New Levels for Rayman 2? Share Your Ideas

[Eurotool]

As a kid, I always wished I could jump over the border of levels to discover the rest of Rayman's world. I was unaware of the job of level designers, and I thought for sure, an entire world was waiting to be discovered out there.

This demonstrates how good of a job Michel Ancel has achieved with his "swiss cheese level design": small areas, turns and tunnels that make the overall level feel gigantic.

What kind of levels would you add/expand to the game, while staying true to its dark, serious undertones? I've thought of the following:
1. A level centered on robopirates buildings, in the style of Hoolum Headquarters from Rayman 3. Rayman Revolution added something similar with the Pirate Factory level. One of my favorite moments from Rayman 2 is the "Infiltrating the fortress" part of the The Woods of Light, when the stealth music plays. All robopirate buildings throughout the game are begging to be further discovered. This would also help deepen the lore: what do robopirates do besides guarding cages and napping?
2. The Prison Ship/The Crow's Nest should be modified or expanded: there are two major inconsistencies. First, some 45,263 are claimed to have been freed, despite the Buccaneer being blown to smithereens in the final cutscene, and Rayman never interacting with any of them (surprising for a character who loves to break cages). One addition I've always thought of would be to revisit Rayman's jail from the intro, freeing the poor slaves who were locked around it. This would make a fantastic loopback, just like the shortcut between The Echoing Caves and The Fairy Glade. The second inconcistency, in my opinion, is how Polukus instantly wipes out all robopirates, but not those on the Buccaneer. Combining that with the fact pirates still show up in level revisits, it seems nothing more than a bandaid on the plot. More large-scale battles should be showcased, with perhaps better powers or better tools (à la Heckler or Armaguiddon from Rayman 3).
3. Underground mines: the sublevel called The Pirate Mines (where baby Globoxes are enslaved) doesn't feature any mines. One might be wondering where the robopirates get all their metal from. A level featuring industrial quarries and foundries, as well as some natural mines and underground caves as a display of duality between the harmonious world and the evil, environment-destroying robopirates would be great.
4. Sanctuary of Stone and Fire boss: Umber stands out from the other guardians in shape and purpose. While some edge versions of the game incorporate dialog that makes him feel, the popular versions make him do nothing more than sink into lava for the sole purpose of helping Rayman jump a few meters further -- a ludicrous action compared to immenseness of the level.
5. Lush forest of luminescent mushrooms at night. Spirits and fairies are somehow an important part of the dialogs and the F1 lore, yet never appear in gameplay besides Ly. This kind of level could help further connect the lore to the gameplay.
6. Sewers level: cliché but already displayed in the game: always found the area below the trapdoor in The Fairy Glade where you dodge falling barrels while climbing a spiderweb quite rad. Besides, the Rayman world is littered with robopirate pipings dumping polluted waters into rivers and lakes.

What do you think of these suggestions? What else would you add?

[Hunchman801]

I certainly remember imagining what could possibly be outside of level boundaries as a kid, and the great level design helped, like you said. For example, there's this one section in the optional temple of the Sanctuary of Stone and Fire where a staircase branches left and right, and, the left part being blocked, I wondered what labyrinthine paths were hidden on the other side.

As for new levels, I think a proper sanctuary for the last mask would have been great. The Irons Mountains is clearly a patchwork of leftover sections that did not make it to their own levels.

The Prison Ship was a bit of a letdown too. Like I said here, and just like you, I would have liked it to be more than just fast-paced sliding and flying sections. We don't get to explore the ship on foot, save for the very short section with the Ninja Henchman, and there is a big missed opportunity with the whole prison aspect of the Prison Ship. A good portion of the level should have been about fighting dangerous pirates and freeing prisoners.

[Chacanger]

The Prison Ship was a bit of a letdown too. Like I said here, and just like you, I would have liked it to be more than just fast-paced sliding and flying sections. We don't get to explore the ship on foot, save for the very short section with the Ninja Henchman, and there is a big missed opportunity with the whole prison aspect of the Prison Ship. A good portion of the level should have been about fighting dangerous pirates and freeing prisoners.

Yeah, when freeing the prisoners they could have made it so that you could walk to the hallway where Rayman and Globox's cell was at the start and you could turn the lasers off and go through that escape route again for a secret.

