Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze is an amazing platformer.
The game has impressive, colourful graphics, tons of funny ideas and very challenging stages.
But while it shares all these qualities with other 2 D platformers like Rayman Legends
or New Super Luigi Bros. U – Tropical Freeze is absolutely unique regarding one particular
aspect: Every stage of the game is designed with the players speed in mind.
In Tropical Freeze the player always has two alternatives how to play a level.
He can play the level in normal speed.
That way he can take some time and search for all Puzzle Pieces, Kong Letters and sometimes
also for a secret exit.
Or he can choose the Time Attack-Mode and speedrun the level.
This is possible because every stage is cleverly designed, so that no barrier ever slows the
player down.
So, in Tropical Freeze, the player can have two completely different experiences, while
playing the exact same stage.
But how does this work?
What kinds of tricks did Retro Studio use to create levels, which work perfectly when
played fast, without lessening the fun for the average gamer?
Does this design make the game better for every kind of player?
And is there something to learn that could be useful when creating mario maker levels?
Well, you're ready?
Let's find out!
Intro
The longer I play Tropical Freeze, the more I´m impressed by it´s great design.
It must have taken Retro Studios ages to build the stages for this game.
Stages, which always work in two ways: They are great fun for beginners, but their design
is so smart, that advanced players can directly run through them without being slowed down.
To find out, how this double-concept works, we will take a look on the stage Stage Shipwreck
Shore two times.
First we will play as an average player would play it, who sees the stage for the first
time.
And then we will play it as fast as possible.
So let´s start as average player: The first thing we realize, is that the game offers
us different options to choose from.
We can go backwards and find a Puzzle Piece.
We can take this bomb and learn a new skill.
Or we can dive and find bananas.
At this thornbush the game forces us to learn a new skill for the first time - how to climb
on this vine.
But soon after we can decide again: Do we want to dive under the ship and find the second
Puzzle-Piece or do we want to practice the high jump and enter the ship?
So the average player always gets many chances to leave the linear path and explore the stage.
On the ship for example we can test Dixies special skill and get the K-Letter or find
a secret-room with a hundred bananas.
But we can also decide to ignore all these challenges and fight this shark.
Tropical freeze often has additional challenges for more skilled players, small puzzles and
diverging paths which gives us a lot of freedom how we explore a stage.
So let´s stop here and take a look at a fast playthrough: We follow a linear path to get
through the stage as fast as possible.
But how did Retro Studio ensure that we never have to slow down?
Well, they mainly use five tricks, which can all be seen in this level.
First: The game always allows us to skip learning-sequences.
So here Donkey Kong doesn't have to use the newly learned vine-climbing move – he can
just jump directly over the thornbush.
Second: The stages are layouted in a way that allows our little monkey to do almost every
jump at full speed.
The third mechanic is a really important one: Retro Studio placed the enemies in Tropical
Freeze in such a strategically clever way, that they often work in two different ways.
If we play a level casually they are dangerous threats to the health of our kongs, but if
we try to get through the levels fast they often suddenly act as helpful but dangerous
platforms.
This works especially well because cycles in this game are almost never global but camera
based.
What do I mean by global cycles?
There are often enemies in the game which cycle up and down, or platforms which move.
The question is, do these platforms and enemies move while donkey kong is not close to them?
The answer in this game is: nope.
They only start to move once we are close to them.
Because of this it's possible to layout enemies and platforms in a way in which they
always align perfectly for fast movement when reached.
Let's take these penguins here, they will always walk in a way that allows to jump on
top of them perfectly, this shark will always leave the water at a moment that allows us
to roll beneath it, and these horrifying grasshoppers will always align so that it's possible
to bounce off the third one.
And then there is one last important trick: the game often allows us to skip auto scrolling
sections.
Auto-scrolling sections are areas in a level where we don't have full control over the
speed with which we move through the level.
There are often sections where the camera doesn't follow us but automatically slowly
scrolls forward.
Losing control over the speed of the game is one of the most frustrating things a game
can do to you if you try to go fast.
