DKC Atlas Forum

[Qyzbud]

Donkey Kong Country will be 20 years old this November!

I've decided to celebrate by doing my absolute best to get all of our DKC level maps looking as nice as they possibly can.

We have a handful of levels set up with basic animated graphics, but most of our maps are entirely unanimated. A lot of work went into our small collection of animated maps, but they could certainly be improved; speeding them up to match the in-game animations would be a good start, but there are lots of other improvements to be made.

By November 21st I hope to provide motion paths for as many objects as possible, add animated Bonus Areas to each map, enable advanced interactivity for certain maps (such as Stop & Go Station), etc. — and as many other bells and whistles I can manage that we think up along the way.

Anyhow, there are still a few bugs to work out, but the new and improved Jungle Hijinxs map is ready to check out!

New and improved Jungle Hijinxs map — now with DK's treehouse interior and (currently empty) banana hoard!

Jungle Hijinxs screenshot.jpg (28.84 KiB) Viewed 179081 times

New features include:

• Both DK's treehouse interior and his banana hoard are now displayed!
• Objects now have their correct animation speeds — if your computer and browser are up to the task!
• Object info is available on hover — this will be improved soon!
• The butterflies are now shown, resting in their favourite spots.

There are other improvements, as well as some things that need to be improved (such as the grid overlay coordinate info), so please leave feedback about anything and everything.

I'm planning to make a mapping update every day from now until November 21st — 101 updates in total! So expect to see lots of bonus rooms, boss arenas and improved versions of each of Donkey Kong Country's levels over the next few months.

Again, a big thank you to all who have helped with this project over the years, and especially to Simion32 and Kingizor, who have used their hacking and programming know-how to make my job much easier.

[Cyclone]

Looks/works awesome. Great job Qzyzbud and other contributors.

[Qyzbud]

Thanks, Cyclone.

I've fixed the basic mouse coordinates, and have now added the missing Gnawties.

I'll be adding Jungle Hijinxs' first bonus room in a few hours, so check back later!

[VideoViking]

Another bug: turn on the grid line, and move your mouse. You'll notice the box does not match the mouse. It's one full 256 box away from its resting place.

[Qyzbud]

Thanks for the report. This is part of the issue I was referencing here:

[...]things that need to be improved (such as the grid overlay coordinate info)[...]

I'll see about getting that sorted out before the next mapping update.

Edit: I believe the bug has been squashed — let me know if problems persist.

[Qyzbud]

Bonus room #1 has been added to the Jungle Hijinxs map!

That's 2% done of our 101% countdown.

Next I'll be adding bonus #2, which will require a bit of animation work... check back tomorrow to see what I've come up with.

[Cyclone]

Aww 10 hours to wait. I will be in bed by then

[Tompa]

Good stuff! Really nice how this is coming along. Time to spam F5 until the next update. (Not really, but still).

[Qyzbud]

Thanks, Tompa! Now's a good time to hit F5 (if you haven't already!)

The Jungle Hijinxs map has been updated!
As well as adding the second bonus, and the visual 'cached object' indicators, I've also made sure that the grid/coordinate issues, layering/object hovering annoyances (thanks, Kingizor!), and inanimate butterfly anomalies are all taken care of.

There's also a handy new short map URL system, thanks to some tinkering by Kingizor and myself; for example: http://dkca.net/m111

Spoiler!

You can probably tell by looking at it, but it's basically composed of our short domain, http://dkca.net, followed by /m for 'maps', then the three following numbers stand for the game number, world number and level number, respectively.

So, we're 3% of our way to 101... check back tomorrow for the next level (a rather stormy/atmospheric one!) getting the update treatment.

[Stone]

A nice way of celebrating DKC! And there clearly went some thinking into the design and placement of the new elements

[Tompa]

Maybe somehow add in the bananahoard picture when it is filled? Like hover over with the mouse to see the second one or something.

Looks very great anyway!

[Qyzbud]

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

I'm not sure if anyone noticed, but I forgot to add that little fish/tadpole critter that swims around in the boat picture in DK's treehouse! You'll be glad to know he's splashing about happily, now.

With regards to the banana hoard, I was thinking of having it be full once the 101% countdown is complete. I know 101% isn't needed to recover the hoard, but it will coincide with completing Gang-Plank Galleon, so I thought that would be a nice way to show that the mapping project is finally complete for DKC.

