Super Mario 3D World's 4 Step Level Design | Platformer Level Design

Hi, this is Mark Brown with Game Maker's Toolkit,
a series on video game design,

and I want to talk about Super Mario 3D World: a game that is bursting at the seams

with ideas.

This is a game with Conkdors and flipswitch panels,
double cherries and cannon boxes, switchboards,

Ant Troopers, beat blocks, trapezes, Grumblumps,
footlights, and piranha creepers. This game

has innovation in abundance.

So how does Nintendo manage to cram so many
mechanics into the game without making it

bloated, or incomprehensible, or stuffed with
tutorials?

You best ask this guy: Koichi Hayashida, who
is co-director of 3D World and has, over the

course of a few games, developed a level design
philosophy that allows for rapid-fire invention.

Essentially, stages are four-part self-contained
showcases for new ideas where a mechanic can

be successfully taught, developed, twisted,
and then thrown away in about five minutes

flat.

Each level starts by introducing its concept
in a safe environment. Cakewalk Flip has panels

that switch from red to blue when you jump,
and you'll see that as soon as you hop up

to this platform. The first batch of panels
are hovering over a lower level so if you

fall you don't lose a life.

The concept is then established further. In
this section there is no safety net...

...and here, you'll have to deal with the flipping panels as you climb up the cliff face.

Then comes the twist. Towards the end of each
stage, the concept is turned on its head in

some way, to either challenge your mastery,
or to make you think about it from a fresh

perspective. In this case, we have to deal
with flip panels while also dodging the blast

radius of this bumper enemy, which we fought
a little earlier in the stage.

And finally, we get the conclusion. Each level
gives you one last chance to show off your

skills with a suitable flagpole sequence.

Hayashida has explained, in an interview with
Gamasutra, that he's inspired by a narrative

structure called "kishōtenketsu" which is
used in four-line Chinese poems and four-panel

Japanese comics.

Each of these stories introduces a concept,
develops it, hits you with a twist that changes

things, then offers a conclusion. So, similarly,
each Mario level has a satisfying arc of introduction,

development, twist, and conclusion.

Optional collectibles like green stars and
stamps offer even more twists, and even tougher

challenges. And Nintendo can swap out the
flag pole conclusion for a boss fight, like

in Bowser's Highway Showdown which introduces
and develops explosive footballs in preparation

for a battle against Bowser.

And it can also reintroduce mechanics from
earlier in the game at a moment's notice,

confident in the knowledge that if you've
got all the way to The Bowser Express, for example

you'll know about swinging spikes, Conkdors, Bullies,
and Ant Troopers, from your run-ins in previous

stages.

It's interesting to see how this design changed
over time. You start to see it form in Super

Mario Galaxy, where Hayashida was level design
director, but the game's galaxies are more

often a hodge-podge concoction of gimmicks
rather than a single concept which is seen through

from introduction to conclusion.

Take Gusty Garden Galaxy's Bunnies in the Wind, which is initially about these Floaty Fluffs, but

then it's about beanstalks, and it concludes
with a foot race with a rabbit.

Don't get me wrong - this game is brilliant in its
unpredictability - and it offers a very different

feeling to 3D World. But it also means that
mechanics aren't always given the time to

mature. And you're not always given the chance
to learn properly: the game can throw too

many concepts at you at once, like in Flipswitch
Galaxy. And it relies on standard teaching

mechanics like in Bubble Breeze Galaxy.

In Mario Galaxy 2, on which Hayashida was
director, levels are more often about single

concepts and that familiar narrative structure
can start to be seen. Beat Block Galaxy introduces

the level's concept in a safe way, develops
it over the course of the stage, and offers

a twist with a madcap silver star dash.

And in Super Mario 3D Land, Hayashida seems
to enforce his philosophy much more rigorously.

World 2-2 is all about Snake Panels, 2-4 is
on Reversible Platforms, 3-4's about falling

blocks, and so on.

By 3D World, the philosophy is in full force.
And the ideas are also used, at times, in

the spin-off Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.
Concepts can be introduced, developed, and

twisted, though it's often a little less focused
because the stages can be more open-ended.

This is not the first time that Mario games
have taught you in an organic way. In the

first Super Mario Bros., Shigeru Miyamoto
needed to find a way to let you know that

mushrooms are good, whereas the mushroom-shaped
Goombas are bad.

So when you unleash the first mushroom and
watch it bounce off the pipe and start to

close in on you, even if try to hop over it
you'll hit your head, get bounced into the

mushroom, and see that it's not an enemy after
all.

And it's definitely not the first time that
Mario has had throwaway ideas and one-time

snippets of fun. Way back in Super Mario Bros
3., the Goomba's shoe power-up only appeared

in a single level. After 5-3, it was never
seen again.

But what it means is that Nintendo has developed
a handy, reusable structure that allows for

inventions to be taught, developed, twisted,
and thrown away.

And it's something that you can use too. You've
just got to come up with some clever ideas

and interesting twists. So, uh, good luck!