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Monster Games helping with Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

H

Hero of Legend

Member
http://www.gameinformer.com/games/d...ropical-freeze-questions.aspx?PostPageIndex=2

Would you consider porting this title to the 3DS? Would that be a hard process?

Kensuke Tanabe: Minneapolis-based developer Monster Games ported the Wii version of Donkey Kong Country Returns to Nintendo 3DS with Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D. Even Retro praised Monster Games for successfully porting the game without compromising its quality. In fact, Monster Games was involved in some of the level design, art, and engineering of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze; they did a phenomenal job. However, if we were to port Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze to Nintendo 3DS, it would be extremely difficult to not lose quality, even for Monster Games, because of the huge differences in the 3DS and Wii U technical specifications – more so than Wii.

Michael Kelbaugh: Monster Games did a phenomenal job bringing Donkey Kong Country Returns to the 3DS. We’re very proud, and a bit jealous, of their efforts. So much that we asked them to help us with Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. It would be a monumental task taking this new game from the Wii U to the 3DS because of the technology used in the Wii U version. However, if it could be done, I’d like to play it.
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Now we know what they've been doing since DKCR3D. These guys aren't 1st-party yet because...? :p
 
H

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
Uh, that's nice and all, but it's not EXCITE!!

Seriously Nintendo should totally make them first party. At the very least they can churn out a good downloadable title every couple of years.
 
stuminus3

stuminus3

Member
Put them to work on an exclusive, built from the ground up 3DS version of Donkey Kong.

And of course by Donkey Kong I mean Excitebots.

ThrowdownMFer.jpg
 
V

ViewtifulJC

Banned
Well that's cool, they made some good levels on the 3DS port of DKCR. Have a good understanding on Retro's level design philosophy I think.

but where is Excite Wii U tho
 
M

metalslimer

Member
These guys aren't 1st-party yet because...? :p
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What would be the point? They exclusively work with Nintendo and Nintendo seems happy to give them jobs.

I would like another excite though. Or they could make an HD Pilotwings.
 
O

Outtrigger888

Member
metalslimer said:
What would be the point? They exclusively work with Nintendo and Nintendo seems happy to give them jobs.

I would like another excite though. Or they could make an HD Pilotwings.
Click to expand...

So maybe they could expand their studio. I think they are a pretty small team, and having nintendos full support could help them do bigger projects.

kitsuneyo said:
I'll take this as further evidence Retro is making two games.
Click to expand...

I agree, wouldnt be surprised to see another retro game at e3. Makes me wonder how much work monster did on tropical freeze.
 
F

fredrancour

Member
I need an excite racer for wiiu. Maybe I'm desperate enough to give excite bots a second chance. The game just felt silly and nonsensical after the simple glory of excite truck.
 
S

spliced

Member
So Retro is taking over 3 years to come out with TF, which possibly has less levels than Returns, and they've had help from another studio making it. Sounds to me like they are probably well under way with whatever their next game is.
 
L

LOCK

Member
Yeah, it's obvious that they have two teams now. Metroid pin hints at Metroid game reveal possibly this year.

This is also good news for Monster, they're gathering experience and trust working on a big Nintendo title, so hopefully their next game is a step up.
 
F

Freezie KO

Banned
Monster is a good dev. I'm not concerned about the quality of DKC:TF. Although an ExciteWAVE is much needed.

But if Retro isn't working on another game, this is concerning for their development capabilities.
 
TDLink

TDLink

Member
kitsuneyo said:
I'll take this as further evidence Retro is making two games.
Click to expand...

I am taking it that way too. There's no way Retro was just working on this (and assisting on some of MK7) in the last 3 years when this game is getting an assist from Monster and is seemingly shorter than DKCR.
 
F

Fiktion

Banned
I wouldn't assume they've got two teams just yet. There are probably unannounced DKCTF levels and it could be that they're having trouble adjusting to HD.

Better to expect less so you're never disappointed.
 
T

TheSpaceBetween

Member
Or it could be evidence that Retro isn't and are smaller than we all thought. Kelbaugh said they are a one major project team. Time will tell I guess... If we don't see a new Retro project by E3 2015 I'd say it's doubtful they have two teams. Let's not forget Nintendo spreads their resources around... Retro has done work on MK7 and DKCR3D. It's entirely possible they are at work on MK8 by now. It wouldn't be surprising if they can only work on one "major" project at a time since Nintendo is always assigning staff to different games. Perhaps X would be ready by now if Monolith weren't so busy supporting other teams.
 