That said, I plan to make the layer toggles affect all areas of each map, so I could always have the missing banana appear as an overlay when the 'hidden items' button is clicked? I like your 'hover' suggestion, too... I'll enable that option when I get a chance so we can see how it feels.

Anyhow, it's less than six hours until Ropey Rampage's update, so I'd better get back into it!

[Qyzbud]

A newly revamped map is up!

New and improved Ropey Rampage map!



Special features of this map:

• Weather effects: This map features lightning flashes in the background and rain in the foreground.
• Night theme: Everything has a twilight colour scheme.
• Swaying ropes: The vertically hanging ropes sway in the wind.

The weather effects are disabled by default, but can be toggled using the relevant layers — BG2 and FG1, in this case.
EPILEPSY WARNING: BG2 on this map features a flashing effect — view with caution!

Right! We're now 4% of the way to our 101% goal...

Tomorrow I'll be adding the first of Ropey Rampage's bonus rooms.

[Cyclone]

This map is cool!

One thing I noticed is the rain and half-way barrels animate too fast. I am using firefox 31 on windows 7.

[Qyzbud]

Hmm, I'll have to check that out...

Both of those animations are meant to be very fast/smooth, as they are some of the rare visual elements that update every frame in-game, rather than having a tiny delay.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Qyzbud]

Alright! The first of Ropey Rampage's bonus rooms is in place.

As with the other layer toggles, the weather effects don't yet toggle in bonus areas, but this is a feature I'll be adding soon.

We're 5% through our journey, guys... How are they looking so far?

[Raccoon Sam]

Looks fantastic!!

Here's a suggestion. Though you can select levels from the drop-down menu, the map sections "Kongo Jungle" and "Monkey Mines" etc. are selectable but don't take you anywhere. How about a feature where selecting a world takes you to a page with the map image itself but with clickable links on place of the levels which in turn take you to their respective maps? Maybe with a quick review on hover, like how many lives, bananas, etc the level has?

[Qyzbud]

Thanks, Sam! Glad you like the efforts so far.
Excellent suggestion about the clickable world maps, too; I'll let you know when I've got this set up for you to try.
Edit: I've since realised that I had already posted a "clickable world map" idea earlier in this topic: http://dkca.net/f/p36502

One thing I noticed is the rain and half-way barrels animate too fast. I am using firefox 31 on windows 7.

Well, you're quite right about the animation speeds; unfortunately, GIFs — at least with the software I have been using — offer a limited amount of precision when specifying a frame rate/delay; the delay should be 0.333..., but it had to be rounded to 0.3 (quicker, but close) or 0.4 (slower, not so close). I chose the closest option, obviously... so no, it's not a perfect match, but I figured it was probably our best bet with the current animation system*.

Anyhow, I've created a test page with an alternate Continue Barrel; does this look better? Honestly, I do prefer the way it looks at this speed. I'm from a PAL country, and it just so happens that this 0.4 delay perfectly matches the PAL 25FPS speed, so that could be why. What do you guys think? I'm happy to stick with this speed, if it gets the popular vote.

Also, here are the two versions side-by-side, for comparison (plus some other musings):

Spoiler!

Current: (30FPS/0.3 delay)	Proposed: (25FPS/0.4 delay)

There's also the problem that some browsers don't (or at least didn't — this seems to have changed, thankfully) support accurate animation speeds for fast GIFs; apparently most browsers would see a delay of 0.3, and would bump it up to 0.6 (IE) or 1.0 (Opera)... but obviously that's quite a different scenario to what we're seeing here.

*Kingizor and I have discussed the possibility of using a JavaScript or CSS spritesheet animation system, so perhaps that could solve both problems? It could also create new problems, of course, but that doesn't mean it's not worth a try.

[Cyclone]

In my opinion the slower version looks better.

[Qyzbud]

Well, I dare say I agree with you, Cyclone; unless we end up being outvoted on the matter, I'll switch to the slower speed from now on.

