So, most of my art over the past... who knows how long... has been project-related and not something I've been able to share. Working two jobs means that free time is slim at best. I've had very little time to devote to two of my favorite hobbies: sketching and video games. And it makes me sad.
Being the busy person that I am, I'm all for multitasking. And being the big Mario fan that I am, I was intent on making time for the newest Mario game to hit shelves, New Super Mario Bros. U. To be honest, I've had more of a casual relationship with most of the New Super Mario Bros. series. As a kid, I was hardcore into the NES and SNES games. Hell, they're what made me want to get into game development. I enjoyed the 3D games in the series, and I still think that Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 are some of the best ever created, linking the freedom of 3D movement with the tight level design of classics like Super Mario Bros. 3. The New Super Mario Bros. games on handhelds were certainly enjoyable, but I wasn't really sure if they held up to the high standard of the rest of the series. I really enjoyed the more social aspect of playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii with my boyfriend, though, and I figured New Super Mario Bros. U would be more of the same.
What I didn't expect was for it to make me fall in love with Miiverse.
For the uninitiated, Miiverse is Nintendo's online community on the Wii U (with future plans to expand to the 3DS and beyond). In Nintendo fashion, it strives to be family friendly and inviting to all players (in other words, heavily moderated to keep it from becoming Xbox Live). Each player is represented by their Mii and can contribute to online communities (inside or outside of the games they represent) by either typing up short (100 characters or less) messages or writing/drawing something by hand. The Wii U's selling point is its tablet/controller hybrid, the Wii U GamePad, so the touchscreen interface makes this form of communication very easy.
I was interested in Miiverse when it was first announced, but at that point I had no idea how much of an impact it would have on me playing games on the Wii U. Of the few Wii U games I currently have, Mario integrates it the best. As you play through each level, the game regularly asks you for your feedback. You may be prompted if you accomplish something impressive in a level (getting through without taking damage, collecting all the star coins in one shot, finishing in under a certain time limit) or if you're having a rough time and keep dying over and over. The images are then displayed to other players (both your friends and random strangers) on the game's map screen (or occasionally just pop up when you die a certain number of times on one level... from other people who did the same). When I played through the first few stages, I took the suggestions the game gave me pretty literally (describe the level in two words, write a message to your future self, give Bowser a warning), but soon I decided I'd have more fun if I just drew a picture that would be like an amusing snapshot of that particular level. Sometimes it was based on the level's enemies or environment, and sometimes it would be a reflection of the antics that my boyfriend and I subjected each other to while playing through the stage.
The game really tapped into my love of drawing Mario characters as a child, and I had a blast. At first, I tried to keep the pictures quick and simple so that my boyfriend wasn't waiting forever to play the next stage, but eventually he gave in and just alternated between Mario and whatever he was playing on 3DS or Vita, as I could sometimes spend an hour or more on a picture.
Over the past couple of months, this has been a preferred use of my limited free time, as it integrates video games and drawing so seamlessly and lets me get a taste of both. The limited nature of the Miiverse canvas (purely black and white, set image size and orientation) provides a nice challenge and also forces me to create a finished product in a relatively short period of time (no saving!). The fact that the images can be viewed by the rest of the Miiverse community adds a little pressure to push myself to try to do something that I can be proud of instead of a really lazy sketch. As a result, I've ended up with nearly 50 little drawings at this point that have given me a nice break from the projects I've been working on. It actually feels similar to the daily drawings I was doing a while back... just more Nintendo themed. :)
Since it's been requested by a couple of friends, I'll start to post some of my favorites up on this blog. I hope you enjoy. :)
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