How Mega Man 11's Levels Do More With Less | Game Maker's Toolkit

Now that Mega Man is on his 11th major entry,
I thought it was about time that we looked

at the blue bomber’s level design - and
see how his stages are put together.

And after playing through this latest game and taking
a close look at the design of each robot master’s

level, I was surprised to find that each stage
only has a tiny handful of unique elements.

I’m talking about things like platforms,
hazards, and enemies that you won’t see

in any of the other levels.

In Blast Man’s stage, for example, there are
crates, lasers, kamikaze bombers, bots with

barrels, and sniper joes in mechs.

And in Tundra Man’s stage it’s just these
snow flakes, these snowball storks, and the wind.

And in a game with only eight major stages
- before heading off to Wily’s castle - that

seems like a rather small amount of stuff
for each level.

And I’m left wondering: how come Mega Man
levels don’t get boring?

How does Capcom keep up a sense of variety
and surprise, when they’re only playing

with a few different elements per level?

Well, it’s down to good level layouts; some
ideas we’ve seen in our analysis of Mario,

Donkey Kong, and Rayman; and some design patterns
you might want to use in your own platforming games.

So let’s pull this game apart and look at
its innermost workings to see how Mega Man

11 does more, with less.

Something that makes Mega Man special, and
much easier to analyse than most other platformers,

is that levels are split into discrete rooms,
with obvious camera transitions between them.

There’s about 15 to 20 rooms per stage in
Mega Man 11, and Capcom can immediately get

a lot of variety in a level simply by using
rooms of different shapes and sizes.

So for starters you’ve got your classic,
horizontal side-scrolling level, which is

perfect for platforming sections.

This can go left or right, which sometimes
creates new challenges - like walking away

from, or walking into this floating junk.

Then you’ve got vertical levels - either
ones where you climb up, or ones where you

drop down.

This already makes a huge difference: an enemy
like Pick Man is reasonably easy to fight

when you’re on the same level, but he’s
much harder to dodge when he’s above you.

The other type of room is a basic one-screen
box.

But even these come in different versions.

A staircase set-up adds a little verticality
to deal with.

And a zig-zag room can give you a moment of
safety to see how an enemy moves, or force

you to deal with a foe where there’s not
enough room to jump over them.

Almost every room in Mega Man is one of these
seven types, with a few special exceptions

like a room in Bounce Man’s stage that is
horizontal, but is also much taller than one screen.

And a room in Block Man’s stage that is
a total zig zag, but then opens up into a

horizontal room.

Throughout the course of one stage, you’ll
see a whole variety of different rooms to

mix things up.

Here’s all the room shapes in Acid Man’s
stage, for example, and this makes for a level

that’s constantly going in different directions
and feels like a unique space from room to room.

Next, you can’t forget the hazards that
are used in multiple levels throughout Mega

Man 11.

Enemies like Sniper Joe, Mets, these rolling
shield enemies, and spider bots, plus hazards

like bottomless pits and nuisance spikes are
regular foes and dangers that can show up

between the unique stage elements to mix up
proceedings.

But as for the original stuff, this is given
immense variety because of the way that they

are scattered throughout the stage.

So each level has a main mechanic, or two,
that is showcased in that stage.

Like acid in Acid Man’s level, or these
explosive crates in Blast Man’s level.

And they show up in different forms and ramp
up in complexity throughout the course of

the stage, just like in Mario.

But instead of seeing them show up in every
room, over and over again, they get interwoven

with other challenges to keep things varied
- a lot like the stuff we saw in Donkey Kong

Country: Tropical Freeze.

So let’s look at Impact Man’s stage, for
example.

These platforms that run on wires show up
in room 2.

Then with loads more enemies in room 10.

And then in a windy maze of rockets and Pick
Men in room 15.

But between those appearances, you also get
these drills which race across the screen.

They are rather easy to dodge in room 5, but
much harder to avoid in room 11 where you’re

going down, navigating a zig zag, and the
drills now come at angles.

And then, just to neatly tie the level’s bow, these
mechanics appear at the same time.

In room 18, you’re now dodging drills while
riding on moving platforms.

That would be really difficult, but because
you know exactly how these two things work

on their own, its quite achievable to face
them together.

Those drills then appear one more time in
room 20, and even show up during the boss

fight against Impact Man himself.

Nicely done.

Mega Man levels also have special rooms to
keep things varied.

You’ll find a mini boss in every stage,
to really change things up.

You’ll go from making real forward progression,
to stopping entirely to fight a reanimated

mammoth skeleton.

These can also interweave with the main mechanics
of that stage.

The mini boss in Bounce Man’s stage - which
is a giant inflatable toad - comes back later

in the level, but now you've got to face it
while bouncing on balloons.

There’s also often an empty-ish room after
the mini-boss.

It’s a checkpoint room, depending on the
difficulty you’re playing at, and also gives

you a second to catch your breath before moving
on.

One other type of room you’re likely to
encounter is what i call the secret test.

Here, a useful item like an extra life or
an energy tank is on display, but difficult

to get to.

