Intro-
Have you ever found yourself hooked on a game, and wondered why you keep coming back? Is it because of the story that often can become boring over time? The levels may be fun, but they can become very stale. What about online multiplayer? Well, that is one aspect, but there are often many other reasons. For many gamers including myself, one of the largest factors to keep playing a game is new content. A stream of new things to do in a game will keep people interested in a game, and one of the easiest ways to ensure this is by giving players the freedom to create content inside of a game using a variety of different creator tools. Games like Roblox, Fortnite, and Minecraft are built off that concept, using it as one of the main selling points. There is a game that you enjoy that you wished had more content, well, many games have complete communities of people that create mods to expand upon the base game. In this video, I am going to talk about creative tools inside of games. I am going to cover games that have done creator tools well and why, the several types of creative tools that can be found in the gaming market, the problem with Minecraft’s marketplace, and the benefits and many issues of including creator tools in a game. So, join me on this journey as we dissect the role of creator tools in different games.
(Intro Credits)
How to Use Creator Tools Properly-
Creator tools are in many games, but not every game does them properly. Many games do not understand the reason to add creative tools in a game. Let us look at Roblox, this is a game that has many different games inside of it all being made by the players. Roblox players can create games inside of Roblox studio that other players can play. Roblox is extremely popular and because of that many games in Roblox have their own communities and player Bases. With Roblox being made completely out of other games, Roblox must focus on updating the creator tools and fixing bugs instead of creating content in the game. Roblox’s player base consists of children, aged 13 and much younger, which brings up many problems which I will cover in a future section. Another game that uses creator tools well is Super Mario Maker. Super Mario Maker succeeds by allowing players to create their own Mario levels, giving them the freedom to choose between distinctive styles and tons of different objects from the popular Mario series. Super Mario Maker takes advantage of Mario being a popular franchise, so it already had a large fanbase. Many YouTubers have created challenges for their viewers to complete that are extremely punishing. Super Mario Maker got a sequel for the Nintendo Switch that added a story mode and even more tools at the players disposal, such as a 2D theme of the Wii U’s only 3D Mario game, Super Mario 3D World. An update to Super Mario Maker 2 added the much-requested world creator, which allows players to chain levels together using a hub world allowing people to try and beat all those levels with the same live count. There are many games that include level editors, one such game is Geometry Dash. Geometry Dash has a great implementation of creative tools, with most of what people doing inside of it is playing player created levels. Geometry Dash’s major updates focus on releasing new tools for the level editor, while also releasing brand-new fully-fledged levels that not only challenge players who have been playing the game but also highlight the new mechanics of the update. Geometry Dash is known for its difficulty, being known as a rage game that makes people rage due to the levels being so difficult. Another game that contains a level editor is Will You Snail? This is an indie game by fellow YouTuber Jonas Tyroller. In the largest update to the game, it added a level creator, which he has been using for competitions to get people to create the best level based on a theme, keeping players engaged by continually holding competitions. Something else that makes people interested in using many game’s creator tools is a creator compensation program. Games such as Roblox, Fortnite, and Minecraft, all allow you to make money from players buying things in your game using the in-game currency or from rewards after reaching certain milestones of plays in your game. The reason a creator compensation program helps a game’s creator tools succeed is because it gives players a reason to use the creator tools to make things in your game. If a game includes a way for someone to make money players are more likely to use them in hopes of hitting the jackpot and making a ton of money from their games, which is exactly what a game wants because it can increase the amount of content found in the game, and the quality of them as well. As you can see from what I was just saying there are a lot of games that do creator tools well, but there are many games that do not.
