Dan Rubenfeld, Ethan Levy, and I were each asked to discuss how we would transform Super Mario Bros. 3 into a free-to-play game as part of the "Evil Game Design Challenge." I took the tack of attempting to deeply horrify fans of the original game. The audience voted my presentation as the most evil.

1. Online
Greg Costikyan
gcostik@rocketmail.com
Casual Connect 2013
Evil Game Design Challenge

2. Target Demographic
● Middle-aged women
● IP appeals to 20-something males
● Obviously need to change to...

3. Super MarioX
a
BrosXXXXSISTERS!
Image credit: Elzor_sl

4. Super Mario Bros....
● Is notable for crisp controls.
● Requires precise timing.
● Fans decry modern games as 'too easy'
● In other words:
Way too hard for our demographic!

5. It's All Gotta be Clicks
● Click to move.
● Click to defeat enemies.
You know, like Indiana Jones
Adventure World.
● ...swipes to jump in mobile suck.
● Annoying confirm dialog for keyboard use
when entering Flash full-screen.
● Charge energy for every click – Ka-Ching!

6. Content Creation Costs $
● Need to spin out content for months of play.
● So we want players to grind levels repeatedly.
We need:
● Mastery stars!
● Gate content: "You need 2 stars in stage 2-1 to
unlock stage 2-2."

7. ● One of the core appeals of Super Mario Bros.
● But incompatible with grind replay.
● We need: Algorithmically generated
traps/enemies.
● Sayonara, careful level design... but necessary
to support our business model.
Careful Level Design

8. $ for Energy, Lives, Powerups
● Energy and lives regen on timers, but...
● "You're out of energy! Buy more for 4 gems?"
● "You died! Continue for 5 gems?"
● "A Super Mushroom would help you here. Buy
one for 10 gems?"
Ka-ching!

9. Speaking of Powerups...
● Mario can carry/use only one at a time...
● But we want to sell you lots...
● We need an inventory.
● Plus, we can sell you:
More inventory slots!
Ka-ching!

10. ...And Other Permanent Stat Increases
● "One more max Life for 20 gems."
● "Triple-jumps for 40 gems."
● "Faster energy regen for 50 gems."
Ka-ching!

11. 'Course, We Need Virals
● Invite Friends (like, 20 seconds into NUF)
● Daily free gifts
– Energy & Powerups, inventory caps (buy but
not receive above them)
● Brag shares (must uncheck tiny box or shared
automatically)
● Staffing...

12. Staffing?
● "Ask three friends to staff your castle to unlock
World 2."
● "...or unlock now for 10 gems."
● Oh, and "Maria is searching the castle for the
PrincessXX. Come back in 24 hours to see if she
found him!"

13. 24 Hours?
● Only damn metrics your mgmt is going to care
about in geoalpha are 1-day retention and time
on site.
● So the FUE gives you 20-30 minutes of
gameplay + a hard stop and call to return
tomorrow.
● 'Cause we don't even get to launch if we don't
massage our metrics.
● Gaming the system is Job One!

14. New Worlds Gated by...
● Mastery stars.
● Staffing (or pay to bypass).
● Later on, an expansion resource
– Rare drop, or pay to buy.
● Timer (or pay to bypass).
Ka-ching!

15. Consumables & Bypasses Good, But...
● We need more Ka-Ching!
● Bonus Worlds for hard currency only.
● Week 2: a stage you NEED powerups to beat.
– We don't give you enough.
– MUST spam or monetize to progress.

16. Plus: Timed Quest Sequences
● 12+ quests, most requiring grind.
● New world, available for 2 weeks only.
● Big reward at the end: "Play as Princess Peach!
She can Triple Jump!"
● Each play requires a new special resource.
● Players seeded with some, + rare drop, + ask
friends for more.
● Daily cap on # you can receive.

17. Timed Quest Sequence (pt. 2)
● Tuned so you will NOT have enough of the
special resource to complete in the available
time.
● Unless you pay! Ka-ching!
● Suck the marks in with enough seeded
resources... Have them invest time and
emotional energy... Hold out a big reward...
● Double Ka-ching!

18. Plus the Usual Crap
● Hard currency/$ ratio at some weird prime, like
7, so it's harder for the marks to figure out how
much they're actually spending.
● Daily reward slot machine with HC cost for
more spins.
● "Get gems at 30% off but only if you act now."
● "You've got 2 extra inventory slots for the next
week" (but have to pay to keep them
afterwards).

19. Nice Little Game You Got There...
● Ah, nostalgia...
● Get over it!
● There's money to be made, boys.
KA-CHING!