DK Tropical Freeze 5-3 (Fruit Factory)

This is an awesome level which perfectly showcases what makes Tropical Freeze such a great game. The level is set in the 5th island, a colorful jungle environment where fruit is processed to make ice creams and it takes place in an automated factory. The developers managed to squeeze (pun intended) many gameplay mechanics into the level while keeping the theme consistent.

The level seems to be divided in 3 main parts:

• Introduction
• Development
• Conclusion

In the following sections we´ll go through each part and study all the challenges found in them, analyzing the design decissions behind them and trying to figure out how they fit in the bigger picture of the whole level, both thematically and mechanically.

Introduction

First challenge: Carnivorous plant introduction
The level starts in a long platform with no immediate danger. There is a breakable door on the left which hides a puzzle piece. To get it the player must grab a barrel and backtrack to the start of the level. This stablishes early enough that, even though the level has a lot of platforming, the player should also keep an eye open for secrets.
Just some steps forward the player must jump over a bottomless pits to another big platform. This platform features a plant that must be activated with the stomp attack. Doing so will stop DK on his tracks, right before the first enemy of the level: a carnivorous plant hanging on the ceiling. This is a very nice setup to hint the player to stop and take a look at the enemy from a safe spot.

Passing below this enemy is trivial, but will trigger it to attack downwards. There is also a barrel right after the enemy which will invite the player to go after it. All is set so the player has many reasons to advance without doubt, thus safely avoiding the plant´s attack. This way the player has learned the way the enemy works in a nice, safe environment.

Another simple jump will place the player before another plant, but this time the plant is on the ground and can freely move around. However, the player has many space to move and may even have picked up the barrel a few seconds before, so he should not have problems dealing with it. Even if he does get eaten by the plant, this will serve to teach the player the way to get out of it unscathed. The biggest threat of this type of enemy is to stop the player and make him waste some time, which may become tricky later in the level but is totally safe now. To get damaged, the player will have to ignore the button prompts for quite some time, so this can be considered another rather safe challenge. By the way, the barrel+carnivorous plant is a recurring theme in the level as we´ll see later.

A rope will ask the player to pull it to reveal an exploding barrel. This acts as a simple refresher so that when it comes up again later in the level the player can instantly recognize it. Getting into the barrel will blast the player to the next part of the level, signaling the end of the first challenge. Even though it´s separated by a small sequence the next part keeps on presenting new mechanics, so we´ll thematically consider it  as a follow-up of the first section and part of the level introduction as well.

Second challenge: Conveyor belts and knives introduction
The player lands on another safe platform, with fruit being transported above him. A golden right to the left reveals some hidden bananas. Again, the game is using this safe spot to remind the player to stay on the look for secrets, but the main intent seems to be to give him enough time to recognize that something is also going on at the top of the screen.

The next part features a rather long challenge and it introduces many new elements at the same time, but manages to do it gradually. First, the player jumps on a conveyor belt. The conveyor belt moves to the right and the fruit that falls from the ceiling impedes the player´s advance, thus allowing him to acknowledge the situation. The fruit can be jumped on allowing access to a platform where some bananas and a golden coin can be collected. This platform is guarded by two penguins, which can easily be taken care of with any of the moves in DK´s arsenal. This platform also grants a safe spot to watch more carefully the next mechanic. But before that, it´s important to note that the presence of the penguins signals that the player must expect to encounter them throughout the level. It´s also noteworthy that these 2 penguins are of the least dangerous variety.

The next obstacle is a big knife that will come down cutting everything on it´s way. The fruit is a big help here, as it will signal exactly the moment the knife comes down. The player can walk between two pieces of fruit, or just stick to one and he´ll get through safely. However, the next jump poses the first real challenge of the level: a wide bottomless pit. The player must jump on the fruit to gain some extra height that´ll allow him to make the jump. The fruit is wide enough and there is sufficient space after the knife, so even though the challenge seems complex at first, it is in fact pretty easy and any player who´s managed to make it this far in the game will have no problem making it. The challenge continues with another conveyor belt, this time moving to the left, with another knife at the end of it. Some bananas will promp the player to jump, teaching him an easy way to move on conveyor belts that move to the left.

