What if You Were Asked to Design an Entire Dungeon for a New Zelda? Post Your Ideas!

[Mister Pom]

I don't know if there is a similar thread on this forum. If so, I apologize in advance. I used the search engine but did not find anything similar in the results.

Anyway, this topic is for everyone to freely post their ideas for new Zelda dungeons. One of the complaints Zelda gets sometimes is that the dungeon "themes" (water/fire/forest,etc.) are becoming repetitive. I thought maybe we could think of some original ideas. What would you create if you were asked to come up with something unique for a dungeon?

Here is my idea.

--------------

Goron Underground City
Items: Oil Lantern / Flamethrower

Link visits the Goron City, a place that became pretty much a ghost town since Ganon (supposedly) killed all Gorons. To his very surprise, he spots a child Goron, who came back to retrieve a forgotten doll. Later we find that the child Goron did so without the Elder Goron's authorization. Link follows the child Goron, who eventually realizes he is being chased and tries to outsmart Link. Link finally catches up with the young Goron and "asks" him to reveal where the Gorons live now. The child Goron points to some place. Links looks at it and sees nothing. When he turns back the child Goron is gone. The player takes control of Link and has to find out where the entrance is. There is a big hole among a lot of weird looking flowers, so it's not visible from a distance.

Inside there is an Underground City full of Gorons. The place is very cold and the Gorons are freezing to death. The Elder Gorons asks for Link's help, to which he agrees. Link has to bring light and heat to the whole place, which happens to be very dark and full of sewers. The puzzles revolve around lighting torches, bringing electricity to the rooms and changing the flow of the sewers a la Great Bay Temple to access new areas. During this dungeon, there are cutscenes when Link hears Gorons screaming for help. The Elder Goron claims they are disappearing one by one and he doesn't know where they are. In the end there is the boss battle: a sewer creature riding (and giving orders to) a deformed alligator in chains. You can see all the "lost" Gorons inside a jail. They were going to become dinner. After beating the boss, the Gorons go back to their old city, now that they are assured Link can protect them. After that the dungeon becomes a place with a hide-and-seek minigame with Gorons.

------------

English is not my first language, so I'm sorry if any of this is hard to make sense of! I hope my idea doesn't suck too much haha. I'm interested in your ideas for new dungeons.

Bye

 

[Cfrock]

I like the idea of essentially bringing the old city back to life, it's always good when the dungeons have some kind of practical design rather than just appearing because they are needed for the story (Snowpeak Ruins is an example of what I mean by practical design, since it was a house). Finding the Gorons locked up would also be something of a nice reference to Ocarina of Time. It sounds like this dungeon was envisioned as a part of an Ocarina sequel so that would be a nice nod to the previous game. The mention of complex sewers and electricity also brings Twilight Princess's very industrialised Gorons to mind so it would fit nicely thematically with their lore.

Another thing I like is how you have an idea of how the dungeon can be re-used later in the game. It's very rare that something like that will happen but since this dungeon is a home for the Gorons it would make sense for there to be things to do there after rescuing them. Overall, this is quite a good idea for a dungeon. Oh and your English is superb


I've never really given much thought to what kind of dungeon I'd like to see myself, but I've always wanted another horror themed dungeon like the Shadow Temple. However, I would like one that was focused on scaring you, rather than just having a general theme of spooky stuff. I was quite taken with the idea in Twilight Princess's Palace of Twilight of the huge hands which followed you as you tried to escape. Having a seemingly unstoppable entity haunt you and follow you throughout the entire dungeon might be a fun idea (presumably this entity would be fought as the end of dungeon boss too).

You could even build upon that with lots of torch based puzzles, with the entity being warded off by light but the dungeon itself having few permanent sources of it. It could also provide a good opportunity to mess about with classic enemy design. I've mentioned on this forum before that I think Wallmasters could become scary again if, rather than dropping from above, they formed out of the scenery, for example: floor or ceiling tiles; bricks in the walls; even various decorative objects merging into the shape of a hand.
Imagine being chased by some unstoppable horror, desperately trying to light some torches to keep it at bay only for those very torches to become long fingers which grab you and drag you off somewhere.

I don't know about specifics but I would love to see a very horror focused dungeon appear, one that was genuinely creepy, scary and unsettling and made you feel vulnerable at every moment.

 

[DarkLink7]

Well, that dungeon would NOT be good for younger players.

