If you buy Super Mario Maker physically at retail, the package comes with a gorgeous level design ideas and guidebook (if you are buying a digital copy, you can still claim a copy for yourself by contacting Nintendo). The book comes with some basic level design principles which have all contributed to Mario becoming the tour de force of level design that it has become, and also comes with some ideas to make some increasingly devious levels.
Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario, really wants you to use and refer to this book. Presumably, he believes that by doing this, he will be able to cut down on the terrible user created levels that will otherwise inevitably bog down the game’s community, but it may just be that he wants players to understand the principles of good level design.
Whatever it is, since he asked so nicely, I’ll do it. You should, too.
Super Mario Maker launched exclusively on Wii U last week. It is now available worldwide.