Mario Builder - Why We Make

A reflection of 12 years with a fangame that inspires creativity and nostalgic memories

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Level editors has been a part of video game culture since the 1980s, giving the player the power to design their own creations within the engine of the game they were playing. With minimal or no coding skill players could even make entire games with simple editors. Mario Builder, created by Ting-Thing in 2009 made in GameMaker allows players to create and share entire Mario games that consist of up to 12 worlds, or create individual levels to share.

Every kid who has played a video game has eventually wanted to try making their own and I was no exception. I discovered Mario Builder in 2010 at the young age of 8 and kept on creating for a long time. It’s time to go back and look at my Mario Builder history and discover the lessons I learnt, the friends I met along the way, and what the future holds.

I didn’t start with the original version of Mario Builder; hell, I don’t even think version one is still on the internet! I begun with version 4, which could be best described as an incomplete and messy release. Basic features such as land tiles having edges weren’t implemented yet. Starting my journey, I made something that could be loosely classed as a ‘game’. There was no restraint with the amounts of different objects I would spew onto the screen leading to a garish mess not only in visuals but in gameplay. The biggest appeal of Mario Builder to me at the time was trying out all the gimmicks – random item blocks, climbing nets and cannon blasters. I only shared my game with my parents and with friends at school on old Windows XP computers with fond memories of passing around a USB. Mario Builder was a neat curiosity I messed around with for a while before fading into the background of my life.

Four years later like every Gen Z kid I created a YouTube account because I wanted to share gaming videos with the express purpose of showcasing my Mario Builder content armed with the trusty HyperCam2. This time I was going to create a full Mario game that spanned over 100 levels titled the very original Mario’s Adventure.

Levels started to resemble the design of actual Mario levels but were still filled with classic design pitfalls. I never got anyone to playtest the levels leading to what some call romhackers’ curse. This curse is defined by the extreme difficultly in some romhacks (or fangames) for games due to the people making them knowing their own levels like the back of their own hand and having a great deal of skill and experience with the game. Levels were generally just not enjoyable to play in my game due to them being relatively boring to play – minimal collectables or secrets were hidden to find and gimmicks were often very buggy, untested and unfun.

Only later I would learn that unconstrained ambition is a killer. Being only 12 years old didn’t help either. Rather unexpectedly, Mario’s Adventure didn’t get finished albeit two worlds were completed in a rough state. Learning that my project was too large instead I focused on a smaller project in time for Christmas 2014 – Super Mario Bros. Icy Challenge. This game was of a slightly higher quality with some secrets to find and better level design however it was not finished. Only one third of all levels were completed and most demos had a nasty-game breaking bug preventing progression.

At the same time I was working on Super Mario Bros. Icy Challenge, I was working on a another small test project titled Super Exploration Bros. This was a single massive level that focused around finding a key and bringing it back to the start of the level to clear. There were three distinct paths you can travel through and there were additional secrets to find. Since this project was focused on only one level, I put my all into it and was and still am very happy with how it turned out considering I was still 12.

The new year sparked another Mario Builder project with my most successful series yet – Mario Builder Level Packs. I ended up producing three – Mushroom Mix, Cloud and Adventure. The core of these projects was providing a game that only had 10 levels apiece – easy to complete yet having a diverse range of levels. Mushroom Level Pack shared the same poor level design as my previous projects with some embarrassingly frustrating levels with Lost Labyrinth forcing Mario into tiny corridors where no power-ups were allowed. With the release of Mushroom Mix I had my first major contact with the Mario Builder community, where Mechasaur commented on my game giving me some feedback.

“meh your levels are okay at best. Tiles don't fit with some of the backgrounds”.

This feedback was not specific at all but ultimately it was helpful. For the first time I critically looked over the levels I made and decided that they weren’t good enough and needed editing. I finally realised I needed to spend more time going over testing and refining my level designs.

For Mushroom Mix I created my first and last YouTube account I still use to this day which features a large amount of Mario Builder videos some sadly still recorded with the necrotic HyperCam2. These videos had proper thumbnails, tags and descriptions unlike videos on my first two channels. I didn’t have many popular videos besides two breakout ones. A Mario Builder video of my level Drop Dodge Fortress that got over 50K views in a year after being published for five years with minimal views due to the introduction of YouTube Shorts and a Sonic Adventure 2 mod video.

