Read Part 1 here!
Hello, and welcome back to this review of WaroWare: Do It Yourself! In which you... do your games yourself. Yeah. We've got a game that requires creativity here! Oh, the horror!
Hello, and welcome back to this review of WaroWare: Do It Yourself! In which you... do your games yourself. Yeah. We've got a game that requires creativity here! Oh, the horror!
So,
we've been through the tutorials, then we saw Wario's jobs, and then
we met Mantis and Cricket in the Assembly Dojo. Now, we see what
happens next... That is, when you start creating. Once you're ready,
head to the D.I.Y. Studio.
Or...
just tap it with the stylus and then tap OK, that works too.
In
the Studio, there are three options: The Super MakerMatic 21, the
D.I.Y. Forum, and the D.I.Y. Data. The Super MakerMatic is where
you'll make all your microgames, records and comics. It's where you
go to create. I mean, this is the studio, right? This is where you
create, right? Well, yeah, obviously.
Oh hey, an old computer! |
Here's
a quick list of tips you will get on that forum:
-Be
careful not to override movement commands with other movement
commands;
-The
MakerMatic will make names for your game or graphics if you can't
think of any;
-You
can take a phrase out of any record or game to use in your own.
Apparently, Diamond Software and WarioWare are very lax on copyright
laws;
-Use
Freeze to disable taps after the game has been lost;
-To
place objects with more precision, keep L or R pressed while moving
the object;
-Make
it clear where the player should tap;
-Upload
games from Diamond Software into the MakerMatic to learn some AI
tricks;
-Playing
the same sound effect twice plays it louder (Ever tried synchronizing
the exact same song so it plays louder?);
-To
see a switch from an object outside of the game field, set it on the
left or at the bottom of the field. If the trigger button is On,
you'll still see the switch indicators;
-Games
are harder to beat on D.I.Y. Showcase, so keep that in mind when you
make your game.
And
so on. There are 60 of those “threads”, and many of them are an
entertaining read. You can read them all here.
But
there's something else in the Studio: The D.I.Y. Data! This diploma
on the wall will tell you everything you did in the game: How many
microgames were bought from you (this number is actually completely
fictional, as it's in-game people who buy your microgames. Who in
real life would pay for a single eight-second microgame?), how many
shipments you've done, how many contests you've entered, how many of
Wario's jobs you have completed and how many connections with friends
you've had. So far, I have sold 4,895 microgames, though I've
actually created 101. I also made 58 records and 28 comics (which are
all pretty bad, both the records and the comics). I entered no
contest and never connected with a friend in the same room, but I
completed 38 of Wario's jobs.
Though
I'm pretty sure you don't care about my data. Wanna hear about the
120 medals in the game instead? I won't quote them all, but I'll give
some examples, and then I'll cite a few problems I have with these.
There's
the stuff you'd expect from this game: Get all the microgames from
one of the Diamond Software developers (Mona, Jimmy, Ashley, Orbulon,
9-Volt). Unlock all modes in the Game Blender (I'll explain that one
soon). Score 40+ points on each character's solo stage. Unlock all of
a developer's records in the Shop. Collect all the comics. Fill your
games, records or comics shelf completely (that means 90 of each!).
Have your games sell for a total of X (up to 4,000). Have one of your
microgames sell X copies. Complete all of Penny's Tutorials. Ship all
Job microgames at least once. Master all techniques in the Dojo (you
see now, why I said you pretty much had to do all the Tutorials and
jobs?). Ship X games, records, comics from the MakerMatic. Spend X
hours with either the game, record or comic MakerMatic. Connect with
a Wii or with a friend's DS.
Sigh... |
There
are also 3 medals for when you enter design challenges. Those were
monthly challenges put up by the developers. There was a theme each
time, you had to make your own microgame and submit it, and then
there would be a competition to see who has produced the best
microgame. Sounds fun? The last contest ended on April 6th,
2011.
Did
I mention that the design contests were open in the USA and in
Canada, but not in Quebec? Raaaaaauuuuuuuugh! I do not find this
funny at all! (If you're new here, quick recap: I'm from Quebec. And I'm mighty damn proud of where I live. ...most of the time, anyway.)
In
other words, impossible to get those goddamn medals. And why does it
suck? Because you unlock music from Diamond Records through unlocking medals.
Yeah, having medals that you cannot earn means there are records by
developers of Diamond Software that will be harder to get. That's really
dumb. Whatever. I like the idea of medals and achievements in a game,
but I don't like it as much when medals become unavailable over time
or because there's no contests anymore or the connection was
terminated or whatever.
Don't be fooled by the appearance; this is not a gift shop. |
Anyway,
when you begin, your shelves are obviously empty. There can't be
anything on them as long as you haven't created anything! Sure, your
Games shelf will first be filled with, say, the three Tutorial games
given by Penny Crygor, then maybe Wario's 16 Jobs. That's a good
start. The Diamond Software shelves also start out empty.
First shelf almost full; keep working! Only 73 games left to make! |
And of course, Ashley's Blender story has her being spooky for no reason other than she's a witch. What else is new? |
One
Diamond Software stage is unlocked on the day you start playing, and
one more stage is unlocked every following day. And in order to
unlock a microgame in a developer's shelf, you have to encounter it
in that developer's stage. Sounds fairly easy, doesn't it? ...It is.
Yeah, it totally is. Just play that stage again and again until you
got all of that developer's microgames.
Listen to all the songs in the game if you want! There's about two and a half hours of music made by the game's developers. |
How
do you unlock Diamond Records? By winning medals. As I mentioned
earlier in this post, each time you earn a medal, you get one random
piece of music among the developers you've unlocked so far (and since
you unlock one per day, all five are unlocked pretty fast). That
means 1 out of the 90 possible songs. Thankfully, it is impossible to
delete those songs, and no song will appear twice (duh). Sadly, as I
mentioned, we're past the option to use the Wi-Fi Connection for
Nintendo DS games, and as a result some medals are unobtainable
unless you have a friend who owns WarioWare: D.I.Y.. Thankfully, it
IS possible to get all 90 songs despite these problems. It's just
really, really difficult. As of writing, I still need to unlock two
of 9-Volt's records. ...sigh. You'll tell me, “that's just two!”
Yeah, but the missions to get them are painfully long and tedious.
Moving
on. The last section is Diamond Publishing. Just like the
games and the records, there are 90 comics to unlock. Like the stages, you
unlock some of them every day. However, you unlock only one line of 6
comics per day, which means you need to play during fifteen days to
unlock all the Diamond Publishing comics. I don't really have
preferences, but the fourth shelf of comics is a story split among
the 18 comics on that shelf. It's a funny tale of a guy who
unwillingly becomes a RPG hero with overly-silly weapons and tools (a
popsicle stick for sword, a tennis paddle for shield, he battles a
demon that uses bubbles to attack, retrieves the princess of a
village where everyone, including the women and children, are bald
and have large mustaches... ...No, I didn't make that up, and the end is even WEIRDER). It's
without a doubt the funniest series of comics. It's the only long
series of comics in the game, anyway.
Oops. I just realized that this wasn't the right game. Oh well, I feel too lazy to correct that mistake now. |
Guess
that's all I had to say for today. We've taken a good look at the
Studio, then the Shop. Next time, we look at the Distribution Center
and the Options Garage, and then I'll give my final words on the
game. See ya then!
(Part 3 will be published Monday and the review of D.I.Y. Showcase will be published next Friday.)
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