Welcome to ‘Upside Town,’ the Latest Topsy-Turvy ‘Walkabout Mini Golf’ Course

It’s easy to get turned around in the city, to feel like everything’s just a little topsy-turvy. But that’s especially true in Upside Town, the new gravity-defying course for Walkabout Mini Golf.

Released today, Upside Town turns mini golf on its head, on its side, on its feet, and then on its head again. It’s a city where the subway runs straight into the air, where a fire hydrant spews water from the side of a building, where the pigeons hang like bats—or maybe you’re the one that’s upside-down? Hard to say.

This playful locale is paired with an equally playful mini golf course, with holes that extend onto the walls and ceiling, down fire escapes, around corners, and more. If you’ve played last year’s Jim Henson’s Labyrinth course, you might recognize some of these ideas from the Hole 17 staircase, but this takes the game to new heights. (Literally.)

We chatted with Henning Koczy, Lead Level Designer at Mighty Coconut, about the genesis of Upside Town, its New York City influences, designing elaborate mini golf courses (and the accompanying scavenger hunts), and an upcoming course collaboration with Meow Wolf that will bridge the real and virtual worlds. Read on for more details!

Henning Koczy: The gravity mechanic came first. Lucas Martell (my boss and creator of Walkabout Mini Golf) had the idea for golfing on the ceiling even before we did the Jim Henson’s Labyrinth course. We used that crazy staircase room (Hole 17) to prove we could do it.

The right setting for a full course took more time. We thought about an Escher version of Venice, we thought about putting it in space, or a Lynchian Art Deco hotel (which all sound awesome, and we need to do them).

Then I remember on a car ride with Lucas we were talking about our time in New York and how long it took to figure out the subway system. I thought these disorienting liminal spaces fit our mechanic and I wanted to do it all with grungy municipal mosaics and upside-down arches and train tunnels coming at you every which way. “Velocity Terminal,” get it?!

The idea expanded from the dank underground—thankfully—to the entirety of New York City, and Emma Mercado (our 3D Prop Modeler and set dec specialist) called it “Upside Town.” A much more pleasant place to mini golf!

HK: There were a few spectacular ones on paper that just didn’t work in game—so, to my favorite ideas, R.I.P. (Although I might come dig you up again for Upside Town 2 if players like this one!)

My favorite hole that made it to the headset is Hole 11, easy. That’s the one where you tee off down a long green with a slight ramp and gravity pool at the end. And if you’re not really thinking about what will happen next—if you haven’t grasped the mechanic yet—you might be shocked when the ball comes right back…at your head! And you will, quite naturally, dodge.

HK: I only contributed a few designs on this particular course, later on in the process. Lucas was so excited about this new mechanic that he took it and ran! It was the same with Quixote Valley—he needed the space to explore a fresh gameplay idea and reprogram things that didn’t work. I don’t touch the codebase.

I can tell you when either of us start from scratch though, it is on paper, yes! [Note: Below you can see the progression from paper sketch to concept to finished hole.]

Sketch:

Concept:

Finished:

HK: That is a very interesting question that I have been thinking about lately! Yes. There are story beats to an entire 18-hole course. And there are story beats within a single three-stroke hole, too. Level design is story design, it’s story all the way down! Ha.

You want to introduce the course with an easy Hole 1, the simplest expression of the idea. Holes 2 and 3 you add a few variations, you get the action building. By Hole 5 or 6 you want to throw in a simple palette-cleanser to release the tension. Holes 7 and 8, ramp it back up to the first climax of Hole 9. We try to do something special for Hole 9, setting- or gameplay- wise.

And then Hole 10 is like a reset. You can use it to relax again. Or you can use it to change over to a different idea for the back 9, where you do the whole thing over again. We end on Hole 18, which is hopefully the high-note: The maximal expression of the idea started at Hole 1. It should be the most fun, the highest point, the thing you have been journeying toward the entire course. And then it’s done, your ball disappears, the scores come up, and you kind of want to play again…

HK: The Foxhunts are so special to me. Kind of my opportunity to put a cherry on top of the whole course’s story arc—flesh out some of the lore, which until now has just been hinted at via set decoration. Myst was definitely the most ambitious one to date because we felt obligated to challenge the old fans. On Upside Town, Emma came through again with the Missed Connections idea, and it was a lot more fun and light than what I was thinking.

Over time, I would say I have mellowed on the deviousness of the Foxhunt…while Edward (Felix, our Lead Environment Modeler) has ramped up the deviousness of his Lost Balls. So, y’know, it all evens out!

HK: There is so much left. We could do this for 10 more years if the players keep supporting us like they have. We love doing it. And I have to say, not every new course will be based on a new mechanic like those you mention—there is still plenty of love for the classic, pure flavor of terrestrial mini golf. We have a good mix of epic, zen, silly, mind-bending, and classic courses planned out well into 2024.

HK: Journey to the Center of the Earth and Around the World in Eighty Days are steaming ahead very nicely, almost without my input. Lucas and our deft new Level Designer, Shane Rhodes, have got those covered. We’ve still got several more courses coming this year, new surprises, and another new series debuting this year. Something we’re super excited about is an underway collaboration with art collective Meow Wolf, which will include what we’re calling “trans-reality” capabilities. That’s launching this Fall.

Oh, and we’re also bringing Walkabout Mini Golf to iOS with an app called “Pocket Edition,” which will support full crossplay. That will allow our players to share the magic of virtual reality with people much more easily.

We’ve also started to think about what else Mighty Coconut could do beyond mini-golf…

HK: Wish I could!

Ready to take the train to Upside Town? Find it in the Meta Quest Store for $3.99 USD.