Clanky Woods (Kirby) Discussion

Brief stuff:

History

Source material:

Clanky Woods is the first boss fight from Kirby: Planet Robobot. You fight a tree/mecha hybrid, make him cry, and then rub it in by dancing in front of his face.



Stage layout

Sprited stage, unfinished:

Sprited stage, lines:

Aesthetic:
I was looking for an "after the battle" feel. The stage is kind of wonky because it's falling apart. Clanky woods is in the background, but is shut down (maybe rusted a bit?). The columns are falling in all kinds of weird positions.

Besides this, I figured I'd alter the stage from the source a little bit (as most stages should). The stage is based on the third part of the fight, where Clanky raises all the ground columns and traps Kirby. Obviously a box doesn't make a great stage, so I decided to drop the two side columns to allow more flat room to fight in. This also unintentionally maybe made some platforms to work with without having to make them.



Gameplay:
If you take a look at the second spoiler above (Sprited stage, lines), you'll notice three different colored lines.

Red - Represents what I really want out of the stage. It was originally supposed to just be the bottom layer, with a raised center. I think of it like an inverse Kongo Jungle 64.

Blue - After going through some line work, I thought these could potentially function as platforms. They'd float static above the side areas. Not a fan of the idea, especially since the ground is supposed to be in the background, but I'm not entirely opposed either.

Pink - If you REALLY needed another platform, I suppose this could work. But I'm not a fan of the idea at all. It's still something that could be toyed around with, so I like to bring it up.

Hopefully most fighting would be done on the red line. If the stage hazard was on (more on that below), I think it could force players to fight for center stage but not be game over if they get knocked off.

If the blue lines are used, I'm hoping that the platforms are high enough that it discourages camping for too long, as it could lead to early vertical or even horizontal KOs. But it COULD be used as a landing option, or a safe place to be if you feel you've been on one side for too long but can't get back to the center before being blasted (once again, stage hazard below).



Stage hazard?:
Not decided yet, but there's also room for a stage hazard here. On the raised platforms in the back, you'll notice some octagons. In the game, these were missile launchers. I think if a character camps one side for too long, eventually they'll launch a missile. I know there's more on one side than the other, but I was thinking the top 2 on the left could malfunction (fitting the aesthetic), or just not shoot a missile at all.

The missiles would fly around in a random path, staying in the area between the top/bottom platforms and the edges of the center stage. I say random, but it could be a predetermined path too. Just needs to move erratically. If it stays for too long, it just blows up.

If going with this idea, I'd love to add a countdown timer to the sides of the stage. For every second a player is in the side areas, the timer ticks down. Once it hits 0, a missile is launched. That way, the missile doesn't seem launched at random and all players can play around it.



Why this stage over others?
Don't know. Being honest, I'm not sure it's a good representation of the Kirby series. I'm just a fan of unique stage layouts, and there's nothing going for "raised center stage without death pits".



Music

Spoiler:

Thanks for reading and considering this idea
If you read through all of this, please tell me what you think. I'm dying for some feedback right now. Whether it be everything I think this stage should be is perfect, the idea is nice but there are better Kirby stages to implement before considering this one, or just that my idea flat out sucks.

I'd say support

That's some very impressive linework

I don't know if this really is a good idea or not, but I'll support just for the sprite itself.

I'm impressed, i've gotta say. Supporting all the way

I think this is a good idea, but perspective is my biggest issue. There needs to be clear indications for where a ledge it, and how far away a platform is. If you could fix that, I think this could work, and the spritework's really good

Ya know, looking at the title I thought this was just gonna be a Wispy Woods wannabe-type stage, but you surprised me with the line work. Support

I support this too. This could be an interesting twist in the Kirby stage formula.

Should this be a Stage hazard in Patched Plains instead, because the stage is just called Clanky Woods.

So?
It's based off his arena
Why wouldn't it be his name

Braystar wrote:

So?
It's based off his arena
Why wouldn't it be his name

Shouldn’t it called Clanky Woods arena

First off, welcome to the community.

Second, excellent presentation. Enough details to get you point across with a great visual idea.

As for the stage itself. While probably not the best representation of the overall series, Kirby battling a tree does seem to be a common battle within the franchise. So I can see why suggest this. I think for this stage to really be unique, the whole rotation of the layout as well as the rise of the ground level will have to be in effect. I think only a coder can confirm the possibility and workload of it. If it can be done then this will be one of the most unique stages yet.

I only support if such a gimmick can be incorporated. If not then it would be rather bland.

MonadoBoy16 wrote:

Braystar wrote:

So?
It's based off his arena
Why wouldn't it be his name

Shouldn’t it called Clanky Woods arena

No

That superb lineart won me over, this has my support!!