Ropey Rampage's second bonus is now up for all to see! http://dkca.net/m112#end

Some notes regarding this map:

• I switched on the weather effects for this one, as it's particularly relevant to the challenge in this bonus. Since it's such a small room, I figured it wouldn't be an overwhelming assault on the senses.
• Interestingly, unlike the main level and bonus #1, DK and the other objects in bonus #2 aren't assigned a "night" palette. Perhaps in whatever far-up area this bonus takes place, the clouds are starting to clear, and the sun is beginning to peek over the horizon.
• Currently, the "Find the Prize" animation is just a regular animated GIF that displays the same sequence each time, but soon I hope to replace this with a script that will randomly position the balloon... and perhaps even let you click on a barrel at the end, and let you know if you picked right!

Okay, that's 6% of our countdown done!

Check back tomorrow for a new and improved Reptile Rumble.

[Super Luigi!]

Thanks for the news, Qyzbud! Also, I vote for the Proposed Midway Barrel. Keep going strong!

[Qyzbud]

My pleasure, Super Luigi, and thank you for the feedback; you'll be happy to know I've sided with your vote.

The new Reptile Rumble map is online!


Time for a break from the jungle environment... let's explore some caves!

As well as the typical animation speed updates, I've finally given the blue Kritters some bounce! A few of them appear to be bouncing in midair, which is due to them being positioned that way in-game. Unfortunately I don't have a physics engine in place to account for this... but if it bothers you all, I could certainly lower them to ground level for aesthetics' sake.

So, I'll get to work on the bonus levels, now. Reptile Rumble has three (including the first real barrel blasting experience of the game), so it'll be good to finally have them available for viewing.

We're now 7% of our way through the game.

[Jeeves]

I haven't posted here in years, but considering the volume of updates this project is receiving, I feel compelled to drop in and share my opinion.

The updated maps are looking amazing, Qyzbud! I remember staring for hours at the level layouts in the old player's guides as a child, and this takes that eperience to a whole new level, terrible pun very much intended! I love the degree of accuracy and detail you've put into them, and I'm quite looking forward to the day when I can view perfect maps of all the Donkey Kong Country levels. I particularly love that the locations of all the hidden banana caches are noted. I've never known where all of them were located, and I've been playing Donkey Kong Country since Christmas of '94. It speaks volumes about your dedication to and knowledge of the series when you can show a twenty year veteran secrets he never knew about!

I will note that the Atlas is a little difficult to navigate using the Wii U's browser, particularly the drop down menus. The maps themselves seem to function as they should. It's probably not an issue that requires immediate correction, but simply something to keep in mind as you continue to expand and improve this amazing resource. Thanks, Qyzbud, for all the hard work you've put in!

[Qyzbud]

Thanks for the feedback, Jeeves! It's always nice to hear what other DKC fans think, especially when the message is so positive and constructive.

I should be clear about the hidden banana caches, and other object locations; I did indeed scour every level to gather this information, and on a vast majority of the maps currently up on the Atlas, this info was my work... but the recent ones I've been adding feature object location data provided by Simion32. There is every chance I managed to miss a cache or two in my manual searching effort, but Simion's data ought to be more thorough and precise.

Still, I'm very glad to hear you've found my/our efforts interesting and enjoyable to take in!

As for the navigation issues, I'll certainly see about improving accessibility across devices when time permits.

[Qyzbud]

As you may have noticed, if you had checked any time in the past 40 minutes...

Reptile Rumble's first Bonus Area has been added!


It mightn't be a favourite of those with claustrophobia, but there is a nice symmetry to this room.

That's 8% of our mapping journey complete!

[Qyzbud]

Well, if I'm going to go against my own guidelines and triple post here, I'd better make it worthwhile...

Firstly, here's Reptile Rumble's second Bonus Area:


Of course, this looks a bit more complicated than it actually is, from a gameplay perspective (a single tap of the B button, and it was all done for you), but it's the first real opportunity we had to see what barrel blasting was all about!

In addition to this map, I've also put up a world map navigation system for Kongo Jungle; credit for reminding me to do this goes to Raccoon Sam! Although functional and accurate, it's a little on the small side at the moment, so I might try doubling the size. What do you guys think?

This new navigation system isn't fully integrated into the mapping structure yet, but I'm keen to hear feedback from you all.

[Cyclone]

in my opinion the world map should be bigger.

[Jeeves]

I really like the world map as an option for navigating between individual levels. I particularly like the use of the Kong and Kremling heads to designate which maps have been finished. I agree that the world map could stand to be bigger, but not a bad start for a new feature.