This conveyor belt leads to a bottomless pit, and right after that another conveyor belt (moving to the right) with a knife close to it´s beginning. There is also a flying owl over the bottomless pit, which will allow the player some margin of error. The second knife triggers before the first one and strikes 3 times in quick succession. Thanks to the slow advance due to the conveyor belt moving to the left, the player naturally gain some time to assess the situation. After watching one or 2 repetitions it´s easy to determine the correct moment to jump but even if a mistake is made the owl allows acts as a safety net. The conveyor belt moving to the right helps in quickly passing under the knife as well. This conveyor belt is a long one, featuring a smaller one  on the middle with the first KONG letter guarded by a fire owl. Getting this letter is easy, as the owl is above the smaller conveyor belt so the player can safely come up with a plan from a safe location and wait for the owl to power down before going for the letter. Note that this, as all KONG letters in the game, is an optional route.

The long conveyor belt ends with another knife which strikes twice, followed by a short jump over a bottomless pit with a flying owl (which again is more a help than an obstacle) and a solid platform with a companion barrel. There is a walrus throwing fish with an arc motion, but the platform, the fish trajectory and speed allows them to easily be dodged. The nice thing however is that the conveyor belt will give the player some momentum, so it´s actually easy to just be carried away into jumping forward, which will allow the player to get through the walrus. This small section is really nicely timed and is a very nice example of how the game works best when trying to keep momentum instead of stopping at every chance.
If the walrus wasn´t enough (it takes 3 hits to kill or a barrel hit) there is also a plant that will grant the player some collectibles. The platform where the plant is located is also wide enough, so everything is designed to hint the player that he should stop here and take a breath. It also comes very naturaly to do so after the long challenge he just had to get through. This platform marks the end of the second challenge.

Third challenge: Spiked devices introduction
The safe platform allows the player to study the next obstacle featuring another new mechanic: a spiked device that repeteadly swings forward and backwards on a conveyor belt.

Note that there is a group of bananas over the device, hinting that jumping over it can help get through this challenge. There is also enough space to duck under it, but the conveyor belt (moving to the left) makes this option not feasible: the player must learn to time his jump. The device foretells it´s actions with a little shake up with enough time to react, so it isn´t too difficult even the first time. Besides, the player already had all the time he wished to study it from a safe platform. Another solid platform is next, guarded by a penguin with helmet. The platform is wide enough to allow to easily get rid of him. There is a golden coin high in the air prompting the player to bounce on the penguin, which will disable the little critter and allow DK to grab it. A fire owl is next, so the helmet penguin will actually become a help rather than a real threat for those who can take advantage of DK´s moveset by using it to safely get rid of the owl without directly engaging it.

Fourth challenge: Drill introduction
Another conveyor belt (moving to the left) awaits, giving way to a big vertical drill:

The conveyor belt helps the player get some time to take a look at this new obstacle and the camera also zooms out a bit to get  a better view of the situation. The drill can be surpassed by waiting for the right time to go under it or by jumping on it when it comes down. Whichever option the player takes will take him to another conveyor belt moving to the right, which will push the player towards a knife. There is enough space for the player to stop safely though. However, the knife will block the way until the player pulls the rope located high above the conveyor belt. This knife is acting as a permanente device to the block the player´s advance and not in the usual way this mechanic appears in the level. The rope can´t be reached with a normal jump, so the player will have to discover that he can jump on the drills if he didn´t realize it the first time.

Pulling the rope will stop the knife, allowing the player to quickly get through another drill. This is where a nice example of the awesome design in this game takes place: the challenge of having to pull the rope felt a bit out of place the first time, but it was nothing but a smart trick to teach the player to jump on drills, which has an immediate use and another that will come later. Doing so in the second one will get the player to a secret room where he can collect some bananas and a puzzle piece. There is always a reason even behind the most out of place situations in this game.

The challenge ends with the last conveyor belt and a small jump to the first checkpoint.

Fifth challenge A: Fruit platform introduction
This challenge introduces a new wonderful mechanic: fruit platforms! This is a great mechanic gameplaywise, but it´s also masterfully implemented in the level´s theme. The floor is filled with saws (a bottomless pit would have sufficed). Oranges will roll towards them from the background (another unnecessary detail). The saws will pierce the oranges, throwing small pieces upwards at set locations (we´ll come back to this later). Big pieces of fruit will fly upwards, hover in place a bit and fall towards the saws. All these unnecesarry details serve to place the mechanic inside the level´s setting in a superb way. It´s really commendable how Retro went the extra mile to make the player feel he´s really traversing a fruit factory. But all these cosmetic stuff wouldn´t be so impressive if they didn´t mix with gameplay as well as they do: The saws in the floor act as bottomless pit and show clearly that you want to stay away from them. The oranges in the background set the timing with which the pieces of fruit will appear and disappear. The big pieces of fruit act as platforms. The small pieces that get blown from the saws point the locations from which the big platforms will rise...everything works together beatifully, making it impossible to separate the theme from gameplay. Other mechanics in the level are also dressed with the theme, but nothing comes close to how every detail works together in this setting.

