Kirby: Triple Deluxe - lead programmer talks about the tutorials

Today the lead programmer is going to talk about the tutorial in Kirby: Triple Deluxe.



"Hi everybody. In Kirby's Adventure Wii, there were signposts explaining the controls throughout the first stage. These signs showed how to do Kirby's basic moves, such as inhaling and spitting, jumping and hovering, as well as sliding. In Kirby: Triple Deluxe, we used signposts in just the same way. However, it's possible some people played through the stage seeing only some of the signs.



The reason for that is, we designed the stage so that as few signs as possible would display for players who already knew the controls. If you're wondering what I mean by that, why not try playing that first stage again? One of the signposts that will or won't display depending on how you play is the one that explains how to slide. When you get to the point where there are two breakable-looking blocks lined up in a row, if you smash through them using slide, the signpost won't appear. However, if you come to a halt at that point, uncertain how to proceed, the signpost pops up. On the other hand, if you ignore the blocks and hover over and past the obstacle, or break through the blocks using a method other than sliding, the signpost will appear at the next place where you should use slide. With little devices like this, we endeavoured to teach the controls to first-time players without making experienced players go 'Come on! I know that already!'



I hope you'll have a look at the other signposts in the stage to see how they work!"



It seems a lot of effort went into those signposts! If you're interested, I'd definitely recommend checking them out in the stage for yourself.