While looking for images of Donkey Kong (historical research for the UTS Games Studio, dontcha know) I stumbled across this gem:
Prototyping for Game Feel (v.2)
Including the faboulous step 3:
• Be Shigeru Miyamoto
There’s a nice thoughtful post here (and the rest of the site looks worth a read as well). What caught my eye was the description of Miyamoto’s virtual garden:
“Before any of the levels had been created Mr. Miyamoto had Mario running around and picking up objects in a small ‘garden’ which he uses in all his games to test gameplay elements.”
Miyamoto is noted for finding inspiration for his game designs from his other interests: playing the guitar and gardening. The gamecube game “Pimkin” was based directly on Miyamoto’s actual garden. So for him, it seems that the virtual and real garden are his ba - his own place, a creative source.