[Hunchman801]

That would have been really awesome! Overall, the late game feels a bit rushed compared to earlier levels, with even the final boss being a bit of a disappointment. I guess they must have lacked the time to make it a real cohesive whole.

[DaveRattlehead]

I agree the Prison Ship was a bit disappointing, I somehow expected more from this level, specially when it's one of the most important ones. We talked about it a few months ago, but I think it would have been a good idea to show how did the Prison Ship end up destroyed. It isn't even shown how Rayman frees his friends from the pirates. At least there's a cinematic in Rayman Revolution where this is shown, but it would have been great to fully explore the Prison Ship.

In regards of the last mask, I wonder why didn't they explore the possibility of the mask being stolen by the pirates. I would have loved to see a level where you had to get in a building/fortress and steal the mask. Just imagine playing this level in a stealthy way

I also find interesting the possibility of an introductory level based on what's told in the manual. This formula is present in many different games and I think it's pretty cool.

[metalflygon08]

I'd split the Prison Ship into 2 levels.

The first has Rayman going through the ship and throwing switches to free hundreds of prisoners at a time (telling them to take the warships and fly to safety).

The end of the level would be in Razorbeard's office in a fight against the Lacky Robot, who ends up actually being quite dangerous when cornered.

The level would end with Rayman causing the ship to become unstable after smashing the helm.

This would lead into the sliding section and would explain why the ship is in such a mess and falling apart.

By all technicalities, Rayman's won by the end of the first part, the ship's going to fall apart soon anyways. Rayman chases Razorbeard still because he has Globox.

Then I'd combine the PS1 Final Phase with the others.

The fight would be in the ship's unstable power core in 4 massive chambers connected by 4 long pipes (surrounding the power core).

You'd gather energy from the spheres and shoot the Grolgoth's arms to drop it into the spent fuel in the chambers, destroying them, then Razorbeard would retreat through the pipes to the next chamber while you give chase deflecting bombs and missiles back at him, rinse and repeat until all 4 chambers are destoryed.

The final phase would take place on the ship's power source itself and essentially be a "Victory Lap" phase where you just beat the tar out of the Grolgoth until if breaks and Razorbeard sets it to blow up on the power core before flying away.

[DaveRattlehead]

This ain't an specific level, but what do you think about Rayman 2 being an open world? And no, Revolution isn't a good example for this

[miguelpatton]

This ain't an specific level, but what do you think about Rayman 2 being an open world? And no, Revolution isn't a good example for this

I don't think an open-world Rayman game would necessarily work. At least not how Ubisoft would probably make it. An open zone world would probably work better, something like Ratchet & Clank, small non-linear zones in different worlds. Quality over quantity is the keyword here. I still would want some great platforming and puzzles in there.

[DaveRattlehead]

I get the point . In the end it's similar to what we can actually play, but a bit more extended. Adding a few items to collect (not lums nor cages, but who knows, maybe we can collect gems to get outfits!) may help to expand these non-linear areas.

[Hugo]

Eurotool I was amazed to read your post because I see things exactly the way you do. And I didn't know it's called "swiss cheese level design", but it's what I've always loved and great to put a name to it.

Only recently I was musing on the possibility of modding Rayman 2 in a way that fluidly extends where you can explore. Your idea of exploring the robopirate buildings in the stealth section of the Woods of Light is so tantalizing, especially if we could find something curious or magical about the world or the pirates there.

I can't imagine the effort involved, but were such a project feasible, I'd be interested in small-scale extensions to where Rayman could explore, but hiding them much like some of the cages are hidden. You'd get to replay the game with that fresh sense of discovery.

But if creating levels from scratch, I think I'd sooner make a new Rayman

[Hunchman801]

In regards of the last mask, I wonder why didn't they explore the possibility of the mask being stolen by the pirates. I would have loved to see a level where you had to get in a building/fortress and steal the mask. Just imagine playing this level in a stealthy way

It's true that it was really too easy and felt rushed that the baby Globoxes would just randomly stumble upon this ancient and powerful artifact in some abandoned mine. Even Revolution did it better (mark my words) by replacing it with the rain mask. If anything, an explanation of how it ended up there would have been welcome!