In the first Mario Kart World developer interview, Nintendo developers explained how courses were placed in the world of Mario Kart World.

In the beginning, the team drew a rough map and placed existing courses based on the directions of the compass and created a setting for them. Every part of the map has a different setting and climate, such as a desert or winter land. It was challenging for the team to seamlessly connect different courses together, while ensuring that they fit the context of the world without losing their identity.

Indeed, having trees around makes your surroundings feel more realistic. By the way, the courses in this game are spread across different parts of the world. How did you determine their placement and design the surrounding scenery?

Ishikawa: Jikumaru-san drew up a rough map for us to start discussing where to place them. We first placed the existing courses in the world based on the directions of the compass and created a setting for them. For example, the climate gets drier as you go west, so we thought we could place the Shy Guy Bazaar course from previous games with its palace in this area, and perhaps place the Desert Hills course nearby. Going northeast, we thought we could make this region colder with a steep, snowy mountain as a landmark, and have a course where you can race at its peak. When designing courses based on the climate, we also tried to be creative so that the routes that connect courses are seamless and that the scenery around you changes before you know it.

Jikumaru: Each individual course has its own distinct characteristics, so connecting them all was pretty tricky. We had to place existing courses in a way that fits the context of the world without losing what makes them special.

Ishikawa: I recall the team lead for terrain telling us that we need to keep context in mind. Each course was built around its own unique and distinctive concept, so if the landscape between the courses was barren, then it would feel like the world was just divided into chunks. That’s why it’s important to establish a context that connects them in a way that feels natural while making use of contrast to create surprises. For example, we thought it would be good if, from Mario Bros. Circuit, you could keep driving down a wide road like Route 66 (6). The scenery would gradually thin out, while up ahead you’d see a landmark that resembles Monument Valley, and the road would ultimately connect to a big city.

We wanted players to experience being in the next area before they knew it, so we had to work out where to put impactful changes in scenery like landmarks so that we could realize that while still making it seamless.

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