[Qyzbud]

The third bonus area has been added, which means...
Reptile Rumble is now complete!


I certainly agree about the size of the world map navigation system, and will update with a larger version shortly.
Edit: Here's a double-size version; I think it's an improvement — but then, I do love pixels.
I decided to remove the second Reptile Rumble location from this one, as it seems a bit redundant/misleading having the level appear twice in one view like this. Although removing the second icon leaves a gap between the dots, I think I prefer the balance of having three levels on either side of the map, and I also prefer to honour the 'first' location, if we're only going to have one of them represented. What do you guys think?

Oh, and I will be adding the other locations (Cranky, Funky, Candy) to these world maps, but I'm not sure if they will serve any purpose. Perhaps they could offer up an appropriate phrase on hover, though?

So anyway, we're now 10% of our way through the game.

[spaceman2028]

I have an idea for the world map-for levels that have not been added, such as coral capers, there would be a kremling head, like normal. And when a stage is fully completed, DK's head will show up. But if a level is still being worked on, Diddy's head will show up instead. Sound good, Mr. Qyz?

[Qyzbud]

Well, mister spaceman of the future, I don't mind that idea; in fact, that exact concept occurred to me while I was putting the world map navigation system together... but I'm not sure how obvious/intuitive it is. I feel that it'd be best to keep things true to game logic as much as possible, so I was thinking of displaying level names more prominently (perhaps by each icon, and/or at the top of the screen when hovered, as per the in-game method), and using the exclamation point after the level name to indicate that a level is *fully* complete. That said, I like your/our idea, too, as it's a bit more visual, and gives Diddy a bit more presence...

I'd be happy to hear what others think of these ideas, and we can always change/expand on such things as we decide what works best.

[Phyreburnz]

Well, if you're going for a DKC game style type thing... it seems to me that all of the levels that have been completed would have the Kong head by it, but the exclamation point for ones that are totally done. The Kremling heads sound like they should be for levels that aren't done yet, and that would pretty much just go for future maps for the DKL series and the DKC gba series.

Qyz, is it possible to have a percentage on the top of the regular Atlas page for level of completion? I see that you have counters for the next update, but it would also be neat to see how close to 101% you're getting every day, too!

[Super Luigi!]

I just now followed your orders, Qyzbud, and I must say, I love the world map! In my opinion, I think you should go with the "!" next to a level's name when it's completely finished, but you could also use Diddy somehow. Such as, do what I do when I play the DKC Trilogy, one Kong dominates the first world, then the other gets the second as the two alternate!

[Qyzbud]

Thanks for the feedback! I'll do what I can to make good on these suggestions.

As for today's mapping progress, Coral Capers has been updated, and — having no bonus areas — it is now complete!


Despite the beautiful music and graphics of this level, this is one of the less impressive updates; there are no bonus areas to add and the bananas were already animated... basically, the most significant updates are the more game-accurate animation speeds, and the small amount of extra level area that has been added to the top of the map, as per the extra reach of DKCRE's terrain extraction vs. my old methods.

Still, even though it's not a huge update, it's a step up in accuracy, and paves the way for further feature improvements in the future.

[Tompa]

Maybe somehow show where you can go through the walls?

Loving it all though, obviously!

[Jeeves]

The larger world map looks quite nice, and I like it better with the second entrance to Reptile Rumble removed. I like the idea of having the individual level names appear, and using exclamation points to designate levels with all bonus rooms added would be a nice game accurate touch.

Coral Capers is looking good! I can't think of any improvements of my own to offer, but I like Tompa's suggestion of including some indication of which walls can be passed through.

[Qyzbud]

Thanks again for the feedback, gents; I definitely like the idea of showing the difference between real/fake walls, etc. Actually, I think a physmap overlay would be a great option to add to the maps; it'd show all physical surfaces in their basic form, and could be great for planning speedruns/exploits, etc. A physmap would perhaps be a somewhat obtrusive layer, though, so maybe a more subtle and area-specific indicator of fake walls would be a good feature, too.

Anyhow, today's update is available to behold...

The Barrel Cannon Canyon map has been updated!