With the completion of Mushroom Mix, I worked on a follow-up, releasing Cloud Level Pack later that year and in 2017 I released another sequel in Adventure Level Pack. Ultimately these were more of the same just with stronger level design and the start of my tradition of taking levels from older, incomplete projects and upgrading and reusing them for new projects. I felt a fair amount of burnout while working on Mario Builder projects outside and I only made individual levels until 2018.

Blurry Toad Bros. was announced in 2018 and would be a full game, but to dodge the pitfalls of Mario’s Adventure prior I reused and upgraded levels from my past projects and placed them into appropriately themed worlds. Levels such as Upwards Cycle, Sky Garden and the especially nostalgic Christmas Trees which I made on the last day of primary school were all included. The Mario Builder community moved over to Discords with the denizens there helping improve my game, which via streaming.

To say live streaming was nerve-wracking for me was a bit of an understatement. My first live stream of Mario Builder was largely silent and a bore. Coming up with what to say on stream can be a bit of a challenge - you have to fill the dead air to keep viewers watching. Mechasaur joined me on some streams being a good discussion partner which helped out, but even without him I was able to be somewhat entertaining. Sometimes unexpected chaos ensured leading to interesting images being presented on screen with these images then being included in my game files. Unfortunately, these images could not be taken out without Mario Builder breaking or crashing. Creating levels for an audience was a nice change of pace as it forced me to focus – audience members wouldn’t stay if you aren’t creating after all. Even with the help of streaming which accelerated the progress of my game’s completion I never finished Blurry Toad Bros. with it being released only as a 6 world, 31 level game. I simply lost the passion to continue and gave up on my project, turning dormant in the Mario Builder community.

I attempted to get back into level creation by downloading Super Mario Bros. X, another Mario fangame, originally created by one of the developers of the renowned Terraria. Super Mario Bros X. featured accurate physics, 60 frames per second, and complete customization of objects and assets through coding, which made Mario Build appear clumsy in comparison with its questionable physics, 30 frames per second cap, and no updates since 2012. However with all of X’s advantages there was a core reason why I couldn’t get into it – the UI. Mario Builder worked so well for I and others as its UI was so simple - click and place was all it took with the interface resembling a video game itself with intuitive menus instead of looking like an old Microsoft Office program ala Super Mario Bros. X. I don’t blame Super Mario Bros X. for having such a confusing UI because it had a lot more features and power under the hood, but it can’t compare to genius simplicity.

The future of Mario Builder is not in an impressive state with less than 10 active community members producing games but despite this it’s still going strong with members still having passion and the desire to create. The Mario Builder Forums are long dead with Discord being the last bastion for remaining members. It is no surprise that Mario Builder creator Ting_Thing has gone on to create a successor to Mario Builder in Platform Builder that has expanded features which is available on Steam and GameJolt. Sadly, Platform Builder lacks the Mario visuals and the charm that goes alongside them limiting its audience.

Nintendo ended up realising the potential of players making their own Mario levels themselves by releasing Super Mario Maker 1 and 2 which were released to critical and commercial success. Thankfully, these Nintendo produced titles took a note out of Mario Builder’s playbook featuring an intuitive and simple UI which is easy to use and excellent to make levels with. I have played and created in both however I never seriously got into making levels due to the lack of support for custom graphics which is understandable due to the problems with moderating user-generated content. With fangames like Super Mario Bros. X being updated, and Nintendo producing level creation games I see Mario level creation having a bright future ahead with Mario Builder trailing around somewhere in the back – a relic forgotten by many but cherished by the ones who know its name.

Mario Builder to me was something intensely captivating and was a great creative outlet. It was with me for eight whole years and has made me respect level designers and game developers for the work that goes into every nook and cranny of a game. The patience and passion development takes is an incredible feat. However, I don’t think I want to make another game; coding is not my forte and my passions lie elsewhere. I look back fondly on the time I spent with Mario Builder and have realised how powerful it feels to bring something you have created with your own hands into this world and to share it with others who feel similarly to you. The time spent drawing up world maps in notebooks and the feeling of finally completing a level you have spent hours on will not be forgotten.

I hope this article can speak to you, the reader and that you can find something to relate to and appreciate in my writing and that you hang around for more as I am working with the Mario Builder community to interview members on why they use Mario Builder, what they are creating and what they want you to know about their projects.

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