Designing Donkey Kong Country
An in-depth study on the first level, “Jungle Hijinxs”, including an interview with its original designer
Through a game’s virtual architecture, level designers can teach, encourage, challenge, or even manipulate players into playing a certain way and feeling a certain way while they play. If the player embodies their controllable character as they play, you could say that the game designers embody the levels, the physical world in which the game is set.
In this article, I will examine the first level of Donkey Kong Country for its narrativity, level design, and general feel within the context of the game. There are many aspects of any single video game level to examine, but here I’ve isolated a few of the topics that I think are of particular significance. In addition to my findings, there will also be a section where we ask some of the experts on the level — including its creator — their thoughts. In doing this exercise, I hope to gain clarity on how strong video game introductions work and what we can steal from the past to improve our work as game developers in the future.
