Breaking Down the Best World in Rayman Legends | Game Maker’s Toolkit
Hello!
Decided to make a short-and-sweet third video for January.
This one's about how Rayman explores a mechanic throughout an entire world - instead of throwing it away at the end of a level like Mario and Donkey Kong. Wanted to offer a different perspective on platformer level design.
Hope you like it. Back in February for another chunky topic video. And then whatever else is on my mind.
The final Patreon rewards - Insider and Playlist - will be out in the coming days.
Oh, and thanks to those of you on the Discord who helped me tweak the thumbnail!
Breaking Down the Best World in Rayman Legends | Game Maker’s Toolkit (YouTube)
Comments (9)
Did you see that GDC released a 2014 talk about Rayman Legends today? Coincidence?
On Youtube, that is.
Some curiosity as to what counts as a "mechanic" here – there's usually more than one Mario level per game with Boos, and lots with moving platforms, for example.
Like with a lot of game design lingo, it’s quite vague! But many of the elements that make up a Mario level are unique to a single stage - whether that’s an enemy type, a specific type of moving platform (spinning, tilting, moving horizontal, moving vertical, etc), or something else entirely. Of course, yep, some elements do stick around like classic enemies such as the goomba. And there are always exceptions to the rule! But if you wanna see more, please check out the video on Donkey Kong where I go into more detail on Mario’s mechanic-per-level setup
Never played Rayman Legends, but I loved Origins. I'd pick it up for the Switch but I've heard it's not as good as the Wii U edition...
It’s such a shame that it’s so tied to the GamePad, meaning any platform without a touchscreen (ie not Wii U or Vita) is gonna feel weird and janky. The Murphy levels are much more fun on Wii U.
Hey! Great video as always. Have you ever thought about talking more in detail about designing a difficult bonus level, in a Mario game for example? I'm sure there's more to it than just a bunch of difficult platforming challenges to reward dedicated players, especially when taking a Mario game where all the game is designed around teaching a mechanic carefully before exposing the player to more difficult section, whereas the bonus levels are about trial and error. I noticed one thing in those levels: there's rarely one way to get past something, and through trial and error, everyone develops a different method to go about it which definitely feels nice.
Great that the level designer himself helped you to create that. Thanks Chris! (and thanks Mark for the video :p )
Fine I'll move Rayman Legends up in the backlog. Great video btw! I'm just getting into 2D platformers.