TDLink

TDLink

Member
TheSpaceBetween said:
Or it could be evidence that Retro isn't and are smaller than we all thought. Kelbaugh said they are a one major project team. Time will tell I guess... If we don't see a new Retro project by E3 2015 I'd say it's doubtful they have two teams. Let's not forget Nintendo spreads their resources around... Retro has done work on MK7 and DKCR3D. It's entirely possible they are at work on MK8 by now. It wouldn't be surprising if they can only work on one "major" project at a time since Nintendo is always assigning staff to different games. Perhaps X would be ready by now if Monolith weren't so busy supporting other teams.
Click to expand...

Monolith has two separate studios, not just "two teams". The support primarily comes from Monolith Kyoto. X is being developed by Monolith Tokyo.
 
V

ViewtifulJC

Banned
TDLink said:
I am taking it that way too. There's no way Retro was just working on this (and assisting on some of MK7) in the last 3 years when this game is getting an assist from Monster and is seemingly shorter than DKCR.
Click to expand...

Now see

this is how the heartbreak starts
 
T

TheSpaceBetween

Member
Freezie KO said:
Monster is a good dev. I'm not concerned about the quality of DKC:TF. Although an ExciteWAVE is much needed.

But if Retro isn't working on another game, this is concerning for their development capabilities.
Click to expand...

Monster is what like 20 people I think? But yes, they have been a good partner for Nintendo. As for Retro, you might be right. But we don't even know when development on TF started. It's possible production didn't begin in full until 2012. It's also possible they've been assisting Nintendo in other areas we don't know about. Also, as technologically great as Retro has been in the past, a lot of talent has left and this is their first HD game. Hopefully the Iwata Asks will give us some answers.
 
Y

Yado

Member
Three years and help from another development team...there must be more to this game than meets the eye.
 
Hale-XF11

Hale-XF11

Member
I will take anything Monster Games throws at me. Just please make more games, preferably for 3DS. They are rocking that system hard.
 
B

bridegur

Member
What was the last full game Monster made? Are they even big enough for a full Wii U game at this point? If so, they better be working on Wave Race.
 
M

metalslimer

Member
spliced said:
So Retro is taking over 3 years to come out with TF, which possibly has less levels than Returns, and they've had help from another studio making it. Sounds to me like they are probably well under way with whatever their next game is.
Click to expand...

Or HD is hard.
Don't they have a huge building outside Austin?
Click to expand...

Pretty sure they don't occupy the whole thing.

I don't know where everyone is jumping on this two teams thing. If there are two teams than each of them must be pretty small
 
F

Freezie KO

Banned
TheSpaceBetween said:
Monster is what like 20 people I think? But yes, they have been a good partner for Nintendo. As for Retro, you might be right. But we don't even know when development on TF started. It's possible production didn't begin in full until 2012. It's also possible they've been assisting Nintendo in other areas we don't know about. Also, as technologically great as Retro has been in the past, a lot of talent has left and this is their first HD game. Hopefully the Iwata Asks will give us some answers.
Click to expand...

Monster is tiny. I wouldn't be surprised if they just don't have the capabilities to make an HD retail game for Nintendo.

Sometimes it doesn't make sense for Nintendo to acquire studios because certain studios are just going to do their thing and release their games on Nintendo platforms anyway. But for a studio like Monster, they've proven to be talented and if they were interested in an acquisition, Nintendo could then invest in them to build them up to the level where they could support larger projects.

As for Retro, you're absolutely right that we have no idea how else they've been assisting Nintendo. But if they needed to call on Monster to fill in because a lot of talent left and they couldn't handle the HD load (despite a game delay), then I'd at least be concerned about how fast they can turn around projects. Especially when one considers how prominent they've become as one of Nintendo's key teams, at least symbolically.

--

bridegur said:
What was the last full game Monster made?
Click to expand...

Pilotwings? Although they were rushed for launch.
 
H

Hero of Legend

Member
Surely Monster is prepping for Diddy Kong Racing 2 as was FREAKISHLY COINCIDENTALLY rumored a year ago?

Shoe's on other foot; Retro would help with that! As mentioned, they did help with Mario Kart 7!

But they NEED to get Kevin Bayliss back for the art, he worked on the original, I would prefer they didn't go with the DKCR/TF art style, besides DKR had a suger-coated art-style distinct from DKC and hell, any DK game after.
 
T

TheSpaceBetween

Member
Freezie KO said:
Monster is tiny. I wouldn't be surprised if they just don't have the capabilities to make an HD retail game for Nintendo.

Sometimes it doesn't make sense for Nintendo to acquire studios because certain studios are just going to do their thing and release their games on Nintendo platforms anyway. But for a studio like Monster, they've proven to be talented and if they were interested in an acquisition, Nintendo could then invest in them to build them up to the level where they could support larger projects.

--



Pilotwings? Although they were rushed for launch.

