DKC Atlas Forum

[Super Luigi!]

With Qyzbud as our leader, we shall use our combined might to bring the Rare band back together again!

OK, maybe not. Regardless, you've finally done it, Captain Qyz. Congratulations. Now I'm a bit sad.

[Qyzbud]

I'm not sure that we have powers of that magnitude, but we can still work diligently on our various homages to the glorious masterpieces of Rare's back catalogue. To that effect, I've updated both Ropey Rampage and Reptile Rumble with long-overdue Zinger movement patterns! These maps were "completed" before I'd begun to give baddies CSS3 animations, and I've been meaning to bring them up to speed. Next up, I'll be adding on-click Croctopus movements to Coral Capers, then I'll start work on the motion paths and interactivity that Barrel Cannon Canyon has been crying out for all this time. This could take a while...

Update #1: The Croctopuses of Coral Capers are now in motion!
They follow their movement paths by default, but can be set to their starting positions with a click. At some point, I'd like to introduce the transition animation, so that they look just like they do in-game when they start spinning.

Update #2: The Zingers and barrels of Barrel Cannon Canyon now have motion paths!
I've not yet set up the on-click movements/rotation adjustments for the 'waiting' Barrel Cannons, but this will be done soon. I'll shift my focus to the basic motion paths of Winky's Walkway for now...

[Qyzbud]

A quick update post to let you all know that the DKC maps are still being actively worked on:

• The Winky's Walkway map was updated yesterday with all the moving baddies it has been missing! It was the first map to have a baddy set in motion (that orange Zinger orbiting the Expresso token), and now it's finally complete.
• The Barrel Cannon Canyon map has taken a cue from the interactivity seen in our Coral Capers and Temple Tempest maps, and now has a few clickable Barrel Cannons! Try clicking on the three Barrel Cannons in the gorge after the first moving Barrel Cannon to see them come to life. There are plenty of Barrel Cannons left in BCC alone that need this feature... and then of course there's the madness of Tree Top Town, Snow Barrel Blast, etc...

The countdown might be over, but I've plenty of work left to do.

[Cyclone]

The countdown might be over, but I've plenty of work left to do.

And a good job you've been doing.

[Tompa]

Seems like all the animated kritters don't work on Firefox

[spaceman2028]

The barrel cannons don't work in chrome either.

[thetoad11]

I use chrome, the barrel cannons work fine. Spaceman, you might be clicking the wrong ones.

[Qyzbud]

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

I'm not sure if you're trolling, Tompa, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt...

The Kritters (like all baddies) are all GIF-animated, but of course they don't have CSS path movement. Because they walk along the (often sloping/uneven) ground, I would have to either introduce an actual game-like physics engine (lots of work — maybe someday) or plot out individual paths simulating terrain interactions (probably even more work, and far less worthwhile). They also would look weird without turning animations, which would require extra programming; I do plan to develop a system for this, but perhaps not for a little while.

If you were referring to my claim that "the Winky's Walkway map was updated yesterday with all the moving baddies it has been missing", I'll have to admit that my wording might've been poor; by our current map standards, Winky's Walkway was only missing Necky movements, so I ought to have said "Neckies" instead of "baddies" to avoid confusion. My bad.

The barrel cannons don't work in chrome either.

I think thetoad11 was right on the money:

I use chrome, the barrel cannons work fine. Spaceman, you might be clicking the wrong ones.

I've tested across multiple browsers/computers, and the barrels I specified do seem to respond as they ought to across the board. Hopefully I'll have the whole level's barrels behaving correctly before too long, but for now it's just the first few 'taxi barrels' (not an official name) that I've got working.

[reversalmushroom]

Could you please add a feature that would let me download the levels as PNGs?

[Qyzbud]

I will certainly look into such possibilities. In the meantime, Simion32's DKC Resource Editor can be used to generate PNGs of each level/area, and there are browser plugins that allow you to screenshot pages — perhaps they would do what you need?

[PegasusMan]

Hello, all. I've been looking at the DKC maps lately, and I think I've found something that is missing in Reptile Rumble. In the Enguarde token room, isn't there supposed to be two blue Kritters there? I played the level again, and they seemed to just jump out of the ceiling. I don't know... I'm probably wrong, since they probably start off screen or something. Hmm.
-Donkey Kong Fan

[Qyzbud]

Those two Kritters are on the map, but they are rather inconveniently hidden by the stalactites of the FG 1 layer.

Maybe it would be best if I were to hide that foreground layer by default; there's no sense having it obscure key elements. *Does so*

[VideoViking]

When will level mapping for Donkey Kong Country 2 commence?

[Qyzbud]

August this year, at the latest.

