Hey there, folks! We’re in the home stretch now! Yes, sadly it’s true: While we’ve all been having fun these past few weeks getting our learn on, next week’s article will be the last in this series. We know, we’re inconsolable, too.
We haven’t been this upset since paying full price for a game right before the Steam Summer Sale
We’ve covered a lot of ground these past weeks looking at the history of UGC. We’ve seen games about making games (and more!). Software that lets you make fully-featured games from the code on up. Fans taking matters into their own hands and modding games that otherwise had no UGC to speak of. What could possibly be left to go over in this penultimate article?
Literally Everything Else
… Oh. Uh… Yeah, there’s that.
To be a bit more specific about it: We’ve been spending most of our time discussing games and software where UGC - specifically, the kind of UGC that involves game making - is the “main” objective. However, there are many, many games out there that have other kinds of UGC as well. Character creators, level editors, simulation games with a “sandbox mode”... Any game with any sort of editor or creation system in place totally counts as UGC! This is especially true in the modern era, where platforms like Steam Workshop allow users to share their creations with players the world over.
Now, it probably goes without saying that we can’t cover every single game with UGC elements like this, and even trimming it down to a “Greatest Hits” selection would still be quite large. Thus, we’ll be going through examples much more quickly here than in previous articles, highlighting what high quality or unique UGC each game brought to the table before moving on. Now hold on tight - the UGC Train has no brakes!
Though maybe it should
Utopia (1982)
Simulation and construction games fill a weird niche in UGC-focused titles: sure, you have a lot of freedom to build stuff, but only if you have the resources to do so and follow the rules. Does this make them “real” UGC games, since you can’t just build whatever you want? If we assume they at least get an honorable mention, then the first game in this genre would be Utopia, released on the Intellivision back in 1982 (yes, even before the first “true” UGC title, Pinball Construction Set). This multiplayer game had two players build up cities on adjacent islands to see who can be more successful.
What do you do when you literally run out of room on the cartridge before implementing any sort of opponent AI? Just claim the game is multiplayer-only! Yes, really.
Lode Runner (1983)
Released the same year as Pinball Construction Set (and Castle Smurfenstein), this puzzle-platformer game contained 150 levels in addition to a full-blown level editor. While not devoted solely to creation like PCS was, this marked one of the first times a game contained a separate level editor mode.
Excitebike (1984)
In this NES classic, players could design their own tracks to race on, making this not only one of the first Nintendo games with UGC (a tradition they’d proudly continue, as we have already seen in previous articles and will continue to see in this one), but also one of the first editors available on a console platform, proving that UGC would not only be a “PC thing.”
Wrecking Crew (1985)
Another Nintendo classic, this puzzle game starring Mario also contained a level editor, beating out Super Mario Maker by a whopping 30 years.
Plumber, Doctor, Demolitionist… That deadbeat Mario can’t hold down a job for more than five minutes, can he?
SimCity (1989)
If Utopia was the first construction/simulation game, SimCity is the game that made the genre popular, spawning a metric ton of spin-offs. Like Utopia, there was no “sandbox” mode where you could build whatever you want with no restrictions, but it was still fun seeing what you could create even while following the rules and restrictions the game had in place.
The Incredible Machine (1993)
This cult-classic puzzle game tasks you with fixing broken contraptions clearly inspired by the works of cartoonist Rube Goldburg. In addition to the puzzles, there was a “freeform” mode where players could build whatever you wanted, whether they were complete machines or even more puzzles for others to solve.
Lego Racers (1999)
Given that Lego is all about building things, it’s only natural that numerous Lego video games would have some level of UGC in them. The most famous of these would probably be Lego Racers - in this game, not only was your avatar fully customizable, but you could build your car brick by brick, with unique physics based on how many pieces you used and where they were placed. Just be prepared to have that menu music stuck in your head forever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzwV5085Vvo
You’re welcome.
RollerCoaster Tycoon (1999)
Well, we couldn’t use that gif above and not tip our hat to the game that provided it, now can we? RollerCoaster Tycoon was all about making and managing your own amusement park, with emphasis on the fact that you could lay out the track for certain attractions (like roller coasters, naturally) however you wanted, rather than just plopping down a static building. And yes, this absolutely included just letting your coasters fly off the rails and slam into populated areas. You monster.
The Sims (2000)
Out of all the spin-offs SimCity created, The Sims was far-and-away the most successful. This game essentially “scaled down” the scope of SimCity by having you manage a household of people (called Sims) rather than an entire city. You had lots of control over your Sims’ appearances and how they developed, but if you ever got tired of having them pass out in their own filth taking care of them, you could simply load up an empty lot and build your dream home with unlimited funds instead. You could also take pictures and save them in a family scrapbook, which many players used to tell epic stories about them passing out in their own filth.
Animal Crossing (2001)
Not entirely unlike The Sims mentioned above, this charming little life simulator is all about living in a small town and making friends with all your animal neighbors. The ability to customize both your avatar and your home have existed since the original game, but due to the massive popularity of these elements, they’ve been expanded on in every entry. It’s gotten to the point they’ve even made a spin-off title, Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, that’s all about making your own homes!
