Day 233 - Tanuki Sunset Classic (Demo)
Driving, Sports, Pink ·
Skeeter’s Take:
Grab your skateboard, your backwards ballcap, and a whole lot of fish because today we are skateboarding with racoons.
This is a demo for Tanuki Sunset Classic. Just wanted to get that out of the way early. Not sure what the full build will look like, but the demo gives us a good idea of what this game is about.
You play as a racoon who skateboards down procedurally generated synthwave roads and collects little Doritos for points. Tilt forward to drive faster and downward to slow it up. You can drift, get near misses on cars, and (I only know this from how many times I fell off the stage) you can do sweet kickflips, all for bonus points.
Fall off the edge and start over. Hit any obstacle or car and you start over. There is a checkpoint about halfway down, but I only could reach it on the tutorial. I couldn’t even beat the first real level, let alone hit the checkpoint.
I have some small complaints about how the racoon controls; he feels too floaty and the basic steering makes me feel like I’m controlling Henry in the first Silent Hill game. Overall though, it runs pretty smooth and I enjoyed when I hit a few good drifts and didn’t somehow slide into the pink and purple abyss.
The biggest issue I have with Tanuki Sunset is the procedural generation. I like the idea that every course will be different each time you play it, but the way it’s implemented is a little discouraging to me.
Every time you fall off the course or run into a car (which I did a lot), you have to reset. When you reset, the game will generate an entirely new track, even if you are on the same level.
This felt frustrating to me. I like games that I have to learn and get good at, but I feel that those games normally start you out with something familiar or easy so that you can learn the mechanics and get those down before throwing variety and challenges. I like when a game’s initial challenge is just “Learn how to play the game and how the game plays”.
Since Tanuki Sunset is constantly changing the course, I don’t get to have those small “Oh, I’m getting better” moments that normally get me hooked on games like this. I can’t practice that one turn I keep falling off on, because it won’t be there the next time I ride down. I don’t get to feel that sense of accomplishment of overcoming that hypothetical turn, and then the subsequent anger when I inevitably run into another turn I fall off of and need to get good at.
I think Guitar Hero is a good analogy here. If you’ve ever played Guitar Hero, you’ll know how good it feels the first time you clear that song you’ve been stuck on. I remember when I was a kid, I would save starpower for a challenging part I knew I was going to have trouble with, strategically raising my guitar neck up during the Free Bird solo. I would replay and replay the same song knowing each time I would make it a little further, get a little better and get closer to actually plunking my way through the song.
Now if Guitar Hero started changing the patterns and the notes every time I started the song over, I would have given up and never would have embarrassed myself at the local Game Crazy Guitar Hero Tournament.
Who the fuck picks Trogdor for Round 1?
Maybe that’s on me for never playing the bonus tracks, but I’m still embarrassed after all these years.
Anyway…
I think a possible solution for this would be to have the level procedurally generated each time you enter the from the main menu, but not every time you restart within the run. That way, when you are losing and resetting, you still have the same challenge for the run, but it will still be different the next time you attempt the run.
That’s also just my personal taste and opinion. I’m sure having the level randomized every time is really exciting and neat for some people, but it doesn’t really hook me in.
What does hook me in is unlockable cosmetics, especially when they are for a cute racoon. And Tanuki Sunset has this figured out. Those little Dorito tokens can be exchanged for cool clothes or new skateboard parts and decks:
That’s fun. It lets you work toward some sort of goal outside of just racing, plus putting a racoon in a hat is just a good time.
Recommend: I think I would recommend the demo since it’s free and cute. However, personally this isn’t a game I would purchase on full release. Good thing there’s a demo to see if you feel the same!
Replay Percentage Chance: 12%
Time Played: 20 minutes
Sam’s Take:
I agree with Skeeter here that the procedural generation really lets this game down. After a few attempts at this game I was really starting to vibe with the floaty movement. Nailing drifts, landing 360 jumps, clipping the edge of the course and seeing EDGE LORD appear on my screen is cathartic and slick. The issue is that the movement is begging for a curated level that gives you freedom to practice big jumps, then some areas that force you to experiment with drifting, maybe a point attack level where nailing tricks and getting more NEAR MISS bonuses becomes a must. The way the proc-gen works in this game leads to the same 6 obstacles in a randomized order, and it becomes dull too fast.
It’s a shame, because there is a system in place for a level designer to really go ham with. I think an idea has to be good if I (a dumbass) can come up with some sick level ideas while playing it. This game could work as a bonus “endless mode”, but I want a timed speed course with tight turns I need to perfect. I want that course to end with a giant open jump as a reward for tightly dodging cars and walls at full speed. I want a level where I have to control my jumps to go over gaps at the right angle. I want to have to grind on razor thin streets. Proc-gen has to play it safe, so as not to create accidentally impossible scenarios, or scenarios that take practice (functionally impossible in a game where a retry creates a new level). A sunset skateboard riding raccoon wants nothing to do with safe. It wants the extreme thrills that only hand crafted challenges could provide.
Recommend: I don’t know. I looked at the full price game, and I think it still uses the procedural generation… try the demo out.
Replay Percentage Chance: 5%
Time Played: 15 Minutes
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