[spaceman2028]

uhhh WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CHIMP CAVERNS LEVEL GUIDES

cause I DO NOT SEE THEM AVAILIBLE

EDIT: Oh nevermind. The link to the map layout through the DKC photo seems to have problems getting all the levels past part of Gorrilla Glacier to be seen properly.

[Qyzbud]

I'm not sure if I understand what you're saying, spaceman2028.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CHIMP CAVERNS LEVEL GUIDES

Are you referring to the Level Info pages? They've yet to be completed for DKC's latter levels; only Hippie's artfully written summaries are available so far.

The link to the map layout through the DKC photo seems to have problems getting all the levels past part of Gorrilla Glacier to be seen properly.

What "DKC photo" are you talking about? Perhaps you could link me to the page(s) where you're experiencing trouble, and maybe try again to explain the problem (yes, even with all these maps on hand, I'm still lost ).

[spaceman2028]

Yeah, I was referring to the level info pages. There's an icon on the homepage with the DKC title screen in it, which takes you to the not yet fully completed level info pages.

[Qyzbud]

Donkey Kong Country 2 will be 20 years old this November!

Yes, it's that time again! Actually, I'm a bit late in starting the DKC2 mapping countdown compared with last year's 101-day extravaganza, but that just means that each update will be more significant this time around. Yep, no more one-bonus-area-per-day-for-most-of-a-week tedium — I'm looking at you, Orang-utan Gang and Oil Drum Alley...

So how will it go this time? Well, rather than a level's bonus areas being added one at a time, they will all be added together the day after the level itself is updated — now that's value! Bosses will be treated with a bit more significance this time, as not only are their environments, behaviours and designs more complex and diverse, but beating bosses actually adds to your game completion percentage in Diddy's Kong Quest — 2% for each regular boss, and a whopping 5% for each K. Rool battle! That's interesting trivia, but I'm sure you can appreciate that it'd make for a rather tedious and anticlimactic countdown if we kept the one-percent-per-day thing going with an imbalance like that.

Anyway, do you want to read my ramblings, or would you rather see some sweet animated maps?

Here's a fairly-advanced-but-still-work-in-progress Pirate Panic map to get things underway!

New and improved Pirate Panic map — with all special rooms and bonus areas!

Pirate-Panic-map-preview.jpg (88.93 KiB) Viewed 248377 times

New features include:

• Bananas are animated — thanks, Kingizor!
• Objects now have their correct animation speeds — if your computer and browser are up to the task!
• K. Rool's Kabin has its own map, and is animated as it appears in-game — you can even read his mocking message and discover his valuable hidden treasure!
• Basic object info is available on hover — this will be improved soon! (or so I keep saying...)
• Plus of course the warp room and bonus areas are available for your viewing pleasure, too.

There are a few improvements I'll make when I get a chance, but I didn't want to delay the countdown any longer! Hopefully the current presentation is agreeable enough for the time being, and I can chip away at the to-do list as we push ahead with the countdown. Keep in mind that feedback is welcome and encouraged, so feel free to share any thoughts you may have about these maps, and any good ideas may be implemented if they can be done.

Again I'd like to say a big thankyou to Kingizor for performing many acts of hacking wizardry to provide me with object position data, banana animations/positions, graphics extractions, etc, as well as ongoing feedback and suggestions — and to Simion32 for the DKC2 terrain extractions he facilitated those years ago. The developers of ZSNES, Snes9x and vSNES also deserve shout-outs for providing many of the extraction/reference tools that made these maps possible.



Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the Crocodile Isle overworld map and Gangplank Galleon world map are available to assist with navigation, too! Thanks are again due to Kingizor for the nifty script (BBCode implementation announced here) that makes the world/level names a cinch to render. Crocodile Isle could certainly use some work, so I'll be putting plenty of energy into it over the next few days, but Gangplank Galleon is pretty much in order — give or take the pointer arrows, which I'll add soon.

Okay, that's enough from me... I've got dozens of things to work on, and you're only reading this because you're bored!

[Phyreburnz]

Yahoo! This is exciting. It's so fun to see the maps come to life!

[Tompa]

IT'S ON!!! (Though not like Donkey Kong as he is lacking in this game)

As I don't know DKC2 as well, I can probably not help out ( =annoy you with pickyness) with this one. Though it's amazing as always and I'll surely try to tune in daily for this as well!

[Qyzbud]

Wowsers, I've got to do better at posting updates here.

I've been working away at a bunch of different map features and fixes, but first up...

Our Mainbrace Mayhem map has been updated — complete with its warp room and all bonus areas!



But that isn't the full experience... If you're feeling adventurous (and your computer isn't too near-death to do fun things), take a peek at the WINDY version below!

http://www.dkc-atlas.com/maps/dkc2/1-2-windy

I've recreated the movement of both the foreground and background clouds to match the in-game look (thanks for the feedback, Cyclone!). If that doesn't take you back to the holiday season of 1995, I don't know what will!

