Earlier today Nintendo announced their upcoming game Mario Maker which allows players to play levels they create.

During an interview this evening at the Nintendo Treehouse, Takashi Tezuka, detailed how Mario Maker came into existence.

The idea of the game first started when Nintendo's internal team was working on a Mario course editing tool and was playing around with different ideas they presented to Tezuka.

Inspired by the team, Tezuka also had an idea of using the Wii U GamePad for Mario Paint but he wanted to explore the idea of not just creating a drawing or gaming utility but to offer as many options to play the game itself, like filling every grid tile with enemies, items, and obstacles.

Instead of just making a new Mario Paint, he thought "let's make a Mario Maker."

In Mario Maker there are no rules, limitation to the number of objects that can appear at once pays don't exist.

The game pays homage to the original Mario Paint for SNES which can be seen in the game's graphics when players swap between original and New Super Mario Bros. graphical styles (it even retains the 'undo dog' icon from Mario Paint).

During the live demo played by Tezuka, he dished on the creation of a Skinny Mario, which occurs when blocks randomly spit out a skinny mushroom, making Mario tall/skinny,

You would be surprised to know it was created by accident. We were trying to create a Super Mario and a bug deformed him making him a skinny Mario; we liked it so much we kept him.

Maker offers some surprises, for example if a player shakes the Wii U, course objects will shake as well, making  Hammer Bro. drop hammers and Piranha Plant spit extra fireballs. If an enemy is placed inside of pipes it creates an auto-spawning pipe. The GamePad touchscreen can be used to tap and drag items around like picking up and shaking a green Koopa Troopa, which will turn him red.

This isn't your typical course editor; you use your imagination to create something new.

He also stressed the uniqueness of the game "where else can you put wings on a Piranha Plant?" While players are allowed to go as crazy as they want like stacking enemies on top of one another to maintain their totem pole stature as they quickly switch between playing and editing; making courses that match those found in other Mario games isn't the purpose of Maker.

There are all sorts of gamers in the world from professional to causal. You don't have to worry about making really good courses. You can make something cool, something for your family, something that will make you smile. Just enjoy the game and not think of it as an editor tool but something that you can just enjoy while plying.

Also a fun fact: the "O" in Mario, if tapped, will make Mario pop out.

Mario Maker will release for the Wii U in 2015.

Take a look at more of the game's screenshots in the gallery below.