The Types of Creative Tools-
Creative tools have been becoming more popular in recent years and because of that there are several types of tools each with their own benefits and problems. The goal of creator tools is to let people create their own levels or worlds within the game, sometimes they are designed to make levels based on the game’s controls and gimmicks, and sometimes it is made to create entire worlds inside this game. The most common type of creator tool is the level creator, this is made for players to create or play levels that expand upon the base game’s levels or gimmicks. There are several games that are known for their level creator such as Geometry Dash. Geometry Dash is a tough music-synced rage game that has an extensive custom level community, creating insane levels that push the limits of what can be done using the Geometry Dash level editor, with levels such as HOW by Spu7nix breaking the limits of the game. Another type of creator tools is the game engine, which allows individuals or groups to create what is basically entire games inside of another game. There are several games that have this type of creative tool, but some of the most notable are Fortnite and Roblox, both of which have their own editors, and in Fortnite’s case Unreal Engine which is an actual game engine. The use of a game editor allows whatever players create to look as good as something one of the game’s developers could have created with outstanding visuals and complexities. The next type of creative tool is the prop gun type. The prop gun allows for players to spawn premade object inside the game to create custom levels and worlds, this is most common in 3D games and the term came from the game GMod which is a sandbox game that gives the player the infamous prop gun to play with. Although this type may seem the most limiting, it has been shown to allow for endless creativity when using it and has allowed many games with it to have flourishing creative communities. The last creative tool type is the modded type. With the use of mods any game can have an endless supply of unique levels or worlds, games such as Portal 2 with the recent Portal: Reloaded mod and several other mods that add unique content that player have designed, the game that blew up at the end of last year, Lethal Company allowing players to easily change the key mechanics of the game to add new moons and even Freddy Fazbear. Pretty much every game that has ever been made has its fair share of unique mods that players of the game have made to add to the content that the base game has. Many games have become popular because of their unique creative communities, which is why the type of creative tools a game has is important because it affects the experience the players have when they use it. There are several reasons that the type of creative tools can affect the game, to prove this I am going to point out a game that uses the wrong type of creative tool.
The Problem with Minecraft’s Marketplace-
Minecraft is an extremely popular game. Over the years Minecraft has sold over 250 MILLION copies, and because of this popularity it is obvious that Minecraft has the potential to be a massive money maker. How do you ruin a PAID game that many players love? Well, Microsoft knew how much potential money Minecraft could make, so in June of 2017 Mojang released the “Discovery Update” to the Bedrock editions of Minecraft. The “Discovery Update” added the Minecraft Marketplace, a content market for players to buy different maps, skins, and texture packs using an in-game currency, MineCoins. The Minecraft Marketplace is one of the most debated additions to Minecraft because of it being such an unnecessary addition. What the Minecraft Marketplace did is take a feature that used to be free and add a paywall to it, upsetting all players. Unlike most games with creator marketplaces, Minecraft only allows specific people to be able to release something onto the marketplace, while this makes sense for Minecraft because of its massive popularity, it makes players uninterested in creating content for the marketplace and raises the price of content that is on the Marketplace, which Microsoft does not care about because it makes them more money. The ability to release content onto the Minecraft Marketplace is not inside of Minecraft itself, but instead on the Minecraft website, hidden away behind an application. Another thing Minecraft does on the Minecraft Marketplace is using micro transactions. To buy content on the Minecraft Marketplace you must buy MineCoins. There are 5 tiers of MineCoins you can buy, the lowest tier being 1.99 for 320 Minecoins, and the highest tier being 49.99 for 8000 with a “bonus” of 800 MineCoins. Inside of the MineCoin page there are tons of tricks to make you buy more MineCoins, above both the second and fourth tiers there are banners that say “Popular” and “Great Deal!” With every tier except the bottom one giving “bonus” MineCoins not only are there banners that try and attract players to spend money but there are also content packs that give a map along with MineCoins. Because of the Minecraft Marketplace requiring the purchase of MineCoins to buy content once you buy something in the Minecraft Marketplace you will always have more MineCoins left over, enticing players to buy more MineCoins to purchase more on the Minecraft Marketplace. Most player on Minecraft Bedrock are under aged and have no understanding of monetary value, which is one of the biggest complaints with micro transactions because so many children spend their parent’s money without permission because the game makes them more interested in spending money. Not only does Minecraft use a micro transactions system which is proven to make people spend more, but the prices for items on the Marketplace are extremely high. Most Minecraft maps on the Marketplace cost around 990 MineCoins, which is equivalent to six dollars, the same price as Minecraft Pocket Edition. Official Minecraft sponsored maps cost around 1200 MineCoins which requires the player to spend ten whole dollars! Minecraft is not a game designed for a marketplace, having ways for players to get maps and skins for free. The Minecraft Marketplace does not do a decent job of allowing any player even if they have enough skill to highlight their work, and for a paid game Minecraft should not be promoting a lucrative micro transactions system, which is exactly what the Minecraft Marketplace is. Along with the fact that many children play it, you can easily see why many hate it. The Minecraft Marketplace is a terrible way for Minecraft players to make money because it is very limiting and is completely useless with the good worlds not even looking like Minecraft.
