moodboard (mark wilson)

8/14/2019 MoodBoard (Mark Wilson)

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Mark WilsonCE00014-1-030110-070410

Aim: Produce a 2D plan for a Mario Kart Track based on a Historic Event /

Era of History OR Geographic Area



Pokey

Swooper

Influences and Research

Existing Mario Kart tracks

Dry Dry Ruins is the first racecourse of the Special Cup coming from Mario Kart Wii , based on an area of the same name

from Paper Mario. The course bears certain resemblances to the Dry Dry Desert racecourse from Mario Kart: Double

Dash!! and Yoshi Desert course from Mario Kart Super Circuit.

A few things that are used in multiple Egyptian-themed tracks are the Yoshi sphinx and structures such as obelisks,

temples and pyramids. The course's music is similar to Desert Hills. This course takes place in the desert, under a

midday sun. An oasis is found near the start of the course, with several trees and some water. Another part of the

course is the ruins, which has Swoopers, Pokeys, and some falling sand in it. Cacti are on the outer places on the course

and coming on contact with the cacti will spin the player out.

This track has both indoor and outdoor environments. The level features some outdoor obstacles but not very many.

This levels difficulty is based more on its sharp twists and the players driving skills rather than their ability to avoidenemies and obstacles. Some obstacles that are featured:

A Pokey acts as an obstacle and it will slow down the player and spin him/her out if the player makes contact with the

Pokey.

There are pillars that usually start falling as soon as the player gets there. If the pillar happens to fall on the player, the

player will flip over and lose his/her items. Then, the fallen down pillar gets available for use, for performing a trick to

gain speed.

The first part of the ruins is past a road that cuts through a dark abyss, with

Swoopers flying across to slow the player down.



The race takes place in a mountain filled with snow and some skiing Shy Guys.

This course introduces the half-pipe ramps in this game. There is a canon that blasts the player to the top of the

mountain. Later on, the player will have to descend from the summit, using ramps and bumpy hills to gain speed.

After descending, the player will see Shy Guys skiing, which act like obstacles for the players, making any player

who hits them spin out.

This track has many interesting and fun environments for the player to navigate. The idea of a half pipewhere the player can drive on the side is an idea that I'd like to include into my track, I would use this to let

the player avoid obstacles and other players.

Bumpy hills are also something that I will include in my design, they shall allow players to shorten the distance

between them and the leading players by slowing them down. Although this may seem unfair to the leading

players, they should still however be in front only by less of a distance. This allows for more variety in the

gameplay as more moments are hectic and ultimately fun.



Examples of re-use:

Airship Fortress in Mario Kart DS takes place in a crumbling castle and on a large, floating airship, similar to ones found in Super

Mario Bros. 3. The drivers are shot from the ship's cannons all the way to the castle.

Maple Treeway is set in a forest in autumn and also features a cannon similar to the ones used in DK Mountain

DK's Snowboard Cross is set in a ski resort. It features ramps, moguls, and a half pipe for racers to perform stunts, snowboarding Shy

Guys that the player must avoid, and a giant DK Barrel resembling DK Mountain's barrel-cannon from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

DK Mountain

Dk Mountain is a racing course that first appeared in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! as the fourth and last stage

of the Star Cup. The course takes place in the middle of the jungle, though the track mostly runs along of

two volcanoes of the jungle. The centrepiece of the track is the giant Barrel Cannon that shoots all racers tothe upper part of an active volcano. The course reappears in Mario Kart Wii in the Lightning Cup. I have

found that this event in the tracks is widely remembered and easily recognisable, I would like to include this

into my tracks design.



My Mario Kart Track:

My choice

I chose to do a Mario Kart track over the Super Smash Bros. as I feel that it is

more of a challenge. I will be able to use create interesting obstacles and

environments relative to the time period that I have chosen.

I have decided to produce a Egyptian period track for Mario Kart on the

Nintendo Wii.

My track will consist of the theme similar to the Dry Dry Ruins track in Mario

Kart Double Dash which is a sand/desert environment.

The reason I chose to design the track for the Wii version is because of the

reasons such as the latest graphics that Nintendo has to offer and players can

perform tricks on raised platforms and rubble which I have incorporated into

my track.

Here are some of the main ideas for the layout of the track that I have in mind.

The ideas I wish to include

My first idea came from the Mario Kart Double Dash game in the Course DK Mountain when players get

shot out of a cannon, which is the only way to progress through the track.

Dk Snowboard Cross also uses this cannon but this track has a few new features to Mario Kart Wii.

The level has raised bumps/mounds in the snow that produce a bumpy ride for the player although If

done at the right time can be used to boost off of. Another feature used in this map well is a

half pipe. The players are able to move vertically on the track to avoid

other players and items.

Waluigi stadium features a bog that slows the player down if caught in

it.

The map Dry Dry Ruins from Mario Kart Wii is the first to my knowledge

to use obstacles dynamically. Pillars are used for the player to avoid, if a

player ventures to

close to the pillars

they topple over,

once toppled they become ridges for players to boost

off of.

Further into Dry Dry Ruins there is a leak in the ceiling

that slowly flood the centre of the room with sand.

The player is only slowed down if they enter the

streams of sand falling from the ceiling but in the last

lap the fallen sand forms on the floor the hinder the

player further.

A track from Double Dash!! known as Wario Coliseum has a part of the track that spirals downward which I

will also be using.