The fruit platforms will trigger when the player gets close to the border of the solid platform. This allows him to jump right away, which makes spedrunning possible without having to resort to trial and error. Also, it completely eliminates dead times, so that if the player dies he won´t have to wait even for a second for the platforms to get on the right position. This first challenge consists of just two platforms with a simple jump between them. The timing is set perfectly so the player can jump right away to the first platform, or if he chooses to wait he will see what´s going on instantly, reducing waiting times. Also, the framing is set so that both platforms are visible. A group of bananas up high are also visible, hinting at the path to follow. Careful players will also be able to see the border of a conveyor belt, so the player can get all the necessary information about the challenge with a little observation. But even if he decides to go for it the first time, the bananas will guide him successfully. This is how the introduction to new mechanics should be done. Also, this mechanic continues with the level´s theme of waiting for the right moment to jump, though adding now more contraints as the target of the player´s jump is only available for a short moment.
The challenge continues on a conveyor belt with a carnivorous plant on the ceiling. The conveyor belt moves to the left, thus providing a nice pause after the hardest part of the challenge and helping the player stop momentum and get his feet on the ground. A circle of bananas is set as a small optional challenge. They can all be collected with a single jump to spawn a golden coin, but the player must keep an eye out for the plant on the ceiling as it´ll try to eat the player. The challenge ends with a simple jump to a small solid platform, which will trigger another flying fruit sequence.

Fifth challenge B: Fruit platform test
Up until know, all mechanics have been introduced with a small challenge followed by a slightly harder one, so that´s why we should consider the following challenge as another part of the previous one.
This challenge starts exactly like the previous one, but after those already known 2 platforms things start to get interesting. It´s nice to have this throwback so the player can start with confidence and be prepared to expect something else. At one point the platforms will force a jump to the left, which is easily predictable if the player has learnt the way the mechanic works and identifies the hint of the small pieces signaling where the platforms will appear. The second KONG letter is located right before the last jump to a barrel and is easy to get, though not going after it with decission can make you fail the challenge.

The purpose of this challenge is to make sure that the player has grasped how the fruit platform mechanic works, as he will need this knowledge to triumph in what´s coming next.

The first crysis
The barrel propers the player to the depths of the fruit factory, where a giant spinning column of blades is waiting for him:

A door will block the way forward as the blades accelerate, rising the tension. After a few seconds the door will slowly open and allow the player to push forward. The player will have to navigate through some simple jumps, with the added tension and difficulty of the pursuing blades.

The third KONG letter can be collected here, forcing the player to put his nerves to the test as the blades approach, effectively making go towards the blades in a nice subversion of the persecution challenge´s concept:

This section felt a bit random, with many mechanics that haven´t appeared before in the level (fire shooting penguin, swinging platforms...), though they are easy to identify and have already appeared in previous levels. My guess is that the developers wanted to to rise the tension and create this crysis moment, for which the rest of the mechanics of the level might not work properly as they are timing-based and may not flow as nicely under the constant pressure to keep advancing (they actually do when you try to speedrun, but in that case it´s teh player who´s setting a faster pace by himself). In this persecution sequence, the player needs to move fast, so it clashes with how the other mechanics have been used up until now, teaching the player to take his time and wait for the right moment to jump.

The last part of this sequence will pit the player against a penguin with a blunt helmet and another with a horned one (which will damage the player if he jumps on it) on a smaller platform. There is enough space in the small platform to deal with the second penguin with the stomp attack, however the player can also bounce on the first penguin, grab it and throw it to safely take care of the horned one. This is a sequence that, when played correctly, will make the player feel great.

Another barrel awaits at the end to propel the player to the next checkpoint, thus putting an end to the first part of the level.