As for Retro, you're absolutely right that we have no idea how else they've been assisting Nintendo. But if they needed to call on Monster to fill in because a lot of talent left and they couldn't handle the HD load (despite a game delay), then I'd at least be concerned about how fast they can turn around projects. Especially when one considers how prominent they've become as one of Nintendo's key teams, at least symbolically.
Click to expand...

Indeed. I mean... The three lead designers from DKCR left, so that must have been difficult. But they didn't seem to miss a beat after loosing key members from the Prime teams. And the DID hire a lot of talent after Returns including people from Bioware, Vigil, Naughty Dog, Junction Point, and Red Fly. Maybe Nintendo just really sucks at HD development. EAD Tokyo didn't seem to have much problem though and it doesn't look like the Mario Kart team is either. But then again, NSMBU had a 3 year development cycle. And that was a game done by platformer veterans, plus the fact that Nintendo pooled in staff on other teams to ensure the game was completed on time. I'm very curious to read the Iwata Asks to get some insight on the development... Perhaps some of our questions will be answered.
 
M

metalslimer

Member
As for Retro, you're absolutely right that we have no idea how else they've been assisting Nintendo. But if they needed to call on Monster to fill in because a lot of talent left and they couldn't handle the HD load (despite a game delay), then I'd at least be concerned about how fast they can turn around projects. Especially when one considers how prominent they've become as one of Nintendo's key teams, at least symbolically.
Click to expand...

Well I wouldn't worry too much until the next project. I'm assuming that they didn't start work on this right after DKCR and probably had a learning curve with the whole HD thing. 2-2.5 years doesn't seem so bad for full development. I believe that's how long NSMBU took.

Also what's this stuff about TF being shorter than DKCR?
 
TDLink

TDLink

Member
kitsuneyo said:
In that case, maybe they're smaller than I thought.

Nintendo needs more teams.
Click to expand...

As far as I know Retro is at least 70 people, possibly more than 100 people. They definitely moved into a larger space than they were in prior as the previous space was too small for them.
 
M

metalslimer

Member
TDLink said:
As far as I know Retro is at least 70 people, possibly more than 100 people. They definitely moved into a larger space than they were in prior as the previous space was too small for them.
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Where are you getting the at least 70 people? I believe that were around 50 when DKCR was released, and they definitely haven't hired over 50 people since then.

Hmm, unless they were lying Retro said they like to focus on one project at a time earlier this year.
 
T

TheSpaceBetween

Member
metalslimer said:
Where are you getting the at least 70 people? I believe that were around 50 when DKCR was released, and they definitely haven't hired over 50 people since then.

Hmm, unless they were lying Retro said they like to focus on one project at a time earlier this year.
Click to expand...

I think there were 68 according to the credits on DKCR.

http://www.mariowiki.com/List_of_Donkey_Kong_Country_Returns_staff

And this photo was shown at E3, go to 1:10. Looks to be about 70-75.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsbGcv6Lw7c&feature=youtu.be&a
 
R

Richie

Member
Missed chance to title this "Monster Games helping with Fucking Donkey Kong". For shame, Hero!

spliced said:
So Retro is taking over 3 years to come out with TF, which possibly has less levels than Returns, and they've had help from another studio making it. Sounds to me like they are probably well under way with whatever their next game is.
Click to expand...

I believe this as well, not to mention, I think Miyamoto insinuated that they could tackle more than a game at a time.
 
F

Freezie KO

Banned
TheSpaceBetween said:
Indeed. I mean... The three lead designers from DKCR left, so that must have been difficult. But they didn't seem to miss a beat after loosing key members from the Prime teams. And the DID hire a lot of talent after Returns including people from Bioware, Vigil, Naughty Dog, Junction Point, and Red Fly. Maybe Nintendo just really sucks at HD development. EAD Tokyo didn't seem to have much problem though and it doesn't look like the Mario Kart team is either. But then again, NSMBU had a 3 year development cycle. And that was a game done by platformer veterans, plus the fact that Nintendo pooled in staff on other teams to ensure the game was completed on time. I'm very curious to read the Iwata Asks to get some insight on the development... Perhaps some of our questions will be answered.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the Iwata Asks are surprisingly frank, so it'll be interesting for sure. You're right that there was a lot of churn in the studio. But it'd be a shame if Retro is having these probems as Wii U really needs quality games as quickly as they can be made.

---

metalslimer said:
Well I wouldn't worry too much until the next project. I'm assuming that they didn't start work on this right after DKCR and probably had a learning curve with the whole HD thing. 2-2.5 years doesn't seem so bad for full development. I believe that's how long NSMBU took.

Also what's this stuff about TF being shorter than DKCR?
Click to expand...

DKC:TF has less islands than DKCR, and prior to its delay, the MSRP was listed as $50 instead of $60.

As for development time, 2 years wouldn't be bad at all. I guess we'll have to see how long it takes for them to do Metroid.
 
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