But luckily tropical freeze often intentionally allows our kongs to skip these parts.
This raft ride for example can easily be skipped by rolling on top of the water, and this evil
fly enemy at the end is always cycled in a way that allows us to reach the finish-barrel
without having to deal with the auto scrolling.
These tricks often add a completely new level to the actual level.
The game is incredibly consistent in giving the player a speed path, and there are even
more small tricks that ensure this.
Let's take a look on a couple more examples.
Here we skip a auto scrolling platform with a risky jump.
Often there are two enemies in a row that allow us to skip a sequence, or there are
three, and sometimes even four.
(1,2,3) Furthermore: Some enemies in the game only
exist to support Donkey Kongs speed: Have you ever wondered, why enemies fly around
here, when they get crushed by this plant anyway?4 Well they fly around, to give Donkey
Kong the chance to do this epic triple-jump.
Our well dressed ape finds useful enemies in every corner of this game.
He finds them, when he wants to overcome a bottomless pit.5 He finds them, when he wants
to get to the top as fast as possible.6 And he finds them almost always, when he wants
to skip a learning sequence.
Only sometimes Donkey Kong is confronted with the question: How do I get through a learning-sequence
quickly, when there is no useful enemy around – like in this scene from the Stage Homecoming
Hijinxs?7 Well the answer is he has to jump with Cranky onto this hidden platform and
then has to do the last jump earlier than he usually would.
Well done!
The reason retro studio designed every stage with a specific speed path is because they
added a time-attack mode to ensure its replayability.
In this mode the kong family is challenged to beat the stage in less than a set time
to earn a bronze, silver or gold medal.
The time attack mode mainly is in the game to increase its replayability and that's
the reason why the game is designed the way it is regarding speed.
But the really cool thing about this is that it makes donkey kong country tropical freeze
a better game, even for players who never try to get the gold medals for several reasons.
Most players will never play a stage optimally, but they will often encounter small parts
of the optimal route by accident.
They may miss a jump once but instead of dying they bounce to the next area in a really fast
way, or they jump on top of a couple of enemies by accident and skip a small challenge this
way.
Going fast in games feels really great, and if the game has a lot of optimized routes
through a level, players will encounter them by accident sooner or later, and they'll
feel great!
It also helps to keep the frustration in check if a player dies over and over at a specific
spot, because everytime he dies he should be able to re-reach the area where he died
faster than before.
And even if a player does not use these specific speed paths, they are often clearly recognisable
by a player and almost always more difficult to use than the average way.
Most players will realize that it's possible to skip this area by jumping on top of these
enemies when they see it and this gives our player an interesting choice.
He can either take the risk of trying the skip which rewards him by being faster and
awesome in general, or he can take the slower but safer route.
It generally helps with the replayability of stages, the levels in tropical freeze are
pretty big and there are tons of collectibles hidden within them.
Someone who wants to get 100% in the game will revisit the levels very often, and this
player will sooner or later reach a skill level in the game that allows him to move
really fast through these stages.
In a certain way the stage starts to change for a player the better he gets and in general
it makes the game more enjoyable for veteran players by adding a new challenge which doesn't
influence the experience of casual players in any way.
Okay so what can we learn from tropical freeze for designing amazing mario maker courses?
I'd really recommend everyone to play through their levels fast once before uploading them.
Often there is just a simple enemy misplaced to spin-jump on, or a small block in the path
that is preventing a stage from having a really fun speed path.
I really believe that it's important that a platformer can be played fast, and tropical
freeze nails this.
Every stage has it's own rhythm and a wonderful flow, and this is what makes tropical freeze
really stand out for me.
This and their crazy creative ideas!
I hope you enjoyed this little video, if you enjoyed it don't forget to leave me a thumbs
up and maybe you feel especially mmmmh banana today and want to hit the subscribe button
as fast as possible as well.
I hope you have a wonderful day, that retro studio is working on a new metroid game and
to see you soon.
Goodbye!
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