I personally want o have another not-dungeon dungeon, like the Sandship or Snowpeak ruins. I love the design and just think it cool.

I could lay it out floor by floor, room by room, but I'll spare you that horror.
The theme would be a castle. But a smaller, more guarded castle, like in the medieval times when the castles were built for defense, not beauty. Thick walls, stout, like a crouching animal. Ugly grey. The interior is plain, but not right. A cutscene makes a scream apparent. You have to track that scream, which is only after you go through two rooms after the initial one, and that's how you get through. A map and compass are given at the start. The sub-boss is a Darknut. The boss is a dragon, like Vovogia or Argorok, keeping someone hostage. Typical medieval legend Western dragon stuff.

 

[Zorth]

I'd design a real dungeon, A dark place underground which used to have prisoners in it and is haunted.. much like the Shadow Temple in OoT.

The item to find in here is the lantern since as you progress it gets darker and darker, The special thing with this dungeon would not be spooky enemies it would rather be more focused on the story behind the dungeon and uncovering mysteries that will help Link in his quest whatever that may be in the next installment. It would be filled with puzzles that involve setting stuff on fire and bringing light into the rooms, The last boss would even be a light sensitive creature which IMO would make an interesting fight. But really important for me would be to make the dungeon story rich, Making the plot go in a completely different direction because of the secrets that might be uncovered in the dungeon.

 

[Keeseman]

@Cfrock: I really like the idea of an even scarier temple than those like the Shadow Temple. The only problem is that Nintendo has to consider their audience, and allow for both kids and teens/adults to enjoy this game. There has to be some way in which it can be made really scary to the adults, while still being playable to the kids. Your dungeon seems

If you take a temple like the Shadow Temple, for example, it can be quite creepy. The first time I played OoT I was about 7, and I thought the temple and boss were a bit scary, but not really. However, playing it again as a teenager made me realize what scare potential it actually had. The freakiest part to me was the ship. The boat reminded me of the River Styx, and basically, I realized playing it again that there was the possibility that, having ridden the ship, Link passed into the land of the dead. I don't know about you, but the idea of that creeped me out. I think, though, Nintendo could go a bit farther with the scare factor, without overdoing it.

For a dungeon that I would create, it would be reminiscent of the OoT Water Temple, in the fact that it would be a GIANT PUZZLE. My temple would be something like this:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Death Mountain

You enter the dungeon from an entrance that can be found at the base of the volcano. However, the volcano has been active recently, due to an evil disturbance from within. You are called upon by the people of Hyrule, especially the Gorons- who were forced from their homes by the erupting volcano, which brought their entire city down, and now must recover- to quell the violent evil within the mountain.

The thing about this temple, though, is that it's structure is randomized. That means that you must venture through it without a map to help you. How the temple is structured, then, is that there have been about 20-25 puzzling floors (that can also individually have very high ceilings) that are randomly selected for each different time you enter. Why does this happen? Well, basically, if you solve one of the puzzles incorrectly, the entire dungeon is flooded with lava, which then proceeds to erupt, causing the entire dungeon to be eroded and reshaped by the lava, causing the randomization.

Before you enter this temple, you obtain an armour similar to that of the Goron Tunic- probably in this game a Goron Armour- allowing you survive the eruption, and restart the dungeon over again. When the temple floods, the player is washed out of the temple along with the lava, through an opening in the side of the mountain.

The only floor that remains the same in this dungeon is the 1st floor, which is where the entrance is, and in the center of the room there is a dark stone, pillar-looking structure that actually prevents any of the lava from entering that floor, and, in fact, is where the lava is stored before it floods. If you have a helper, he/she/it will probably mention that the stone is hot to the touch. The second floor would then have a hole in the center, where the lava is, and then the rest of the floors that you proceed up would also have some sort of opening in the floor, allowing the lava to come through. You may think that people would start memorizing the floors after awhile, but that could be fixed with mirroring/replacement and reordering of switches/etc. The dungeon is always 10 floors high, with the first constant, the next 8 randomized, and the 10th the location of the boss.

