WarioWare: D.I.Y.

WarioWare D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself)is a Nintendo DS game that allows the player complete freedom to create and alter mini-games, which raises the question: "Can being redundant be good?"

A host of playwrights, especially Shakespeare, use the convention of the play-within-a- play to build plot or reveal characters' personalities.  There are handbooks for aspiring writers with tips on how to write a book as well as an increasing number of various YouTube instructional videos for one thing or another – from cooking to crafts to software skills.

While other mediums are content with, and perhaps even thrive off of repetition, publishing a video game about making video games just seems pointless.  Dedicated people spend a great deal of time and money earning degrees in computer programming, graphic design, and game design to create the video games gamers love to play. 

WarioWare D.I.Y. is lacking when it comes to a storyline, and what storyline is there is kind of pathetic.  This is in no way an epic quest in which the player's creativity will aid in problem solving. In fact, what can be called the story has very little to do with the creativity factor of the game at all. 

The story for WarioWare D.I.Y. starts with the nightmare of a scientist, Dr. Crygor, who dreams that he is playing a video game in which the characters break through the TV screen and cause a stampede.  Upon awakening, Dr. Crygor invents and builds the Super MakerMatic 21, a machine that can be used to make mini-games. Wario walks into Dr. Crygor's lab during the assembly of the Super MakerMatic 21 with a broken TV and wants Dr. Crygor to fix it for him.  Wario notices Dr. Crygor's new invention, and after hearing what it can do, hires the player to create games on the machine so he can sell them and make money.

WarioWare D.I.Y.'s game development interface isn't very advanced, which is a bonus.  Non-player characters (NPCs) walk the player through tutorials, which makes the process of creating mini-games easy to remember and more digestible.  The games made in the tutorials aren't very exciting, but the point of each tutorial is to show the player what to do when making their own games. 

The main steps of game creation are: making the background, adding and animating objects, and creating action instructions, which the NPCs abbreviate as A.I.  Creation of background and objects is simple and familiar since the interface is set up similarly to Microsoft Paint.  Players can fill areas with color, draw lines, rectangles, and ovals, and freehand draw with brushes of different widths.  Color choices are ample, and certain palettes have textures such as rocks, grass, or brick walls. The stamp tool, which works just like its namesake, is great for adding people or scenery and is perfect for the artistically challenged.

Working with the A.I. is where things can get confusing, but the developers at Nintendo do their best to make it easy for players to understand.  The commands are clearly stated in plain English, so there's no wading through technology jargon and no need for knowledge of computer programming.  The A.I. interface also makes good use of visual representations.  An example of this is the menu for setting playback speed for animation.  Speeds range from "turtle" (the slowest) to "airplane," (the fastest), with "human" (in the middle). If a player gets really stuck, they can save what they've done so far and watch the NPC tutorials again. 

The best feature of WarioWare D.I.Y. is that there's always something for players to do.  Once players tire from making games, they can create music tracks as well as re-mix NPCs' records, and create four panel comics with the same tools used in game background creation.  If all of the creativity is too much, players can sit back and play the NPCs' mini-games.

Despite skepticism about its repetitive nature, WarioWare D.I.Y. delivers.  The complete creative control the player has is what sets the game apart and keeps repetition away from its usual association with boredom.