Check Out This Video Exploring The Zelda Series’ “Puzzle Box Dungeons”
Posted on November 25 2020 by Sean Gadus
One of my favorite video series on video games is Game Maker’s Toolkit, which explores ideas related to game design, level design, and game production. Each video is a deep dive into a specific game, overarching design ideas that can be seen in multiple games, or guiding design principles. Overall, the series has an assortment of videos focusing on Nintendo design concepts and games, with a significant amount of videos having specific focus on the Zelda series.
This recent video explores the Zelda series’ “Puzzle Box” dungeons, which are dungeons that physically change or morph as the player progresses through them. This classification includes the Divine Beasts from Breath of the Wild, Sand Ship and Sky Keep from Skyward Sword, Great Bay Temple and Stone Tower Temple from Majora’s Mask, and the Water Temple from Ocarina of Time. These dungeons often require the player to make some type of physical changes to the dungeon in order to solve puzzles or progress through them.
In this video, host Mark Brown explores four key principles that are present in many of these “Puzzle Box” dungeons. While not all of the “Puzzle Box” dungeons include all of these ideas, these four principles are a great starting point for exploring these dungeons and for comparing and contrasting the different design philosophies used to create them.
The video also touches on some of the frustrations that a player can feel if “Puzzle Box” dungeons have design flaws or issues. Brown reminds viewers that the Water Temple is one of the most “polarizing” dungeons in Zelda history and was tweaked when Ocarina of Time was rereleased on 3DS. “Puzzle Box” dungeons do have the danger of pushing some players away if they are not properly executed. The video suggests that some of the players’ frustration with early 3D “Puzzle Box” dungeons may have kept Nintendo from fully embracing the design philosophy.
Game Maker’s Toolkit also highlights several design ideas that could make “Puzzle Box” dungeons more manageable. One idea is called “Hub and Spoke,” where a dungeon is built around a central room that the player must revisit repeatedly. Brown cites this “Hub and Spoke” as one way for designers to help players more effectively structure their “mental map” of a dungeon. Another idea is to make the most difficult challenges tied to option rewards so that players who want to be challenged can still get their fix, but less experienced or dedicated players can still complete the dungeon with minimal issues. Lastly, if made optional, hints can be a good way to nudge players who get lost or confused in a difficult dungeon.
If you enjoyed this video and want more, Game Maker’s Toolkit did an entire series on the dungeons of the Legend of Zelda franchise titled “Boss Keys”. Each video examines the dungeons within a different Zelda game.
What do you think of the analysis of these “Puzzle Box” dungeons by Game Maker’s Toolkit? Is there anything you disagree with or thought was left out? Let us know in the comments below!
Sean Gadus is a Senior Editor at Zelda Dungeon. His first Zelda game was Ocarina of Time, and he loves all of the 3D Zelda games from 1998-2011. The final battle of Tears of the Kingdom is one of his favorite final battles in the entire series. He wants to help build a kinder, more compassionate world. You can check out his other written work at The-Artifice.com.