So how does one cause the temple to flood? You would have puzzles with certain switch orders required to be hit, or a certain path you must tread, etc. If you solve a puzzle incorrectly, the temple floods, and you must start over again. The player receives hints from objects/pictures/writing/etc. around the room in order to help them solve the puzzles. 1/3 of the random floors are like this.
Also, there are floors with large amounts of difficult enemies (e.g. swarms of fire keese combined with many darknuts that you must defeat, fire traps with many beamos that you must avoid, etc.) to allow the player to also experience quite a bit of combat. If he fails, he dies, and the volcano erupts. Another third of the floors are like this.
The final third is composed of floors that you must be sneaky in. Think of the Deku Palace Gardens in MM. You must avoid an enemy's line of sight, or he will sound the alarm, and the lava will erupt. I'm thinking most of the enemies in this dungeon will be composed of lava/invulnerable to lava.

The item that you would gain in this dungeon would probably be the Hookshot/Clawshot, and I would also make use of the boomerang and bow for the puzzles, etc. Basically, you're quite in the dark on this one, and it makes the game so much more challenging, unlike many current Zelda dungeons.

The boss would be interesting as well. When you enter the cave, you sense the lava rising again. This time, however, the lava only rises up to the floor you are on, which is circular with a giant hole in the middle, where the lava just about fills up to. A giant lava serpent emerges, and dives in and out of the lava, causing lava to be hurled everywhere, meaning that it is likely to hit the player. The serpent will proceed to lunge its head at the player, which the player must dodge, and the serpent hits the wall of the room, dazing it. Player then proceeds to slash at the weak spot on top of his head.
After a few rounds of this, the entire room floods- meaning the whole volcano is filled with lava to the brim, and the whole temple becomes the boss room (YEAH LARGE ROOM BOSS BATTLES!)- and the player must swim in the lava to defeat the serpent (his armour allows this. If it is not equipped in this dungeon, he dies anyway from the extreme heat.). This section is similar to the second half of the boss battle in Lakebed Temple in TP. You must repeat the same action- causing him to hit his head on the wall. He will be dazed, and you then hookshot towards his head and slash away at it before he reawakens, which will be quicker now.
After you have done that enough times, the serpent will begin to fall down to the bottom of the volcano where the lava flowed in from. The volcano begins to shake the most violent you have ever felt it before, and then proceeds to erupt, blasting you and the serpent into high air, where you must battle it out in mid-freaking-air. (Has anyone here played Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II? You may understand this kind of battle better if you have.) The serpent is falling, and you must hookshot your way towards it by grabbing on to rocks/debris/whatnot. You then proceed to slash him in his weak spot again, as he struggles to get you off, flinging about making you dizzy. After three rounds of this slashing, he will die- bursting into some form of darkness- and you will fall into the volcano's remaining lava, completely unharmed, and the temple and boss defeated.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wow, that was long. But I think it would be an awesome dungeon to try out.

 

[MsNerrrrd]

I really like your idea! An abandoned town would be most likely something that I'd be desinging as well.

 

[Sinharvest]

Alternate plane type dungeon. Like in some parts of the dungeon it would be like your walking on nothing, and your surrounded by space or surreal trippy colors. Monsters could just come out of no where, or out of mirrors for doors. You could encounter NPC characters you met earlier from the game in this dungeon that are like shades in Links mind, I guess similar to end of Majoras mask, except you could talk to them and they would say certain dialogue, that would either make them turn to monsters if you answer wrong or would transport you to different places in the dungeon. I like trippy dungeons like that, when they are done good. There could also be some really terrible enemies that you cannot defeat and are forced to run away from(until you get the dungeon item). The dungeon Item would be some kinda phantom time key, if there is a locked door in the room with the special lock for this key it would have one of those unbeatable enemies in the room you could use the key to weaken them so you could defeat them and the door would then unlock. Weaken them by using the key to freeze time so you can run behind them and hit their weak spot so they can be damaged....or something.

 

[Kylo Ken]

I'd put a bunch of puzzles and mazes in it. Oh yeah, and the walls are mirrors. Good luck.

 

[Squirrel]

I have a cool idea but it's a way to combine three dungeons. There would be a Shadow Temple (or something like that) near the summit of Death Mountain and a Light Temple of some sort at the summit of Snowpeak Mountain. There'd be two giant chains going out of each dungeon and two gaint chains coming from somewhere in Zora's Domain and Hyrule Castle that are going up and you'd have to pull the chains down to bring the dungeon the City in the Sky down to a reachable level but to pull down the chains from the Shadow and Light Temples, you have to defeat the bosses who are guarding the chains.

