Kirby & The Forgotten Land Devs Detail Difficulty of Making Kirby 3D
An interview with the developers of Kirby and the Forgotten Land reveals the challenges of transitioning Kirby from 2D to 3D. Being the first fully 3D Kirby game in the series, Kirby and the Forgotten Land makes lots of new strides for the franchise. As such, the core gameplay had to be designed to accommodate this new style of gameplay.
The change from 2D to 3D is one of the many ways Kirby and the Forgotten Land is different to the rest of the series. In 2D Kirby games, inhaling enemies and using copy abilities were simple as they were catered to a 2D environment where aiming wasn’t a concern to worry over. Now with a new 3D plane, a certain amount of precision is required for Kirby to properly hit foes, which is new for the series. Kirby also has restrictions placed on how high he can float, with Kirby able to float to higher heights depending on the platforms he climbs on. These changes to basic gameplay elements are very new compared to Kirby's past adventures.
Related: Kirby & The Forgotten Land: Waddle Dee Town Explained
In an interview with Nintendo, HAL Laboratory director Tatsuya Kamiyama goes into detail on some of the challenges of making Kirby 3D for Kirby and the Forgotten Land's post-apocalyptic adventure. One challenge was how to communicate which direction Kirby was facing when the camera is behind Kirby, as his features made this difficult to see. Another was implementing how attacks would connect to enemies, with Kamiyama stating:
“The game accounts for the player’s perspective by tracking the positions of Kirby and the camera. It then maps out a range in which attacks may appear to land. If an attack is within that range, the attack will hit. By doing so, even people who are not so good at 3D action
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