In order to put my dungeon parts through their paces I decided to re-create an existing video game dungeon. Since the Zelda titles were such a major influence on the overall look of the prefabs, it seemed natural to use an example from that series as a template. The specific dungeon used was the "Eagle" level from the original game. Its rather interesting to see an 8-bit level done in the style of one of the modern 2.5D games, though I doubt that I will explore the concept further than this. The project served its purpose as a test run for my dungeon assets, and I have no desire to incur the wrath of Nintendo's legal department.
The dungeon overview. For the most part, I tried to maintain the original floor plan, as opposed to giving the level a complete re-imagining.
Rather appropriately, the entrance chamber was the first room that I completed. The image on the banners on the far wall is based on a piece of art from the game manual that was used to represent this dungeon. The carpeting is another new touch of mine. In keeping with how the "head" and "neck" of the original dungeon were sketched out with water tiles, the carpet only appears in the rooms that make up the feathery parts of this level's distinctive bird-shaped map.
This is one of the dead-end rooms that branches off from the entrance. It was just a barren chamber with a few weak enemies in the original game. I decided to add a bit more decoration to my version, turning it into a sort of hall of banners. I capped off the changes with a chest on a pedestal at the end of the room, presumably replacing the enemy that held this room's treasure in the original. The room still feels a bit empty, but it would serve as a good location for an enemy swarm or a miniboss.
This chamber holds one of Zelda's famous hidden passages. The nondescript square blocks that were in the original version of this room were replaced by columns.
This is one of the water-filled rooms that make up the "head" of the dungeon. Aside from water effects, this chamber also shows off some locked doors and another new chest.
The last room before the boss chamber. Here I added a fancy intimidating doormat in front of the boss door as a homage to later games in the series.
These are the components that I used for this project. Aside from the recolor, it's somewhat more varied than the set of parts I used in my prototype dungeon. The most helpful thing that this project did for me was to help give me a clearer idea of what sorts of parts are needed to create a fully fleshed-out map.