Among other bits and pieces, I've added music and the path indicator arrows to the Gangplank Galleon world map, fixed the "Select a map..." dropdown menu so that more locations are accessible, and I've also detailed the intricacies of the 75 Kremcoin cheat in the Kaptain's Kabin!

So there we go! Pirate Panic and Mainbrace Mayhem are both complete — Gangplank Galley gets the upgrade treatment next!

[Qyzbud]

Our Gangplank Galley map has been updated! — complete with warp room and all Bonus Areas!



As well as the typical updates of animated bananas, smooth, game-like frame rates and extra rooms you've come to expect, this revamped map features a dynamic sunset effect scripted by Kingizor; wherever your mouse cursor moves to along the map, the lighting will adjust to mimic how it looks in-game!

In addition, I've started adding more info to the room labels (which now gracefully fade away to improve the view when the rooms aren't hovered over), and have provided a (Short URL) link to make sharing these maps a little easier and tidier.

All feedback is welcome, so don't be shy if you have suggestions, etc.

[Kimi Kong]

How could i have missed all of these!!!!!??

[Lanky Kong]

Beautiful, Masterpiece.

My fav game all the time gets the (most deserved) special mapguide cache.

10/10 Nextgen graphics.

[spaceman2028]

You alright, Qyzbud? It's been a few weeks and I haven't seen an update yet...

[Qyzbud]

All is well, spaceman2028. Map updates have been happening daily — as per the countdown timer atop the forum — I'm just a bit behind on the publicity side of things.

Currently Kingizor and I are working on a version of our Lockjaw's Locker map with water that rises and falls dynamically:

Lockjaw's Locker map with dynamic water movement (WIP)



I wanted to get this feature working just right before posting about it, but have had various technical difficulties, distractions with other mapping duties, etc, so it's only just becoming presentable. I really ought to have just kept posting updates as new maps were available, but I kept thinking I'd get it sorted out quickly. Oh well.

Maps updated since my last post:

• Crocodile Isle (overworld) Now has animated water and access to Crocodile Cauldron.
• Lockjaw's Locker (standard version) is up, with all areas available, and secret passages shown on overlay #1
• Topsail Trouble is up, with all areas available, featuring in-game weather effects
• Krow's Nest is up, much to Diddy's terror. Basic wind effect appears here, too.
• Crocodile Cauldron world map has been added, as mentioned above.
• Hot-Head Hop has been updated (no additional areas yet), and has an animated background and more game-like lava bubble speeds.

So yes, I've been incredibly slack regarding day-to-day update posts here on the forum (and Facebook, Twitter, etc), but at least the countdown itself is on track, and mapping is going strong. Hopefully I can break away from coding a bit more often from now on to keep you all in the loop.

[Lanky Kong]

I'm still stranged about the strange tri-box

[Qyzbud]

LONG-OVERDUE UPDATE!

Gangplank Galleon's levels are fully represented, and we've made a significant start on Crocodile Cauldron, too!



Topsail Trouble
Krow's Nest
Hot-Head Hop
Kannon's Klaim
Lava Lagoon

Apologies for the lack of updates; I've been working almost non-stop on the maps themselves during my waking hours, so it's been hard to find time to announce the progress! There's plenty of neat stuff to see, but rather than detailing all the features here, I'll let you discover them yourselves – that's what maps are for, right?

[Cyclone]

Great stuff man. Looking forward to future updates.

[sonosublime]

Amazing work!

[Drummin013]

I rarely post on here, but I've been looking forward to this project all year. So far everything looks awesome!

[Qyzbud]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. It's great to know all this work is appreciated!

[JadeRose]

I can't begin to describe how completely and utterly cool everything is looking so far. The music is such a nice touch, and the nostalgia is really poignant here. Keep at it, Qyzbud!

[Qyzbud]

Thanks, JadeRose! I'm very happy to hear that.

As y'all may have noticed, Lava Lagoon now has its warp room and Bonus Area in place. I've opted to give the Bonus Area an on-demand display mode so that it can be readily seen while browsing the map — just hover over the entrance and it'll appear.

Red-Hot Ride is the latest addition, and it'll soon have its Bonus Areas (and warp room) added, too! This level features an absurd number of terrain animations — 223 of them, by my count — which took a bit of work to put in place; do let me know if I've missed any!

I'm still hoping to find time to improve the atmosphere of the Crocodile Isle overworld map, which is in need of some livening up, and to give Clapper a bit more form, function and interactivity in Lava Lagoon, so hopefully these aspects will be taken care of before too long.