Introduction - summary
The introduction section presented a bunch of new mechanics, giving the spotlight to each of them separately and following with a simple challenge to reinforce what is being taught, so the player has the chance to get familiar with them. These mechanics are:

1. Carnivorous plants: We learnt that they can appear both on the ground or in the ceiling, that they can move around, attack horizontally or vertically and that more than dealing damage they slow you down.
2. Conveyor belts: We learned that they can move to the right or to the left. The ones that move to the left can be used to time jumps nicely and to safely observe what is ahead, while the ones moving to the right can provide a nice boost in speed to get through some tricky parts.
3. Knives: We learnt that they have a cyclic period, that each can work differently and that some may even require additional actions to get through them.
4. Spiked devices: We learnt that they are periodic, that they signal when they are going to move and that we can jump over them.
5. Drills: We learnt that they also move cyclicly and that we can go under them or jump on them to reach higher places.
6. Fruit platforms: We learnt that the sequence triggers when the player gets close, that small pieces of fruit will signal the location of the next platform and that the player must wait for the right moment to act.

That´s six new mechanics, which frankly is quite a lot! However, almost all of them are really periodic devices that test the player´s abbility to choose the right moment to jump to a static target. Also, most of them are really different modifyers of conveyor belts: if the player learns to correctly use the conveyor belts he should have no problem in getting over all the challenges in the level. Fruit platforms are another variant with vertical movement instead of horizontal, but the skill theme of timing a jump to a static target remains the focus. 

Development

Things start to get serious now! The first part of the level introduced each mechanic with a simple challenge, then expanded upon it to make sure the player had understood how it worked. In this second the challenges focus on one of these mechanics and rise the complexity.

Sixth challenge: Spiked devices revisited
Right after the checkpoint the player is met by three conveyor platforms: each one in a different direction (left-right-left) with two synchronized spiked devices on them:

This is a very interesting challenge, as there are many ways to get through it. The player can follow the bananas and coin and time his jump so he rises above both devices as they close towards the center. Another option is to take advantage of the medium conveyor belt moving right and crouching to safely get under both devices. Also, the moment when the player takes on the first jump can change the challenge a lot. He may try to jump over the first device as it moves to the left, though he´ll need some speed to do so as the conveyor platform will kill his momentum. Or he can wait for the spike to move to the left and quickly cross the conveyor belt with two small jumps. The way he gets through this part will affect the timing of the second device, changing the challenge. Also, the last conveyor belt may look like  a safe place at first, but the second device can in fact hit the player if he stays there. If the player uses advances techniques like boosting, he can even discover other ways to beat this part.
With a rather simple layout, the designers created a very nice challenge which can be replayed several times while still feeling fresh.
Above this challenge there is a set of platforms with a carnivorous plant that guard a Puzzle Piece, but it´s a rather simple challenge. However it adds some variation and an exploration component, which gets amplified by there being a secret exit hidden up there as well. It´s a very nice addition that adds another dimension to the challenge.

Minichallenge
Before the next proper challenge there is a very cool setpiece:

A penguin shooting fish, a barrel and a carnivorous plant on the ceiling allow the player to make a cool combination of moves: bounce on the fish, grab the barrel, bounce on the penguin to gain height, throw the barrel to kill the plant and get a companion power up in the process. Very cool! Note that once again, the designers have placed a barrel close to a carnivorous plant. In fact, we had another barrel right before the walrus in challenge #2, which is another enemy who takes 3 hits to kill. The level is telling us that whenever we find a barrel, it may be a good idea to save it for a powerful enemy close by.

Seventh challenge: Drills revisited
This is followed by another simple challenge which just serves to introduce spiked fruit and uses carnivorous plants and a new type of moving platform which in fact is the horizontal variation of the drills seen in the third challenge. The purpose of this challenge is to add some variation and introduce spiked fruit, as the previous and next challenges both revolve around conveyor belts and spiked devices. Thehorizontal drills work very similarly to the vertical ones, allowing the player to safely stand close to the blade.

Eighth challenge: Farewell, spiked devices
This is the last challenge using spiked devices and it´s an awesome reinterpretation of the first challenge featuring spiked devices:

A long conveyor plantform moving left transports piled fruit, with 3 spiked devices at different heights destroying the topmost ones. The player has to move against the conveyor belt while jumping on the fruit to gain height, all while keeping an eye on the spiked devices. This is a very intelligent way to say goodbye to this mechanic as it will test everything the player has learned about it. An important observation to make is that the originality of this challenge isn´t a consequence of adding more elements, but of modifying simple variables like the conveyor belt direction and the height of  both the spiked devices and the fruit (which is just the result of setting the exit point of the challenge at a high point). The number of elements is almost irrelevant, as the player takes on them sequentially, which each one being different than the previous one.


