Smap1.scr is one of the earliest maps known to exist from A Link to the Past's development. 5.2 Unidentified Potential Dungeon AreaĮarly World Maps smap1.scr.4.6 Overworld Area 7 - The Desert of Mystery.4.3 Overworld Area 4 - Kakariko Village.4.2.1 The View of Death Mountain from The Pyramid of Power.

4.2 Overworld Areas 2 and 3 - East and West Death Mountain.4 1991 Era Prototype Overworld Environments.The Japanese version of the game was completed by Octo, while work on some resources for localization of the game - like English font data - continued on past that date. This third phase of the prototyping begins transition into the 1991 era prototype overworld environments which far more closely resemble the final game environments.īy Septemat the latest, the developers had both Mode 7 minimaps complete, indicating the general layout of the worlds was definitely finalized by this date and likely earlier. It is possible the implementation had just not yet begun.ĭark World graphical assets are present by the time in which the Decembuild of S-CG-CAD comes into use and the world map begins to more closely resemble the final game's map. At that time there is still not yet evidence of the Dark World among the extant graphic data, although that does not mean that it was not already drafted as an idea by the game's planners. During this era, smap1.scr, smap.scr, and map-1.scr are created to refine what the overworld map will look like, although they do not yet fully resemble the final game and contain elements not present in the final game. Roughly half-way through 1990, the first era then tends to blend into a second era of later 1990 era assets where the overworld graphics are completely redrawn and more refined indoor prototype areas are assembled. During this time, the developers also create some indoor test areas and generally experiment creating tilesets, some of which remain similar up until the final game, like the Eastern Palace graphics and others that are abandoned entirely, such as the early 1990 Ship graphics and environment file. The first phase that is visible in the extant files contains the early 1990 era prototype overworld using many of the oldest overworld graphics files. From analysis of the rough dates of the extant prototype graphical data, the game graphically goes through roughly three major prototyping phases that possess some overlapping graphics and design elements before the game reaches its final release builds. Mamarked the start of the game's development. This is a sub-page of Development:The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

Zelda overworld map designer