Donkey Kong Country Revisted (Fangame)

As a fan of the DKC series since they first came out, as a child I always wanted to create my own version of the game. Same gameplay but my own worlds/levels/bosses etc. I used to make huge books with level plans and game ideas since the age of 11.

It wasn't until much later, when I was 16 back in 2002, that I decided to program my own DK engine from scratch using Visual Basic 6. So no assistance from game-making engines like MMF2 or Construct etc but just purely coded from scratch. Some 1000 sprite frames, 5000 lines of code, and a month later, things got really messy and unmanageable and I realised that I had stepped into something I couldn't practically complete. The result, although glitchy and a way off the gameplay mechanics of the original, was still pretty impressive to me at the time.

Anyway, many years later I started playing all the DKC series again on SNES and got my hands on those childhood books again. Stumbled upon this site and decided to give the whole make-your-own-DKC-clone another go, this time I feel lazy so instead of programming it from the ground up, I'm using Construct Classic. What I want is to finally realise my childhood vision.

Updated 2012-11-14

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Thanks for reading/watching! Please share your thoughts...!

Nice engine, very similar to the original! I can't wait to play this.

Are you going to use some 3D program to make new enemies and stuff?

Thanks Ciro.

I have no idea how to make sprites/use 3D software. So for now the idea is just to re-use existing enemies and collectibles, but I will be incorporating stuff from all three games to make up for the lack of new stuff.

Looks like a great start. Was the first game my brother got for his SNES when we were kids, I have fond memories of this series.

I would hope to see some new enemies and stages and bosses though... Have you considered posting in the Help Wanted section to find someone to help with making new sprites?

Thanks. I will do my best to be creative with bosses and level backgrounds, but I dunno about enemy sprites. I have looked on a DKC fansite forum and there are a lot of talented sprite artists there, but in terms of creating a new enemy from scratch, I fear it won't look consistent with the rest of the enemies and will ruin the overall effect. To somewhat make up for lack of new enemies I plan to incorporate a mixture of enemies from all three games.

I've updated the video in the OP with my latest progress.

Nice, but the implication that using Construct = lazy, is way off base.

What people tend to not realize is that programming with event-based systems can be as simple or complex as you make them. I've seen people create event code/expression combinations with these systems that are so complex that it would've been easier to do the exact same thing in a programming language, yet you have to admire the person's willingness to take the program to another level.

Nice, but the implication that using Construct = lazy, is way off base.

What people tend to not realize is that programming with event-based systems can be as simple or complex as you make them. I've seen people create event code/expression combinations with these systems that are so complex that it would've been easier to do the exact same thing in a programming language, yet you have to admire the person's willingness to take the program to another level.

I totally agree that there are various events/conditions that can end up being very complex, and there are several just like that in my game that would be much simpler in code. But by lazy, I just meant that not programming from scratch means I don't have to manage 1000s of individual PNG images or code 2D physics, control frames, animations and timings, and manage DirectX objects or API calls all manually. I can safely say Construct saved me a lot of time and effort, and without it I probably wouldn't even have bothered with a re-attempt at making the game from scratch.

OP updated with new video.

Really nice, man! This video you posted is made with Constructor or is the first version?

Great trailer :)

Really hard to believe you made that with construct! It looks great. Reminds me of Jak and Daxter somehow. Just running around, collecting things, smacking stuff down, etc.

I'm new here, so I like seeing something great like that and knowing it came from Construct. :D

I think Construct definitely makes a lot of things easier, but sometimes, I wish I could just write it in.

Heh. For a minute there, I forgot I had Daxter as my avatar. (facepalm)

Really nice engine!

I wonder how you made the camera positioning, that Diddy stays at the left side of the screen until you go back, he turns to the right side.

Well I use Construct 2, but maybe you have any advice for me?