Designing Jungle Levels

General Advice

The Jungle World is colorful tropical rain forest. Of all of Rayman's worlds, it has the most elaborately detailed background with trees, flowers, vines and plants. To complete the level you can add moving platforms, enemies and animated scenery using the Events Editor. When you build a Jungle level, remember that the background can participate in the game; for example, Rayman can climb the vines or float on a fruit in the water. 

For beginners, the detailed background of the Jungle makes it one of the more difficult worlds to work with. It is suggested that you keep your first Jungle level simple to get used to using the complex background and events of the world.

In the Jungle World Rayman has the special power to plant a magic seed that grow into a tall lily that he can jump on. When Rayman is standing on a block which has been assigned the Seed Type in the Mapper and the player presses the 'x' key or C-button on the joystick, Rayman bends down and plants a seed which grows into a tall lily. The Seed Type is usually placed on blocks with little mounds of dirt that are supposed to be the only logical places to grow these plants. It is helpful to place two Seed Types next to each other to make it easier for Rayman to find the right place to plant the seed. (For more information on the Seed Type, see the section on Block Types.) In addition to assigning the blocks the  Seed Types in the Mapper, you must also turn on the "Seed Power" in the Mapper's Map Properties box for the level. (See the section on Changing Map Properties.)

Some suggestions for designing a Jungle level:

• The Jungle is a tropical rain forest - fill the background with trees, flowers and plants. In the Events Editor you can complete your level by adding animated flowers, mushrooms and butterflies.
• The Jungle is a realistic world - avoid filling it with flat platforms for Rayman to walk on. Create your platforms with hills and valleys. 
• Consider filling the bottom of the level with water. Rayman can float on plums in the water. When Rayman falls into the water, there will be an animated sequence of him drowning.
• Rayman can climb on the hanging vines in the background. Never mix vines that have the Climbing Type, which Rayman can climb, with those that Rayman can not climb.  (For more information, see the section on Block Types.)
• When drawing side-by-side hanging vines, don't make them all the same length. Vary the vines by adding different combinations of leaves and stems.
• Instead of leaving the top of the map empty, fill it with hanging leaves, blue fruit and vines. Just be careful that the flat tops of these background items are not visible when Rayman jumps or flies.
• Be careful - too much animation may slow down the game!

The Jungle World in the Mapper

The Template Map contains the library of all of the blocks available to draw the background for your level. In addition, the five Example Maps contain handy scenery predrawn with the blocks. In the Mapper you can copy any of these blocks to your new level.

Template Map:

Example A Map (horizontal map size 600 x 40):

Example B Map (vertical map size 40 x 200):

Example C Map (square map size 200 x 200):

Example D Map (vertical rectangular map size 100 x 200):

Example E Map (horizontal rectangular map size 200 x 100):

In the Map Properties dialog box, Landscape using:

Jungle Scenery 1		Jungle Scenery 2

The Jungle World in the Events Editor

Scenery

Platforms

1. Steady water lily: stays fixed in place.
2. Horizontal water lily: moves back and forth horizontally within the area defined by the Reactive Types.
3. Vertical water lily: moves up and down vertically within the area defined by the Reactive Types.
4. Horizontal water lily that goes to the left: moves to the left until it reaches the boundary defined by the Reactive Types, then disappears and reappears back at its starting position. 
5. Horizontal water lily that goes to the right: moves to the right until it reaches the boundary defined by the Reactive Types, then disappears and reappears back at its starting position.
6. Water lily that disappears: after Rayman stands on it for a few seconds, it disappears. Unlike disappearing clouds, the water lily does not immediately reappear.
7. Trampoling (trampoline) water lily: when Rayman jumps on the water lily, the water lily stays fixed in place but Rayman bounces up and down.
8. Water lily spring: when Rayman jumps on the water lily, both Rayman and the water lily bounce up and down, producing a "spring" effect.
9. Steady water lily that goes to the left: stays fixed in place until Rayman jumps on it, then moves to the left.
10. Steady water lily that goes to the right: stays fixed in place until Rayman jumps on it, then moves to the right.
11. Steady water lily that goes up: stays fixed in place until Rayman jumps on it, then moves up.
12. Steady water lily moves down: stays fixed in place until Rayman jumps on it, then moves down.

1. Little water lily falling: immediately falls when Rayman jumps on it.
2. Little water lily going up: slowly rises when Rayman jumps on it.

1. Fruit that swings: automatically swings.
2. Fruit that swings after having been punched: initially stationary, then swings after Rayman punches it.

If you design a series of swinging plums, it is possible that their swinging becomes unsynchronized during game play, preventing Rayman from jumping from one to another. To avoid this problem, link the series of swinging plums together using the Events Editor. (For more information, see the section on Linking Events.)

1. Bouncing plum: already bouncing.
2. Steady plums 1 to 3: bounce after Rayman punches them.