Dino Dino Jungle (and some other tracks) have optional routes that the player can choose to take, some

have items where as the other route may be a shortcut, I like this because it can aid different players



depending on their situation e.g. 1st place may want to gain extra distance rather than items as no player is

in front.

Drawn Idea for Track



track in detail

Here is the final design for my map. Some parts of my track are inside and not viewable from this

viewpoint. This does however show the starting point/finish line, item box locations, corner

points, possible routes, enemies and some obstacles.

The track is divided into nine key areas. On the next few pages I will explain in-depth each of

those areas.

1: The start/finish line leading into Yoshi: Once the players start the race the path ahead seems

to be a solid block at the base of the Yoshi Sphinx. This however

opens up slowly as the players approach so that they almost clip

the bottom of the lifting block. Once inside the players are

faced against a leak in the ceiling similar to the one used in Dry Dry

ruins, this causes little problem through the first lap.

2: Spiral: Here the players spiral downwards in three circles

before reaching the bottom, this allows the players to perform

the "Mini-Turbo" boost which is performed when racers move

the control stick back and forth during a drift for a significant

boost in speed.



3: Which path?: here is the first optional route, the player is thrust forward on a boost pad and

can either take the main route (3a) up and out of the roof landing on a similar opening or take the

small path to the side (3b) that propels the player into a bog. This bog like the one from Wario

Colosseum slows down the player. However the reason that this can be known as a short-cut is because if

the player has a mushroom held they will not be affected by the bog and

proceed through the path quickly.

At the end of path 3a is a bridge crossing over a river, above this is a small

ramp leading from 3b. If the player manages to perform a trick on this

ramp they get boosted into the pyramid ahead, if however they don't they

will fall and join the other players below on the bridge.

4: Inside the Pyramid: After making it across the bridge or taking

the ramp from 3b the players will find themselves inside the

pyramid. Similar to the picture to the right, the player will enter

near the back and can either take the longer, safe path that has

items or chance the jump and gain the lead.

5: Half-pipe: Here is a very basic half pipe tube that extends around

three corners.

6: Pillars: This part of the race track will affect the player differently depending on the lap. The

first lap the pillars act as obstacles for the players to navigate around to avoid hitting them, these

pillars also fall over leaning towards oncoming players if they get too close. This can be used as a

good tactic if a player can get an opponent to follow them into the pillar. On the second time

around you will notice that the fallen pillars are partly

submerged in the ground and now act as miniature ramps for

tricks to be performed.

7: Sand Waterfall and Giant Wigglers: After taking the corner

out of the pillars previously mentioned, you hit an edge which

plummets the players over like a waterfall. At the bottom the

players are dumped into a large desert like area with two giant

Wigglers which patrol from left to right like in Maple Treeway

from Mario Kart Wii. Also the ground here has large bumps

that shake the players screen as they drive over them.

8: Cannon: After escaping the Giant Wigglers you find yourself on the other side of the desert,

around one sharp corner is a large barrel cannon that will fire the players across the famous land

mark the River Nile. A large ramp is stood at the opposite side of the river, after landing the

players take a few corners onto a large straight road, this area allows players to pick their speed

back up after the cannon which returns them to 0mph when landing.

9: Final corner and Giant Pokey: Near the end of the straight path you can see a giant yellow

circle blocking a random part of the track, if you look up it is the base of a very big Pokey.

Avoiding this and carrying on round the tracks last corner the player will see the finish line in

view. However at random points the large Pokey may poke his head into view from above the

finishing line in an attempt to block the players view with the petals on its head. This however is a

visual impairment and doesn't physically hinder or affect the player.



The Design Constraints

Here I will talk about the possible ideas for the tracks colour palette and temperature.

The colour ideas

http://www.colorhunter.com/

I took images from existing Mario Kart tracks of earlier games and put them into a website called

colorhunter which generates several colour swatches from a single image so I could get an idea of

what colours would be good to use. I also used real photographs from the Geographic area

(Egypt) that I chose.






Colour Temperature

The colour range and temperature of my track can give different effects. Hot, bright colours may

make the player see that part of the level as a rush, where as other cold, light colours may set the

player into a relaxed nature. Knowing this I can utilize the colour temperature to help steer the

course of gameplay.

I chose to use very light and natural colours as my colour swatches suggest, I chose to use these

on the inside parts of the track as well as the outside sky as they are supposed to help keep a

clear and fast paced view. By using these colours in a built up

environment will allow the players to keep a cool head in

areas that are very small and brings players close to each

other.

Outside in more open environments I will incorporate the Hot

and bright colours. I will do this let the player know that the

spaces are quite open and that these are the places for

acceleration.

The Conclusion:

Creating my own Mario Kart track was a good process for joining several ideas together in a

imaginative way. Looking at existing Mario Kart games helped a lot to get the basic layout to work

from. By looking at lots of different tracks from several games in the series does set you in the

right mind for creating a SIMILAR track. However looking at these it is easy to see where the same

idea is used across several games with little creativity, but by using different geographic areas

they are able to avoid obvious repetition.

I overall enjoyed this assignment as I felt it was a good source for creativity. My favourite part of

the track is where I used giant creatures like the Pokey, seeing as my track is quite a long one

these helped to enhance its size.

What I feel that I could improve on is a more creative cannon that fitted in with the theme and

demonstrating the inner parts of my track better.

moodboard (mark wilson)

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