Thanks again for all the feedback!
Comments/replies, shares/retweets, likes/favourites and that sort of thing on Facebook and Twitter are much appreciated, too!

[Super Luigi!]

Well done, Qyzbud. I'm sorry I haven't been posting often. School started, and I had to adjust to it. Nevertheless, I'm glad to see all these maps. If nothing else, the finished product will certainly make a great birthday present.

[Qyzbud]

Thanks for that, Super Luigi! I'm way behind with my posting efforts, too.

Our Slime Climb map has just been updated — featuring water that looks more dynamic than usual, but is not responsive to mouse input (Edit: it is now!). I'll soon be giving the water's surface a more animated appearance, too.

These are the maps that have been brought to life since my last post:

Crocodile Cauldron

• 2-5 Squawks's Shaft (Try the enhanced version with glowing terrain and sparkly background!)
• 2-B Kleever's Kiln

Krem Quay

• 3-1 Barrel Bayou
• 3-2 Glimmer's Galleon (Try the enhanced version with game-like lighting! For modern, non-Microsoft browsers)
• 3-3 Krockhead Klamber
• 3-4 Rattle Battle
• 3-5 Slime Climb

There are lots of bits and pieces I want to improve (motion paths, interactivity and the like), but these maps are all miles ahead of the simple terrain graphics we previously had in place. I might be way behind with these written updates, but the mapping itself is on track and as active as ever.

[Simion32]

Nice job on the maps so far!

[PegasusMan]

I love what you guys are doing here! Just trying to think how hard it would be to actually create these levels makes me have a headache... Phenomenal job. Really.

[Lanky Kong]

()

[spaceman2028]

...What the heck is this beautiful render image i'm looking at, Lanky?

Good luck with future levels, Qyz!

[Qyzbud]

Looks like that image was plucked from our very own gallery! Credit to Cyclone for scanning it.

So, we've mapped Bramble Blast, all of Krazy Kremland and have reached Gloomy Gulch since my last post here? I'd like to say it was all mapping and no keyboard tapping, but as some of you are no doubt aware there has also been an almighty hosting upheaval to handle. Thankfully, we're safe and sound in our new home now, so my focus can return to mapping — and keeping you all updated.

Without further ado, here's the list of maps added/updated since I last posted here:

Krem Quay
3-6 Bramble Blast
3-B Kudgel's Kontest

Krazy Kremland
4-1 Hornet Hole
4-2 Target Terror
4-3 Bramble Scramble
4-4 Rickety Race
4-5 Mudhole Marsh
4-6 Rambi Rumble
4-B King Zing Sting

Gloomy Gulch
5-1 Ghostly Grove

Thanks to everyone who has given feedback on Facebook, Twitter, chat and right here. I look forward to having a bit more time now to polish these maps with the animations and extra attention to detail they deserve.

Check back soon for an ethereal x-ray examination of the spooktacular roller ghoster that is... Haunted Hall!

[Cyclone]

Great work

[Geno]

All these maps are looking great!!
(I can't wait for DKC3 to be updated as well, haha)

Although, one odd thing..
The Crocodile Isle world map is still acting as if Krazy Kremland is not complete, and the Gloomy Gulch map is completely inaccessible without manually typing in the URL for it

[Qyzbud]

Thanks, Geno! DKC3 will be good fun to map, I'm sure.

Thanks for the reminder about the need to bring the overworld map up to date; I've had a lot distracting me lately, but I'll take care of that now.

In the meantime, you can access Gloomy Gulch (and all other available level/world maps) using the "Select a map" drop down menu on any map page.

[Lanky Kong]

There is a glitch...

King Zing Sting still is consider to be 'unbeated' as a skull... while other bosses are cleared by Diddy.

[Qyzbud]

I suppose I should change it... I just like that skull icon too much.

Okay, it is done.

More importantly...

Our Gusty Glade map has been updated!


Kingizor has outdone himself by coding an excellent recreation of the wind effect seen in the level; not only does it look great, it also provides a handy guide to the windy conditions encountered in each and every part of the level! Due to the CPU-intensive nature of this effect it's disabled by default, so switch it on using the "Wind animation" checkbox to the right of the layer toggle buttons. From my tests, Microsoft's Edge browser does the best job of displaying the effect smoothly, but hopefully performance will be reasonable in most modern browsers.

Now, to take care of that extensive to-do list...

[Cyclone]

Awesome. I love this. Keep it going!

[Crammalamma]

I'll also point out that the link to the enhanced version of Squawks's Shaft is broken.

[Kingizor]

I believe there was some chatter around that time about how to differentiate the enhanced URLs from the normal ones. It seems like those links weren't updated, but the page can still be accessed here.

[Cyclone]

The Squawks Shaft animated background is great.