What is Mario's jump without something to jump off of? Or a platform to jump to? For Mario, all level design starts with its basic layout.

A course's basic layout largely consists of the formations of its terrain and blocks. These structures define the space Mario can safely maneuver through. Before we think about coins, enemies, power-ups, or secrets, we have to think about how Mario can and cannot move.

Examples of Layout Considerations...

• Are there any one unit wide platforms?
• Are there small gaps to fall into?
• Are there tall structures that are difficult or impossible to jump over?
• Does Mario bonk his head when trying to make simple jumps.
• Is there symmetry? Is there asymmetry?
• Is there cohesion? Is the layout aesthetically pleasing?
• Is there enough runway to fly?
• How does the player move through the course? Left to Right? Bottom to Top? Diagonally?

Jumping as Mario is fun. Standing, walking, running, jumping, landing, and doing it all over again. And again. It's as simple as that. As Makers, we tend to be inspired to make innovative new ideas and complex puzzles; the kind of levels Nintendo never made. No matter what kind of course you want to make, understanding and working with what makes Mario fun is a good way to go.

"Early on, we understood that the ability to make the character jump in and of itself was something that was fun. That was kind of the first discovery: finding the fun in giving you that sense of physical activity, in particular jumping from one place to another to another and kind of connecting those jumps." ~Shigeru Miyamoto

To learn how fun Mario's movement can be, we created Assignment #1.

Our Workshoppers had a hard time wrapping their heads around the instructions. Some thought they could add coins or power-ups, because surely just using "blocks" is too limiting. But only using "blocks" is exactly why the assignment is interesting.

The results were surprisingly varied!

Some created pixel art. Some created murals of repeating patterns. Some built around a theme of thin vertical structures. Some took a minimal approach letting Mario jump around in the negative space. Some mimicked formations from classic Mario games. And some made maze-like structures.

Most of the submissions to this assignment do not feature bottomless pits. In other words, there's no way to fail. Yet, moving through these courses is very engaging.