DISCLAIMER: This article was made using information found on “Super Mario 3D World’s 4 Step Level Design | Game Maker’s Toolkit” video by Mark Brown and from an interview Gamasutra did with Koichi Hayashida – “The Structure of Fun: Learning from Super Mario 3D Land’s Director”.

4 Step Level Design

A fairly organic and cool way to present the player the mechanics of different levels was used in games like Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World, both directed by Koichi Hayashida. The process is similar to a japanese narrative structure that can be divided into 4 parts: introduction, development, twist and conclusion.

For demonstration purposes, let’s dissect the level ‘‘Cakewalk Flip’’ from Super Mario 3D World, which presents one new mechanic and one enviromental threat using this exact design philosophy.

Step 1: Introduction

At the very beginning of the level, the player is presented with a new platform mechanic, the ‘‘Red-Blue Panels’’. If the player jumps across the gap to reach the red panels, he will learn that they react, turning around and showing their flip side. Since this is an introduction, no penalty is held onto the player if he fails as there is a huge pink platform below the panels serving as a safety net, to prevent the player from losing a life and providing the means to allow the player to try again (in this case, there are jump pads out of view in the pink area that can put the player back at the starting area).

Since there are Piranha Plants hiding away on the flip sides of the panels in this area, the player may try to jump upon them or to escape their biting, ensuring he will learn that the panels actually react to his jumping.

Step 2 – Development

Right after the first challenge, the mechanic is presented once again in a different setting with no safety nets. At this point, the player has clearly seen that his jump forces the platforms to flip. Now is the time to show some skill and get to the other side without falling into the void.

Step 2.1 – A New Introduction

This stage presents the player with yet another new thing: the Ring Burners. They are enviromental threats that blast either square or circular plasma rings outward from their center. Getting hit by the plasma ring counts as a hit and the skull on the top of the Burners indicates that it might be dangerous. Since this is, once again an introduction, the player is given a clear pipe to traverse the area without never having to touch the ground which the Burner covers. The player who does, however, try to reach the “? Block” on top of the Ring Burner will not only receive a prize but learn that staying on the contraption actually deactivates it. Two other Rings are presented further in the level in the same manner as the Red-Blue Panels, with no clear pipe to serve as safety net.

Step 3: Twist

The level mixes the two ideas presented so far to make for a twist. The plasma ring emmited by the Ring Burner extends all the away across the Red-Blue Panels reach and the player will have to be extremely careful not to jump on the wrong place or at the wrong time. To top it all off, there are no safety nets here. For an added challenge, the player can try to collect the final green star of the level, which requires activating the “Star Ring” and collecting green coins scaterred across the panels, one of the trickiests of the game.

Step 4 – Conclusion

At the end of the level, the Red-Blue Panel mechanic is brought into light once more to allow the player to reach the top of the flagpole, one the requirements to 100% the game.

Bonus Detail

Green Stars add a lot of replay value to Super Mario 3D World, but this stage specifically adds a nice challenge when it comes to collecting the “Stamp”, a collectible that also serves as a requirement to 100% the game.

The item collected from the first “? Block” on top of the first Ring Burner is a “Double Cherry”, an power up that duplicates the character who collects it. To reach the Stamp, the player has to overcome all challenges presented in the level all the way to the end with both copies of the character to activate a “Multi-vator” (previously introduced on another level), a platform that activates only when a certain character quota has been met, in this case, two. This ensures the player will learn about hoping on top of the Ring Burner to deactivate it.