Platformers in Video Games - Rayman: Origins

     

Rayman: Origins - Tutorial Analysis

     

     

     Tutorial levels serve to teach new players how to play the new game they have at hand. They often include a simple level along with instructions as to how to operate the character the player will be manipulating.

Rayman: Origins', designed by Michel Ancel, has a tutorial level that is a simple, yet effective stage. It starts off with simple jumps and escalates into environmental changes and enemies that require specifically timed movements. This includes small earth pillars that collapse and require to player to jump off before they fall off the map to giant moving rock pieces that require the player to wait until the rock won't crush them to pass. There are even a few enemies that must be defeated before the player has an opportunity to pass. Throughout the first stage, the only instructions the player is given are the ultimate objective of the game and how to attack, once the ability to do so is received later on in the stage.

This overall pacing of the level is, again, quite slow but ramps up as the map becomes a little more populated with enemies and jump obstacles to ensure that the player must think before their next move, especially if they have never played the game before. Although it is still the tutorial stage, the player is still punished for making poor decisions by dying and being forced to resume the game at a previous checkpoint, which enforces the idea of quick, yet careful thinking, as the game presents itself as a quick paced game.

The tutorial doesn't integrate much of the Rayman: Legends Tutorial Layout story, as all that the player is told is that they must collect enough of an item of which is presumably obtained through the entirety of the game. There is another instance where Rayman rescues a damsel in distress, but her purpose in the story is not elaborated upon aside from the fact she gives Rayman the ability to attack. This tiny integration of story within the tutorial stage allows the player to be at least aware of some events that are going on without having to focus on remembering all the details of the world and being able to focus on simply mastering the mechanics.