Siriyakorn Sakolaut

In Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, the Dimension Mirror is corrupted and shattered into eight shards. To save the Mirror World, Kirby and his clones must collect all of the shards to restore the Dimension Mirror.

The game consists of a total ten areas, eight of which contain a boss that holds a Mirror Shard that the player must aim to collect.

The ten areas each feature a unique theme and setting, combining a vegetable or fruit with a type of location.

This inspired me the concept for a new area: Berry Abbey, which blends the idea of berries with an abbey and draws inspiration from an Asian temple.

The layout of an Asian temple is typically divided into distinct zones,, similar to how an area in the game is structured.

The temple also aligns with the concept of containing numerous power and health-boosting items for the player to collect.

Berry Abbey is a temple nestled high on a mountain, surrounded by lush berry trees. Legends recount countless attempts by treasure-seekers to uncover the valuables concealed within its sacred walls. Yet, what continues to safeguard these treasures are the formidable creatures that stand as eternal sentinels, guarding every corner of Berry Abbey.

I drew inspiration from how the map of Kirby & The Amazing Mirror is divided into zones to develop the flow of the Berry Abbey area into three major zones.

Each zone features boss enemies, collectibles, and key navigation elements like cannons, with increasing levels of difficulty and rewards.

As players progress through the area, they will earn multiple permanent power and health upgrades after defeating each boss.

Healing items such as food and support items like batteries are also strategically placed, considering the intensity design of each zone.

I began designing Zone 1's level by creating an intensity curve to visualize the gameplay flow.

This visualization helped me determine the optimal positions for enemies and objects, ensuring the experience aligns with the expected intensity level.

Based on the insights gained, I made adjustments and revisited the overall flow of the area when necessary to ensure consistency and improvement.

After completing the design of Zone 1, I moved on to the level design for Zone 2, following the planned flow.

Unlike Zone 1, Zone 2 introduces more branching paths, allowing players to choose their preferred direction first.

Fully exploring all paths will reward players with additional collectible items, encouraging thorough exploration.

I began by planning key areas and gathering references for the town and building designs.

The gameplay in this map would involve the player, as the delivery boy, fleeing for their life through various areas of the town until reaching the train station, transitioning into the next chapter.

To design individual buildings and areas, I visualized the reference images into 3D shapes before translating them into a top-down perspective.

The final map includes major landmarks of town, demonstrating player progression flow and the story.

This project also required designing a few game assets, so I created:

This class focused on creativity and the basics of game art. At the time, I had no prior experience with level design principles, so the final product wasn’t well-rounded or as effective as it could have been as an engaging level.

Despite this, it benefits my later level design projects, reminding me what to avoid and how to improve them, such as accurate scaling and effective use of level flow.

The most noticeable issue was inconsistent scale—some areas ended up too large, while others were too small compared to the real world.

If I were to redo this project, I would reference the player's size and apply scaling measurements to ensure consistent and accurate proportions.