“All of our levels have been randomly generated by an AI that we designed. These levels can range from being really easy, to almost impossible.” If this was a two sentence preview, Jordan Fisher, Lead Developer, would’ve just done our job for us, because, on the face of it, that description is Cloudberry Kingdom in a nutshell. A randomly generated, impossible to crack nutshell. But as we plumb the depths of the Cloudberry world, we realise there’s so much more to say about the 2D platformer.
All of our levels have been randomly generated by an AI that we designed. These levels can range from being really easy, to almost impossible.”
The concept itself is fairly straightforward. Players explore an infinite amount of 2D side scrolling worlds with ‘heroes’ of varying ability, collecting crystals. It fits in perfectly with the recent resurgence of platform games that have dominated Steam, XBLA or the PSN, most of which are stylised tests in ingenuity and puzzle solving. It does however standout for its overt nostalgia. It’s a throwback to platform games of yesteryear where speed, timing and perseverance are skills you must wield, whilst playing in a perpetual state of rage.
Fisher was heavily influenced by early Mario games on the SNES, but often felt underwhelmed and wanting more every time he completed one of them. “Our biggest inspiration was from paying Mario 3 as children. We were pretty disappointed when we finally beat it, because we knew there wouldn’t be any more fun levels to play. 20 years later, we got our revenge and we made a platformer that will give us an infinite number of levels to play.”
Explaining how the infinite level algorithm worked he continued “basically, our level generator builds a level for us using a number of variables, and our AI checks to make sure that the level is possible. We’ve been adding to that algorithm for 4 years, tweaking it and adding obstacles, hero types, and other variables to make the most fun and interesting levels that we can find.”
The randomly generated ‘infinite’ levels range from straightforward to near-impossible. Aside from story mode, which has specially developed levels, there are infinite and randomly generated levels in both arcade and free play modes. In the free play option, players can customise the type of level they want to play from setting the amount of additional platforms such as clouds, falling blocks or elevators to assist you - to dictating the length of the each level and how to how many swinging maces or fireballs you’ll encounter. The AI algorithm does the rest from there and continually generates levels until you’ve had enough. It’s a similar situation in arcade mode except you don’t have the option to customise the level; instead you have to beat the clock in Time Crisis or battle through endless levels in Escalation.
For the majority of the customised levels, even on medium level difficulty, you’ll find yourself staring at the screen with your character stood motionless at the start of the level, wondering how on earth you’re supposed to make it to the end. The pause menu gives you three options to help you through; watch the computer run through the level, let the computer show you a path through the level or activate slow motion. The last two are only available if you’ve collected enough crystals (which you won’t have, if, like me, you’ve spent 20 minutes staring at your screen wondering how on earth you’re supposed to make it to the end).
The key to making the impossible levels, well, possible is to exploit some of the other characters with different abilities outside of jumping vertically. Some characters give you an extra ability, such as Jetman, who has a short-lived rocket propelled jetpack. Some characters have no discernible talent whatsoever , such as Hero in a Box, who is quite literally a hero in a cardboard box who is unable to move backwards or forwards. And some look like they’ve misunderstood Cloudberry Kingdom to be a sadomasochistic fringe festival, like Wheelie, a man that was chained to a giant stone wheel and had a jack-o’- lantern for a head.
It is in the characters where the true extent of the game’s variety presents itself. Although the ever-changing levels are the obstacles that you must overcome, it is the strengths and weaknesses of the characters that present the most difficult challenge. Each character jumps and runs in a different way, which means the player is continually adapting to a new mechanism. The gulf in ability between each character creates some wildly different experiences. This is a strangely addictive formula.; you’ll find yourself starting a free play level with the intention of trying out a new character, and end up 15 levels in trying to figure out how a man in a box can jump over a ring of fireballs.
Cloudberry Kingdom looks simplistic when you first boot it up but after an hour of gameplay you won’t even have scratched the surface. This is an insanely addictive and interesting game, and it can only get more complex with the addition of multiplayer and more characters – both things that Pwnee studios plans to create before Cloudberry Kingdom’s release on all formats later this year.
Jay McGregor is often labelled (by himself) 'the greatest human alive', a title he wears screen-printed onto a Fruit of the Loom t-shirt. Back on earth he's a freelance games and technology journalist. You can follow him on Twitter.
Source : ign[dot]com
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