James Organisciak
Video Game Designer
For an assignment at university, I took the Water Temple from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and redesigned it to improve upon the temple. The aim of the assignment was to take a mechanic and improve it. The Water Temple was widely disliked by players.
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Zelda Water Temple Redesign
Redesign Breakdown
The Main Issues
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The layout is confusing with a maze like structure, causing players to get lost.
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The temple contains a water level mechanic, allowing players to raise or lower the water between three different points. which level the water is at, determines which areas of the temple players can access. There are switches in the level to use this mechanic, however this is tedious as players are constantly backtracking.
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The player can equip an item called the Iron Boots. This allows the player to manoeuvre underwater. The Iron Boots slows the player's movement down significantly and requires the use of a menu to equip, forcing the player to constantly pause the game, interrupting gameplay.
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My Project Aimed To
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Restructure the Temple, so the player will not get lost.
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Improve the water level system to mechanic the player can use freely.
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Remove the Iron Boots entirely.
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Items Recreated
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The Bow: Allows the player to shoot projectiles.
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Bombs: Allows player to blow up walls to create new paths and discover secretes.
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Hookshot: Allows player to grapple onto objects at a distance.
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Longshot: An upgraded Hookshot that covers an increased distance.
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UI
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The UI is colour coordinated so the player can make the connection between an obstacle in the level and an ability they have access to.
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Changes
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The layout has been restructured to be more linear towards the start of the level in order to not overwhelm the player. As the level progresses, the player is given the freedom to explore the temple.
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The player explores each floor of the temple, then is given the ability to change the water level freely to heavily decrease backtracking.
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The Iron Boots have been removed to stop the constant need to pause the game and speed up gameplay.
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Player gets ability to freely move underwater towards the end of the level, giving the player access to new areas.
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New puzzles and rooms have been added to make the level to make use of new mechanics.
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Play The Water Temple Redesign Here:
Extra
I dislike how the player is introduced to changing water levels in the original temple, the player would start at the top and be required to make their way down to the bottom. To make this simpler, I introduce the player to this mechanic right away.
There are two paths in the starting location. Left or right, the left path contains a locked door, restricting the player from moving in that direction. When the player tries to interact with a locked door, a message appears telling them the door is locked and they need a key to access that location. This first section of the level acts as a tutorial teaching the player the mechanics they will need to progress.
The Player is must make their way down to the bottom of the level, then progresses back to the top through the use of the water level system. The player cannot swim underwater, so when the water is raised, the player is pushed to the next floor. Once the player reaches the top, they are given the ability to freely change the water level, allowing the them to freely explore the entire dungeon.
The player no longer requires to backtrack every time they need to raise or lower the water. The path the player must take uses a bright light to grab the players attention, incentivising them to take this route, which is now accessible due to the players new mechanic. After completing this section, the player gains the ability to move underwater, removing the need for the Iron Boots entirely. This gives the player access to the final area of the dungeon, shown to them previously.