Ninth challenge: Farewell, knives and conveyor belts
The time for knives and conveyor belts to leave the level has come, but they´ll do so with a bang.

The challenge is made of 4 alternating conveyor belts and groups of knives with different timings, forcing the player to stop and fight the conveyor platforms between each jump. This challenge really puts to the test the player´s abbility to navigate conveyor belts so it makes a lot of sense for it to be placed so late in the level. The last platform features a long set of seven knives which fall down in sequence, so the player must rush through it. The conveyor belt will help with this dash, resulting in a very nice final sprint to put an end to the challenge.

It´s really cool to roll under the knives while they fall down just a hair behind you! It´s a very cathartic moment and the best possible way to say goodbye to knives and conveyor belts. I found this is a very nice resource to use in levels where the player has had to suffer through a menacing object through all the level: place a final challenge where the player has to get through many of them in a flashy way, maybe even allowing him to destroy them and give them a wel earned payback.

Final crysis (or is it?)
The player will be blasted to another escape sequence which, after some simple platforming and some time consuming obstacles (which are placed there just to create tension as the column of blades approaches) will give way to another fruit platform challenge:

Once again, the first 2 platforms are exactly the same as in the 2 previous fruit platform challenges, except for a spiked fruit jumping inbetween them. However this fruit is only there to warn the player, as it´s placed in a location where just jumping to the second platform will clear it without any additional considerations. In fact, this section is the same ad the previous one with 2 small variations:

1. There are 3 additional smaller platforms.
2. There are spiked balls jumping between them at different heights.

Again, this familiarity allows the player to easily get through the first part of the challenge and gain some confidence to take on the final part.

The designers used this trick through all the level, slowly adding new stuff and making small tweaks to previous challenges to create something that feels and plays very differently. This way the challenges stay fresh, the level feels like there is a ton of content, there is a lot of variety and at the same time the player feels like he´s getting better at every step and getting familiar with all the mechanics.

After this sequence the player will get on a barrel to blast to the goal of the level. But there´s still one surprise left:

The goal is pulled upwards, making you miss it! It´s a very nice touch how the camera frames the action as is this screen marks the boundaries of the level, only to follow you as you fall down to the true last sequence.

Conclusion

The player will fall on a big piece of fruit that is being pierced by saws, showing no place to go...

until the fruit explodes and small platforms start flying everywhere!

Again, one of the level´s mechanics is tweaked by changin it into a vertical section instead of an horizontal one, completely changing the feel of it. The player can climb through the left of right paths, with the right being more natural and easier. The last Puzzle Piece can be found on the left path and it´s masterfully hinted at by previous platforms having bananas first, then coins. Even during the final challenge, the player must stay on the look for secrets!

Getting to the top will make the player reach the goal and beat this awesome level.

Some words on enemies

There are a lot of different enemy types used in the level, not counting the carnivorous plants:

1. Normal penguin
2. Helmet penguin
3. Spiked helmet penguin
4. Archer penguin
5. Firey archer penguin
6. Owl
7. Fire Owl
8. Walrus

However, none is used inside any challenge that makes use of the level´s mechanics, except for optional challenges (like the fire owl guarding the first KONG letter) and the first flying owl which acts like a safety net. The rest of the enemies are placed between challenges. I think the developers intended to use them to add more variety between challenges instead of simple plain walk sections or other jumping sections which may either crash with the timing theme or double down on it, making the level more repetitive. Enemies are great for this, as some act as moving targets though requiring a totally different jumping strategy from the main one in the level, which uses static targets. Others require different actions like using the stomp attack, bouncing repeteadly, or grabbing and throwing stuff. The will to add variety explains the many different types of enemies as well. It´s clear that enemies are not a focus on the level, as most of them are placed outside from the natural path and can easily be ignored. For the most troubling enemies (like the Walrus, some carnivorous plants or the spiked helmet penguin on a small platform) the player is given a barrel or a throwable enemy right before them, so he can easily take them out. Any other enemy placed directly in the natural path as an obstacle can in fact become a great help for speedruns. A very good example of this is the helmet penguin before the spiked helmet one: instead of throwing it to the spiked one the player can bounce on it and, with enough speed, get over the spiked one saving some previous time. Not a single detail has been placed randomly!

