Mini-Golf Crusade Zone 1
This is Zone 1 of our Zelda-like game, which blends Mini-Golf gameplay with a world structure inspired by Metroidvania games.
To date, this level is the largest and most complex one I have designed. This is quickly evident in the amount of iteration it went through throughout the entire process.
The general idea was to combine an interconnected world with distinct areas, as you would find in any Metroidvania, and translate it into a style similar to 2D Zelda games. In addition, we needed to include sections where the player’s movement is restricted and gameplay revolves around taking shots, as in mini-golf. In this way, we achieved an open first gameplay zone with mini-golf holes integrated directly into the world.
My first step in designing this area was to reference layouts from several maps, specifically from the game Minishoot’ Adventures (one of our main references) and from the Temaikèn biopark.
From there, I combined the two layouts and rotated them. This allowed the mix to produce an interesting network of paths that could serve as a solid foundation.
Once the combination was established, I took advantage of the bottom-right section, which offered the most design potential, and simplified it to begin working on the map.
Using this base, we developed what would become the first version of Zone 1 in the game.
After receiving some feedback, we realized the map had several issues, particularly the lack of clearly recognizable areas that could act as landmarks to help players orient themselves. We also noticed that the level contained too many long, straight corridors, as well as an excessive number of 90-degree turns.
For these reasons, we decided to redesign the area almost from scratch, this time truly going back to basics: paper. When creating the new sketch, we chose to simplify the experience even further and to pay special attention to memorable areas that could serve as landmarks.
This sketch led to the second version of Zone 1, which we quickly realized was too large. Once again, translating the design from paper into the engine revealed issues that became much more apparent when testing the level with the game’s mechanics. Being excessively large meant that traversing the level became boring, something that should never happen, especially in a Metroidvania, where the core idea is to repeatedly move through previously explored areas.
Finally, we decided to reduce the map and cut at least one third of the “excess.” As a result, the current level is roughly half the size of the previous version.
The advantage of shrinking the level is that the player is now almost constantly encountering elements that can capture their attention, and we significantly reduced the downtime that added nothing to the intended experience.
Although this is still not the 100% final version of Zone 1 in Mini-Golf Crusade, I can confidently say that it is much closer to that goal, and that we would not have been able to reach this point without going through so many iterations. Because of this process, I learned the importance of not settling for the first version of an idea, whether it’s a level, a mechanic, or a core concept for a game.