To go along with yesterday's post about maps...

I said yesterday that I did maps as a kid of games that I played such as The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Mega Man X. That's not all I've done over the years. In fact, I'd like to share with all of you something special from my high school years-- maps of levels for a 3D platformer inspired by games like Banjo-Kazooie, Tooie, and Donkey Kong 64. Thankfully I still have the original drawings left over from over ten years ago. 

The general idea for this platformer was to have it star a character I created in second grade, SuperPhillip, as the hero. Although it doesn't really make sense for him to be in these kind of levels because the SuperPhillip stories and TV episodes (yes, you read that right) took place in a modern city setting and not cartoon-like locations. I digress.

This first world was called Triceradon Plateau. It had a huge mountain in the center where the leader of the Triceradons ruled over the land. I imagine there would have been a boss fight of some sort there against said leader. Around the base of the mountain was the starting point, where a tribal village stood, surrounding areas with a watering hole for other dinosaurs to drink from, palm trees, caverns, and much more.

This world, the second of the game, was called Freshwind Forest. It had areas where you platformed from tree limb to tree limb as seen in the top right-- particularly dangerous as it was done over a bottomless pit, multiple large tree stumps that needed to be scaled, a huge lake where lily pads moved on set paths in the water, a Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time-like Lost Woods area called Which Way Woods, and small trees that could be climbed. 

Aqua Bubble Aquarium was the name of this one. Players started at the top left, navigating a series of tubes that flowed water in them, sometimes resulting in the player being forced in one direction or another. A labyrinth of rooms are to the right of the starting point. This is much more closed-in area that the others so far. There was even a boat ride in the middle of the world that led to one of the Power Star-like collectibles in the game. All areas eventually lead to the bottom lagoon where stomping on the five stones in the bottom left corner would make the pirate ship in the bottom right set sail once again.

Red Hot Mountain stood as the fourth world of my game starring SuperPhillip. This one was a platformer's obstacle course with a lot of platforms hanging in midair instead of natural feeling worlds that preceded it. From platforms that spun around a central pillar that emitted fire from it to platforms that shifted side to side, to lava geysers and a huge lava waterfall and lake, Red Hot Mountain certainly lived up to its "hot" moniker. 

This fifth world was called Flower Power Garden. You can definitely tell I had inspiration from Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie with these world names and ideas, can't you? This world had bright sunshine coating its many flowers, plants, and fields. The structure in the middle was a domed greenhouse that had multiple entrances. I would assume a boss fight with a P.O.'d ravenous flower took place in it, perhaps at the very top. Alongside harmless plants and flowers that assisted players, allowing them to use them as platforms, there were hazardous thorned vines to worry about.

This is an unfinished world from my drawings. It was supposed to be a tower devised of wooden playing blocks. I guess that's why I called it Toy Box Tower. The name came from the central structure that served as a fortress for all sorts of enemy types-- marching toy soldiers with bayonets, jack-in-the-boxes, and many more toy-centric enemies. Hmm. Looking back and assessing all of these old drawings of mine is making me want to finish this collection of worlds! Too bad the semester just started!

That was a look at some of my past video game-related maps. You'd think that with all of this interest I had regarding games in school that my first field of study choice would have been game design! Perhaps I didn't think it was a viable career for me at the time, but I'm glad things have turned out how they have-- even if it took ten years for me to get to this point!