Final thoughts

The same 6 mechanics seen in the first part of the level are used in different and varied ways through the level, following a formula of introduction-reinforcement-final test. The chase sequences help with shaking up the flow of the level, adding tension at the right moments to keep the level from becoming stale and nicely separating it´s main parts. This is more important than it seems, as most challenges require the player to wait for the right moment to jump, so pushing him forward is a nice change. However, note that this is only used twice in what I think is a very smart decission, as throwing in more of this sections could´ve made the level´s pace too hectic and directionless. A simplified layout of the level would be something like:

• Part 1: Introduction + reinforcement challenge
• Knives-Spiked device-Fruit platform chase sequence.
• Part 2: Developed mechanics
• Spiked device-Knives-Fruit platform chase sequence.
• Part 3: Final exam
• Vertical fruit platform chase sequence.

Even though there are many different mechanics, all of them rely on the same skill: timing. The player just has to choose the best moment to jump. Conveyor belts complicate things with it´s horizontal movement, while fruit platforms follow the same principle vertically, but not even once in the level the player is forced to jump on an horizontally moving target, except when dealing with enemies, which was already covered int he previous section. Conveyor belts are static and fruit platforms only move vertically, so the target location of the jumps is clear; it´s all about timing. This is what makes this level work and have a nice continuity even with all the different mechanics: the player is always executing the same basic skill. It´s all about timing.

Character Bio: Li Neko the Necromancer

• Direction: South.
• Name: Li Neko.
• Nick Name: Li the Necromancer, Death´s Lover.
• Sex: Female.
• Animal: Cat.
• Color: Pink/Purlple.
• Virtue: Love.
• Power: Necromancy, spiritual energy syphoning and manipulation.
• Season: Summer.
• Region: Love Carnival, Living Death Land.
• Theme: Carnival, fair, cemetery.

Personality

Li Neko is a female cat which uses Egyptian symbology and aesthetics. Due to the nature of her powers, her age is unkwon and is said to even be one of the original Virtues. Time has slowly affected her, by forcing her to live in an endless cycle where she has to say goodbye time and time again to everyone dear to her as they die of natural causes, while she keeps on living without aging a day. As a result, Li Neko is a very sensible and unbalanced creature. Being the virtue of love, her natural inclination to hold affect to those around her has turned into a curse she can´t escape. This has made her shut down to the other virtues and rely only on the companionship of those who will never leave her: her resurrected dear ones. These actions creep out the other virtues and in turn, they´ve all decided to stay away from her, thus strengthening the feeling of loneliness Li feels, as zombies are nothing but memories of the ones she once loved and can´t provide the real companionship a living being would.

Li has realized this and she´s become bitter towards her zombies, seeing them as reminders of all she´s lost and won´t be getting back, to the point of not allowing them to enter the cemetery where their real bodies rest and taking it upon herself to keep it clean and tidy. She passes all her days there, remembering the past days when she wasn´t alone.

Powers

Li is the most versed virtue in the manipulation of Spiritual Energy. She has developed many incredible techniques that allow her to perform some amazing features. She is known most of all for her abbility to resurrect anyone as a zombi under her control. She can also extract the Spiritual Energy from any living being and use it to launch huge energy blasts, create energy shields, fade her physical body, create illusions, materialize energy as weapons...Truly, no one is able to even come close to her mastery when manipulating the otherwise unstable Spiritual Energy.

But perhaps her most lethal ability is to dematerialize her body and mix it with the Spiritual Energy flowing through her region, allowing her to be in all places at all times and directly manipulate everything even from big distances to savagely attack intruders. This has made the South Region earn the nickname of "The Living Death Land".

Setting

Li is trapped in a fictional happy past where she was hapy with her friends and dear ones. Her pain of losing so many loved ones has made her turn her region into a dead zone where no living creature roams. She´s come to see death as a celebration, as a rite of passing for someone to become a zombi and keep her company forever. As such, she´s turned the whole region into a carnival with many colors and places to enjoy her time with ther zombies., crowned with a cheerfully decorated cemetery. However time passes and her initial joy steadily turned into disdain, so today the carnival is far from it´s prime and looks rather spooky. The cemetery however is under her direct supervision and not a day passes since everything is cleaned up and conditioned, perhaps a testimony of how much Li still loves her dear ones and wants to preserve their memory. Pity the fool who may lay a feet on this sacred tribute to their memory!