You’ve got to solve some small puzzle related
to the mechanics (or just cheat and use rush)

to get it, or you can choose to simply move
on if you’d rather not risk it.

Now while pretty much every stage Mega Man
11 has these aspects, there’s no exact formula

that every level follows.

So all we can do is look at how it all comes
together in an example stage.

And for this, I want to look at the level
layout for Torch Man.

This level has 15 rooms.

And we start, in room 1 - a horizontal stage
that shows off a number of different elements

that will appear in the level.

That includes these tents, enemies that materialise
from thin air, rabbit robots, mushrooms that

spout fire, owls that drip flames, cannons
covered up by shields, and tanks that fire

out carrots.

Some are unique to this stage, others are
not.

Room 2 has the stage’s main gimmick: a big
wall of fire that chases you from left to right.

You’ve got to fight enemies and squeeze
through gaps, while

running away from immediate death.

Room 3 is a box, and a bit of a breather.

Those mushroom enemies from before are back,
but they now have a second attack: they can

heat up these metal tiles from below to hurt
you.

Room 4 introduces us to another mechanic:
those owls are now the only light in the room

and if you blast them, you’ll have to play
in the dark.

It becomes a game of being careful with your
shots, instead of shooting recklessly.

Room 5 is kind of a secret test.

If you want to get this extra life, then you’ll
need to figure out that if you shoot these

mushrooms once, you can turn off their flame
and leap harmlessly on their head.

Remember this, it will be important for later.

Room 6 is a mini-boss, against a barbecue
chicken.

Hey, you can’t say they don’t keep to
the level’s theme.

And room 7 has no enemies, because it’s
just a checkpoint, and a breather after that

mini-boss.

Room 8 has us fight the carrot tank again,
and maybe figure out that we can just push

it into a pit with enough shots, if we’re
too lazy to go into slow-mo and shoot out

the driver.

And room 9 brings the flame chase back for
a second outing, now with much tighter platforming.

Room 10 has those mushrooms and tiles again,
only this time, the mushrooms spawn more quickly

and you’ve got to fight these spiders at
the same time.

Room 11 is a proper secret test.

To get this energy tank you need to figure
out that you can shoot one of these mushrooms

to turn it off, then use your speed gear power
to jump on its head and get to the e-tank.

Or just use rush jet.

Rush is such a cheat i swear to god

Room 12 revisits the “don’t shoot the
owl” mechanic, but now with bottomless pits

for extra challenge.

Room 13 is a staircase level, and gets us
ready for the final rush.

Which is room 14: one more final fire chase
gauntlet.

First, you’ve got these mushrooms - and
you might just remember this pattern from

room 5.

Which is a huge help to get you over the first
hurdle.

And then, other enemies show up too, like
the carrot tank, tents, and shield guys.

iI’s just a shame that the hot metal tiles
don’t reappear one final time.

Finally, you’re at the boss’s front door
and can go off and fight Torch Man.

So if you think about how the flames show
up in multiple rooms through the level.

As do the owls.

And the heated tiles.

And even that staircase of fire-breathing
mushrooms, we can see how one level of Mega

Man 11 is an interwoven web of different ideas.

It almost has a musical quality, like a symphony
where different sections get repeated.

And Torch Man is not the only stage where
this happens.

In Block Man’s stage, room 6 is a mini-boss.

room 7 is a breather, room 8 is a frantic escape,
and room 9 sees you climbing up a vertical shaft.

Then, rooms 11, 12, 13, and 14 are the exact
same - just more complicated versions.

The mini-boss is now fought on a conveyer
belt, for example, and the escape sequence

is much harder.

So it makes this really nice echo through
the level.

It gives the whole thing a really elegant
symmetry.

Now, Mega Man is of course a long-running
franchise and some previous games have had

terrific level design too, like the upside down
antics of Gravity Man in Mega Man V, and unravelling

garden hoses in Hornet Man’s stage in Mega
Man 9.

But they haven’t always nailed it quite
like Mega Man 11.

Sometimes, an attempt to have lots and lots
of variety has meant that ideas aren’t explored

properly - leading to things like these wheels
in Yamato Man’s stage that only show up

in one room.

Or these tops in Top Man’s stage, which
are introduced to the player at the very end

of the level, forcing you to learn their weirdo
movement while jumping over bottomless pits.

Other games don’t mix things up enough.

In Wood Man’s stage, you’ll face the same
fire breathing dog robot in three rooms in

a row.

I think he’d be much better if he was spread
out across the level.

So Mega Man 11 might not always have the most
memorable or exciting level designs, and there

are still bits that have me smashing my controller
in frustration, but they are really smartly

put together.

They all introduce new mechanics responsibly,
explore their ideas fully, and - most importantly

- get a lot of mileage out of a few elements.

Hey! Thanks for watching.

This is part of my, sort-of unofficial platformer
level design series.

There are plenty more games I can look at, like Sonic and Shovel Knight,

but I don’t want to just say the same thing about escalating challenges every time

so I’m looking for games that do something quite unique from here on out.

Any ideas, let me know in the comments below!

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