We were going to write a hilarious, in-character rant for Mr. Resetti that would be longer than the rest of this article, but then we remembered we aren’t paid by the word for this
Ultimate Ride (2001)
Loved building roller coasters in RollerCoaster Tycoon, but hated all that pesky management stuff? Ultimate Ride is the game for you! This Disney(!) game let you build and ride any coaster that you wanted in full 3D (hey, this was impressive back in 2001), with no monetary restrictions. There was a mission mode, but rather than managing funds or keeping parkgoers happy, you were tasked with making coasters that not only met certain requirements, but also remained safe enough that people could actually ride them, using the game’s surprisingly detailed physics simulation system to track G-Forces and the like. This game was a great example of UGC being used for educational purposes - in this case, physics and structural engineering.
City of Heroes (2004)
Character customization has been a thing in Massively Multiplayer Online games since the very beginning - after all, how else are you going to make your avatar unique compared to everyone else’s? City of Heroes, however, decided to take it one step further and introduced the Mission Architect. This feature allowed you to create custom quests in the game that other players could then play through and even earn EXP and items from. It was pretty ambitious for an MMO… and hey, it beats doing the same “kill 20 sewer rats” mission over and over to level grind.
Miis (2006)
Here’s a weird, not-quite-a-game-exactly entry for ya: when the Nintendo Wii launched, it came with the ability to create system-wide avatars called Miis. What made Miis unique compared to other avatar features in the past is how they interacted with games - many multiplayer games gave you the option to play as your Mii in addition to the usual cast of characters, giving your Mii a lot more prominence and importance than usual for this kind of avatar. Even if playing as your Mii wasn’t an option, there was a good chance that any and all Miis you created on the system would pop up in cameo roles in any given game (usually in crowd shots). This clever integration of UGC into all sorts of games is still used by Nintendo today, and there are even a few games (Tomodachi Life, Miitopia, etc.) that are based entirely on these little guys.
Halo 3 (2007)
The third entry of this gobsmackingly successful franchise introduced The Forge, a game mode where players could edit multiplayer maps and create custom games. While this mode would be included in many future Halo games as well, this technically isn’t the first time the franchise dipped its toe in the UGC pool - users were already using previous games in the franchise to create machinima, such as the ever-popular Red vs. Blue series that started in 2003 using the original Halo: Combat Evolved.
The office is still taking bets on which will end first: the Halo franchise or Red vs. Blue
Spore (2008)
Also jokingly referred to as “SimEverything”, Spore was a simulation game about tending to the evolutionary rise of lifeforms on a planet, from primordial ooze to space-traveling races. In addition to having your species evolve naturally through gameplay choices, you could also use the Spore Creature Creator to just jump right in and handcraft the perfect specimen. Additionally, the creatures you created didn’t just change your game - as you traveled to other planets, the creatures you encountered there were ones that other players had brought up, meaning every player’s creation had an impact on the game as a whole.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008)
In addition to finally making the dream fight of Mario vs. Sonic a reality (look, this was a big deal for 90s kids, okay?), Super Smash Bros. Brawl brought a Stage Builder mode to the franchise. The one in Brawl was very basic, but subsequent games would improve on it more and more. Also, those Miis we talked about earlier? Starting in the next game, they’d become playable fighters, too, and both them and stages could be shared with others online. Time to go make a Mii of and beat the stuffing out of them!
Overwatch (2016)
Most games that have a built-in editor will let you do things like build levels or customize characters. When Overwatch debuted its Workshop mode, however, it went the extra mile, letting players straight-up write scripts and edit the code directly to create drastically new and different game modes. It can be pretty surreal booting up a team-based FPS and then playing a 2.5D beat-em-up instead, but you do you.
And then someone found a way to recreate Portal in it, because of course they did
Planet Coaster (2016)
Okay, one more roller coaster game for the road: Planet Coaster brings all the best aspects of previous theme park simulators together, having both a robust career mode where you have to manage funds and research as well as a sandbox mode where you can go nuts. It also features full freeform building for all structures, allowing players to create some truly unique designs and setpieces. You can even import your own 3D models into the game if the items that are already there aren’t enough!
In Conclusion…
Phew! That was a lot of games. They may not have fully embraced UGC as their “main” component (or had it thrust upon them by modders) like some of the games we discussed in previous weeks did, but their impact and influence should not be denied. Any one of these games could be the first step on someone’s journey from player to designer, and indeed, more often than not, it is. After all, someone enjoying a game and then deciding to check out its side-mode devoted to UGC is far more likely than them, say, downloading Garry’s Mod out of the blue and building a new game from scratch.
Be sure to check back next week for the epic series finale of The Endless Mission and the History of UGC! Don’t worry, there won’t be any arbitrary, character-wrecking plot twists that exist solely to “subvert expectations” - instead, we’ll be looking at where we go from here, and what the future of UGC will contain (spoiler alert: the answer may involve The Endless Mission). See you then!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/827880/The_Endless_Mission/
Image Sources: videoblocks.com, imgur.com, Mattel, Wikipedia, Nintendo, Redbull.com, youtube.com/norlag,