The zombies

The zombies will need to be funny! They´re not really bad, they´ve been stripped of what made them "human" and only follow Li´s commands...But they care for her and are full of sorrow to see what she has become and how sad she is. They´ve spent hundreds of years trying to cheer her up and thus, now all their actions are comical out of the habit. They´ll be using many circus-related apparel to attack the player, constantly trying to kill him...or make him laugh! The final objective of the zombies is to make Kitsune understand the problems of Li and try to sympathize with her, maybe even becoming her firend and saving her from loneliness.

Story

Li was attacked by one of the Black Masks but she had no problem in reducing it before it was even close to her thanks to her Living Death Land. When she was about to destroy the Black Mask, something surprised her: this being wasn´t purely alive, but it clearly was alive in some sense! Puzzled by this, Li discovered that the Black Mask was in fact made by dark energy and thus, she wouldn´t be able to resurrect it as a zombi if she destroyed it. Knowing everything about Li, the Black Mask used this opportunity to present itself as the manifestation of Li´s greatest wish: an eternal companion that, like her, couldn´t die and would be with her forever. Not a mindless zombi, but something with a mind of it´s own. Trembling with emotion, Li accepted the Black Mask and allowed it to become one with her.

This is a situation completely different to that of the other Virtues: Li has accepted the Black Mask of her own free will, which allows the Black Mask to amplify her powers even more than normally. But, as the Black Mask hasn´t really subdued Li´s mind and taken control, Li can´t be forced or manipulated to do anything she isn´t willing to; it´s a symbiotic relationship.

However, the Black Mask has enouraged Li to finally set in motion a plan that could destroy all of the Spirit World: by gathering an immense amount of Spiritual Energy Li may be able to perform a real resurrection and bring back all her loved ones. This poses some serious risks: first of all it would disrupt the life cycle and no one, not even Li herself, knows of the repercussions this could have. And secondly...in order to gather the insurmountable amount of required energy Li would need to syphon all the energy from every living creature in the Spirit World!

Locations

• Love Carnival: A colorful, creepy carnival. Heart signs and cheerful decorations, but washed out by time. Blinking lights, dust, broken decorations...
• Cemetery: A clean and beatiful cemetery. Lots of decorative vegetation, statues...Huge contrast with the dark and moody tones of the other settings.
• Abandoned temple: The love temple has been abandoned and is in a pitiful, crumbling state. Li has moved her residence to the cemetery and has neglected her duties as guardian of the Seed of Love...but not completely, as a strong barrier of Spiritual Energy still blocks the path to the chamber where the seed is located. This location will be visited 2 times: a first time where the empty temple will be slowly crumbling over Kitsune. When she reaches the boss chamber it will be empty as well and the energy barrier will block her path forward. The floor will crumble and Kitsune will fall to the secret exit of the level. This exit will take her to the tower, where after some levels she´ll fight Li in the cemetery. After the fight, Li will take Kitsune to the Temple and dispel the barrier, allowing her to take the seed. 

Level ideas:

A constant through the region will be the Living Death Land: Li will present herself to Kitsune as soon as she enter the South region and manipulate the land to hinder Kitsune´s advance.

• Energy stealing: Kitsune will constantly lose spiritual energy, once the counter is depleted she will die. The Astral Palm powerUp greatly reduces the rate at which energy is stolen, but to regain energy Kitsune must beat the zombies she finds along the way. Zombies are immune to Astral attacks and can only be beaten with the Shadow Edge.
• Ferris wheel: Set in the Love Carnival, a series of differently sized and poorly maintained Ferris wheels. Circular platform of different radius + falling platforms.
• Roller Coaster: A roller coaster level. The platforms will be of different lengths and some will fall off. The crisis could make the roller coaster crumble and Kitsune escape by running on a single wheel.
• Love Parade: A parade of floats made by the zombies themselves! The floats should tell Li´s story, how in the beginning she had lots of friends but as time passed by they all turned old and died, leaving her alone. This will be their way of making the player understand what she´s through. Gameplay-wise the level will focus on the zombies, giving them all kinds of crazy artifacts to attack the player. The level will be focused on combat and every float will be a small bossfight against one or several zombies. Ideas for attacks and equipment:
• Blackboard and nails: A zombi that scratches his nails on a blackboard, producing an irritating sound that will paralyze Kitsune.
• Cold water buckets: Buckets will cold water, if one falls on Kitsune it will temporarily paralyze her. The zombies could follow up with somekind of electrical device malfunctioning and electrocuting her. Maybe using a defibrillator on a zombi to electrify him and make him follow the player through some platform layout. The wet platforms (from the water in the buckets) could conduct electricity, so the player must avoid being in the same platform as the electrified zombi. Maybe another zombi could be pulling a level to powerUp the electrified zombi and the player can get rid of this one to make the electrified one powerless.
• Cake fighting: Zombies will throw cakes at the player. If a cake hits, the player will loose visibility for some time and may get hit.