The Benefits and Issues of Creator Tools-
With so many games having creator tools at the player’s disposal you may be wondering what the effects of them are? Well, why don’t we look at them? If a game uses creative tools properly the game can end up with a large and consistent number of games being made that can help keep the player base alive and active. Games that include creative tools allow players to be as creative as possible while still playing the same game. Creator tools create games that have a larger amount of content and can give players so many more opportunities. The concept of allowing anyone to play a game and have an almost unlimited sense of freedom to create whatever they desire all inside of a game. Several games such as Super Mario Maker and its sequel, Game Builder Garage, and Dreams have flourished off the idea that anyone can create a game if they put in enough time and effort. Games like these are incredible at giving those interested in game development an idea of what it is genuinely like and getting paid for their ideas, this is one of the main selling points of Roblox, with people being able to create games using a custom game engine. Games with creator tools often develop communities of people who create using the provided tools which can lead to collaborations and a significant percentage of created content having a much higher quality. The use of creator tools can lead creators to develop teams to fully expand their ideas as much as possible, leading to better looking and playing games. There are so many ways a creative game can go. There is always going to be something for any type of player, may it be parkour, escape rooms, PvP, or a story, there will always be something, and if not, you can make it! While there are many benefits to creator tools, there are also many issues that can occur, and some can really affect the game. Once a game with creator tools does well it is obvious that a game developer would want to improve the tools that are at the player’s disposal. Many games that started as something completely different developed into a game focused on creative tools which are not what the original player base joined for. The thought process behind this is that why would players need the game developers to create something when they can just make it themselves, after all that is what the tools are for. A thought process like this can ruin a game and make many players disinterested and even if some players stay, it often drives a vastly different community to the game that is most of the time much younger. Many games that end up this way do not understand how much higher the quality of a game made by its developers is and how much easier it is to find instead of scrolling through thousands of player-created contents. The game developers have a consistent budget and funding that the creators do not have. With the focus of development changing, it can make a game lose that magic it used to have and instead feel bored with similar map ideas coming from players attempting to make a quick buck. The use of player-created content can also drive games to increase the number of micro transactions and start shoving paid promotions and sponsorships down the player’s throat. With so many micro transactions a game feels like it does not have the player’s interests and instead wants to do everything to make money, driving many players away until it is dead or filled with toxicity and underage children.
Conclusion-
I am a major support of creator tools and am attracted to games that include them. I love the creativity having creative tools provides and the endless content a game like this has. Games like Roblox and Fortnite have an incredible supply of content for players to enjoy. The use of these tools can make a game flourish with fresh players and add a lot of replay ability. There are a whole lot of benefits to having creator tools, but a game can be majorly ruined if they are not implemented properly. This can cause many players to quit the game and if you are a player your game can be filled with micro transactions and paid content even if it is a paid game already. There can be tons of consequences for creative tools, but sometimes the game can be a completely different and better experience. While I love creator tools not all games need it. There should be limits to what game implements creator tools because they can make major changes to the main concept of a game. Overall creator tools are becoming increasingly popular but also less and less fun. Without a game needing a creator tool or doing something unique with them it can mess up the spirit and fun of a game. Soon there will be a game to revolutionize creator tools in a way that I as a gamer cannot predict, but now the future for creative tools is just a vast wasteland of similarity, with no new horizon in the distance.
