Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
You can find this type of learning structure in the Forest Temple level in
The Legend
of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
(We also discussed this level in Chapter 2.) In the Forest
Temple level, Link has to overcome many challenges. In the early stages of the
level, he encounters bomblings, small creatures that explode a few seconds after
Link picks them up. His first task (
kihon
) with the bombling is to use it to destroy a
large carnivorous plant that prevents him from reaching the next dungeon room.
After that, he needs to repeat similar moves a couple of times (
kihon-kata
) to blast
walls. When Link gains the Gale Boomerang, he learns to use the boomerang to flip
special switches and pick up distant items over a series of simple tests (
kihon
and
kihon-kata
). These tests require that the player demonstrate that he is able to direct
the boomerang toward a particular sequence of targets. Near the end of the level,
Link must use the boomerang to pick up distant bomblings and deliver them to
another carnivorous plant (
kata
). This prepares Link to use the same technique to
fight and defeat the level boss (
kumite
).
Figure 10.13
illustrates the structure of the
mission and the locations of the learning stages within it. In this figure, the boxes
represent tasks, and arrows indicate dependencies between tasks: A task is available
only when the player has completed all the tasks that lead into it. Note that it omits
many details to concentrate on the mission's structure. (You can see a map of the
spatial layout of the level in Figure 2.3.)