Character Bio: Commander Gen Kabuto

• Direction: North East.
• Name: Gen Kabuto.
• Nick Name: Commander Gen, Iron Fist Gen, The Tactician of the Thousand Tricks.
• Sex: Male.
• Animal: Stag Beetle.
• Color: Green.
• Virtue: Courage.
• Power: Infinite Weapons.
• Season: Spring.
• Region: Diamond Jungle.
• Theme: Commando, weapon factory.

Gen is a Stag Beetle which lives in the North-Eastern Diamond Jungle. Gen takes too seriously his reponsibility to take care of his region, so he has established an army-like structure and doesn´t hesitate to attack anyone who may trespass into his domains uninvited, even if it´s another fellow Virtue. Treats his subordinates with an iron hand, but is well known for always leading battles from the front lines and protecting his comrades. Thanks to this, all the creatures living in the Diamond Jungle are really grateful to him and even the most peaceful ones will fight if Gen ever asks for their help. Kitsune´s carefree way of doing things always puts him on his nerves, so they don´t have a good relationship and Gen preffers to keep his distance.

Gen is the Virtue of courage, which manifests in his power as his ability to use a thousand different weapons. Gen always has a trick up his sleeve and never gives up, which has made him prevail over stronger opponents many times in the past. He uses the vast resources of the Diamond Jungle to create many different weapons, ranging from simple bow and arrows to laser guns or giant bazookas. He is also a master tactician, which added to his vast selection of weapons and tricks make him a formidable foe. He´s said to never have lost a fight, but he preffers to say that he´s just won when it was necessary. Rumors say he even beat Sun* once.

After being possessed by the black mask, Gen has started gathering all the resources form the Diamond Jungle at an alarming pace and has begun building an enormous fortress. All the inhabitants of the North Eastern region have been mobilized and Gen´s army is now greater than ever. His intentions are not clear, some say he´s preparing an invasion of the nearby regions, other says he´s just building up better defenses for his people...Kitsune will have to get into this hostile territory and find out the truth from Gen himself.

*Sun: Virtue of Loyalty, master of Chen (Kitsune, Virtue of Justice) and Tui (Ookami, Virtue of Honor) and said to be the most powerful of the 8 Virtues.

Level layout

This region will feature 4 levels:

Incursion: Level set in the Diamond Jungle, where Kitsune will have to face different traps set by Gen and his soldiers.

Desolation: This level will be set in a Diamond Jungle where the trees are begin cut down by giant saws. Kitsune will meet Gen´s right hand here and they´ll have their first face off.

Road Warriors: This level will be strongly inspired by Contra 3´s motorcycle level (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GEtNfdObx8). Gen´s troops will use all kinds of crazy devices, including some giant flying airships, to transport the cutdown diamond trees. Kitsune will have to jump on the trunks and even take to the skies to take down a huge airship controlled by Gen´s right hand.

Weapon factory: A mechanized factory where the diamond trees were being transported to. Here the trees will be transformed into different weapons. Gen´s right hand will try to stop Kitsune once again.

Assault: Kitsune will assault the fortress, starting with an approaching sequence outside similar in ryhtm to Metal Slug 3´s final mission (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGzLIvyHVqY). The idea is to have a long, action-packed level where Gen´s right hand will attack Kitsune repeteadly using different tactics. When Kitsune reaches the depths of the fortress and corners Gen´s righthand, Gen himself will come forward and face Kitsune, symbolyzing that even under the black mask´s control, Gen will still defend his subordinates.

**Will update this entry with some concept art**