So in the City in the Sky, you get the double clawshot halfway through right after fighting maybe a phoenix or a thunderbird or something and then after defeating the boss, you find the Triforce. The boss is like a bunch of tornadoes and lightning and clouds in the shape of a human. It'd be about 50 feet tall and sends gusts of wind and lightning bolts at you. It has a power source inside its body that's oddly shaped and is possible to grab hold of with the clawshot so to beat the boss, you have to aim very carefully and pull yourself into it's body with the clawshot and then slash away at it before he knocks you back out somehow. I also was thinking that the City in the Sky would be a lot like Skyloft in that it's basically a big floating rock but it would still be just as complicated and confusing as the City in the Sky in Twilight Princess.

 

[The Wanderer]

I have a bunch of general ideas for dungeons, but I'll just list a couple.

The first is a dungeon actually composed of two gigantic trees filled with giant insects, some which are docile (ladybugs, crickets, fireflies) and others which are aggressive (wasps, spiders, centipedes). These bugs don't necessarily have to be realistic and creepy, as these could scare younger players, but the basic idea remains the same. These trees would connect to each other via large branches, and you'd have to pass between them, going inside the trunks and out to work your way up higher to the boss, which would be something huge and unsettling, like a praying mantis.

Another dungeon idea is more like a mere thought (one I briefly covered in another recent thread). One way or another, you wind up in outer space, able to breathe only by a special tunic. It turns out the Ancient Robots are still alive and well, living in a space station that's now under threat. You must make your way to the space station with help from the Ancient Robots, and when you get there, it's your job to link up gravitational paths that pull you along when entered (a la Super Mario Galaxy) and make your way to the boss. Technology like this may seem ludicrous at first glance, but what was the Lanayru Mining Facility? It's more than possible, especially if the game doesn't take its story in too much seriousness and darkness.

 

[Mister Pom]

Thanks for the nice words. I'm glad some people liked my idea.

I was very interested in some of your ideas too, especially the Death Mountain one by Keeseman with the randomized rooms. My only concern is that people would be annoyed to start the dungeon all over again haha. I think that would make an excellent optional dungeon, like the Cave of Ordeals. I remember seeing something similiar in Lufia II, I think. I don't remember quite well.

Also there is the nice idea by The Wanderer of Link not being able to breathe without the use of a tunic. I like that, but I think it would better if instead of a tunic there was some kind of oxygen management routine. Remember in Sonic 2 for Genesis, when Sonic needed oxygen bubbles in order to survive the underwater stages? I think something like that would be interesting for a water dungeon (I know I said it's becoming repetitive but I love water themed dungeons haha). There would be a portion that is underwater and the only way to advance through the underwater portions of the dungeon would be to find new places with those "oxygen bubbles". Maybe Link would have to explode pipes or something with Water Bombs and some oxygen would be liberated from the pipes. I'm not sure how it would work. Maybe the dungeon item could storage some of this oxygen and he would have to use it carefully.

3 more ideas for dungeons:

Circus Theme dungeon

I also thought about a dungeon with a circus theme. I don't know what to make of it yet but I was always attracted to the idea of a circus being theme to a dungeon. There was a clown in Skyward Sword. Maybe he could have something to do with it haha. Maybe Link would have some kind of item he could use to hipnotize animals, so he could reach places and do things that otherwise he would not be able to. Some kind of enchanting flute, like the one in Majora's Mask? Maybe you could take control of the animals? I'm not sure. Seems promising, though.

Palace of Illusion

Palace of Illusion is another idea I think could be implemented quite well in a Zelda, especially for WiiU. Rooms full of false doors and distorted mirrors are always interesting. I thought of the idea of Link entering a room that seems to be empty, but if he scanned things carefully with the WiiU gamepad, he would find out that there is an invisible puzzle (or maybe an invisible chest) in the middle of the room or something. That would be similar to the Shadow Temple/Bottom of The Well, except that the WiiU gamepad would work as the "lens of truth". It's not very original as an item, but I like the Lens of Truth so much so what the hell haha.

Labyrinth

Another concept I like is that of a labyrinth. I think it's an interesting concept. I'm fascinated by the idea of a claustrophobic dungeon with only one escape route. I think a well design labyrinth itself is enough of a mindf**k for players. I'm not sure what item would suit a labyrinth. Maybe there would be no dungeon map and the only way to find your way out would be be to spray walls and doors, so you'd know places you've been to. Rooms full of bosses, doors that lead to nowhere, traps, etc. All the good stuff.

Bye