This is one map that will definitely be getting some ongoing improvements, as it has dozens of barrels with different behaviours that I wish to provide information about. Many barrels currently have some basic info (arrows) courtesy of custom sprites by Simion32, but there are plenty that still need this information to be added, and I would like to provide it as an overlay, rather than having arrows, etc. baked into the sprites themselves.

Anyhow, it's certainly a start!

Other new features include;

• Animated bananas
• Better animations for the jumping Kritters
• Far more game-accurate animation speeds
• Barrel locations based more closely on game logic
• And of course... butterflies!

But hey, most of that stuff is to be expected by now, right?

So, the next couple of days will see BCC's bonus areas added, but I'll also make an effort to improve the barrel information, fulfil the various requests/suggestions that have been made, and — train your monkeys and hide your bananas — we're also sure to see our first boss map appear soon!

11% down...

[VideoViking]

What are the default settings for the display options? You should have a "Reset To Defaults" button.

[Qyzbud]

The defaults are what you see when you load any map; everything is displayed except for FG2 and the overlays. I do intend to offer the ability for each user to adjust their defaults, so that each map loads how they would like, but that feature is not yet available.

The "reset to defaults" function is available through most browsers, and is typically mapped to the F5 key.

On a more serious note, I do intend to offer a series of buttons for "show all", "hide all", "defaults", etc. — thanks for the suggestion.

[Qyzbud]

Alrighty then, here we have Barrel Cannon Canyon's first Bonus Area!


The second Bonus Area of the game to feature a dose of barrel-blasting (kind of this level's theme, I guess!), this time you actually get to control the timing of each blast. Of course, it quickly becomes obvious that button-mashing is the most efficient method in this Bonus Area; those taking a more precise approach may find themselves facing a decent challenge by the end!

12% down...

[Qyzbud]

Barrel Cannon Canyon's second and final Bonus Area is now up!


This is one of the few Bonus Areas in the game where you can't collect all of the tangible treasures in any given attempt; a clever player will be able to score the middle prize, then work out which side holds the best prize for their second shot. After firing near a side, the Kongs won't be able to land back in the barrel, so choose carefully!*

Well, that's Barrel Cannon Canyon taken care of! Of course, I still have plenty of work to do on the various barrel info overlays, so don't be surprised if I post a few design ideas here looking for feedback; I want these maps to look nice to as many of you as possible, after all.

We're 13% of our way through!

Our first DKC boss map — Very Gnawty's Lair — will be added next!

*Tompa has impressively pointed out that you can in fact collect all of the main prizes (although not all of the bananas, and only when using DK), if your timing/positioning is spot-on: http://youtu.be/seNXFuf8vuA

[Tompa]

You can't get all the prizes, eh??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seNXFuf8vuA

Stop lying, Q .

[Qyzbud]

Oh, my bad on the wording... I'm including bananas as treasures, but well done indeed on that proof of concept.

[Tompa]

Yeah, you can't get all the bananas sadly, that I know of at least. Just felt like "calling you out" on it anyway .

[Qyzbud]

You're quite good at catching me on technicalities, I must say! Your observation has now been noted in my previous post, so that my lies don't pollute anyone's minds.

[VideoViking]

The prize type is also a factor into collecting all three in one go. The "touchbox" of the Enguarde Golden Token makes Tompa's video possible. But what about a different token? A Golden Letter, perhaps. You'll need to test out a few scenarios, Tompa.

[Qyzbud]

That's a good point, VV; the hitboxes of both the prizes and the Kongs are quite relevant to this trick — otherwise Tompa would likely have grabbed the banana bunch first.

[Simion32]

Very impressed with the recent mapping updates.

Of course after staring at DKCRE for all this time, it's not quite that surprising to me, but still ( ). Keep the updates coming!

[spaceman2028]

Just recently tried the challenge of completing jungle hi-jinx and it game me the idea of beating reptile rumble with only two jumps! Don't worry, this is much easier than what it implies. It gave me the idea of people adding their own challenges to the DKC atlas.
EDIT:Bouncing off of the partially-hidden tires does not count as jumping, if you are wondering.

[Tompa]

Yes, the animal tokens have a wider hitbox than the bananas, otherwise this would not be possible. It also works with DK barrels.

So the bonus in Stop & Go Station will work, as it has a frog on the right side and the one in Millstone Mayhem will work as well, because of a DK barrel on the left.

Are there any more of these bonuses? Can't remember any others..