Monday, July 07, 2025

Create a Legend of Zelda Style Game with MapperMate

Christopher Lis
Chris Lis
Founder of MapperMate
Adventure GamesRPG

📖 Use the chapters below to jump to specific sections, or follow along from start to finish for the complete experience.

In this tutorial, I'll teach you how to use MapperMate to build a complete top-down adventure game that resembles one of the classic Legend of Zelda games you might've seen on SNES or Gameboy. From designing a complete overworld to coding enemies, this tutorial covers everything you need to create your first top-down game.

This map is also available as a free MapperMate template so you can skip the design portion if you'd like to get straight into the coding. Enjoy!

Video Chapters

0:00

What we'll build

Overview of the complete game project and final result

1:32

How to create a game map

Setting up the foundation and basic map structure

33:57

Map scrolling

Implementing smooth camera movement and map navigation

1:05:20

Sprite animation

Creating character animations and movement sequences

1:41:07

Render layers on top of player

Managing depth and layering for proper visual hierarchy

1:58:01

Create enemies with movement

Adding enemy characters with AI movement patterns

2:43:40

Weapon attack animation

Implementing combat animations and weapon mechanics

3:24:22

Attack interaction

Setting up hit detection and combat interactions

3:59:05

Hearts and player / enemy interaction

Adding health system and damage mechanics

4:21:19

Leaf particles

Creating particle effects for enhanced visual appeal

4:41:19

Finishing touches

Final polish and optimization of the complete game

4:46:39

The finished product

Showcase of the completed game with all features working

Download Resources

GitHub Source Code

Complete source code for the ninja adventure game project with all features and implementations.

View on GitHub

Ninja Adventure Asset Pack

Complete asset pack by Pixel-Boy including sprites, tilesets, and animations used in this tutorial.

Download Asset Pack

Next Steps

If you're ready to dive even deeper into game development, check out my companion tutorial on creating Donkey Kong Country-style-ish platformer over at chriscourses.com.

Back to tutorials

Ready to Start Building?

Put these tutorials into practice with MapperMate's free online tilemap editor.

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