make things that change alot, say in a cave level I was thinking of, there is some black water that causes extreme health degeneration (you take damage every second), I was thinking of having skeeters in it, but darker and eviler looking. if you would be having missions (you said like SMS) it may be different in some missions versus others (and in some it changes majorly), but it also has somewhat of a tide, slowly moving up and down. there would be a boss fight where mario gets dropped onto what's like a little island, still in a room, with the black water all around, and a giant one of those skeeters. You have to jump onto it while the water is lower down, and ground pound on it, then it bends down a bit, you have to ground pound it again for it to take damage, if you don't quick enough, it pops back up, and mario flys up and hits the ceiling

If Peach didn't get kidnapped I wouldn't believe it was a Mario game. You could have a twist, Peach kidnaps Bowser XD

I'm just about done with the basic wireframes of Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi. Now I just have to figure out how to put them together. Then I have to figure out how the clothes work. And the hair. And skeletons. And animations.

After that though, they should be ready! xD

I wouldn't mind helping you with the story, since I'm pretty knowledgeable at mario related stuff

Although, I don't know how much dedication this requires. Just how complex is the story that you're shooting for?

I want to have a fairly loose, yet extensive storyline, if that makes sense.

If the player-change system works like I hope it will, it could be a great inter-active storyline between multiple characters. Something that ties everyone together could be fun.