What makes a good/perfect platformer?

[AppleQueso]

What do you guys think of the jumping mechanics is Ghouls n' Ghosts and the NES Castlevania games?

[Jrecee]

Hmm, a lot of people have mentioned controls/movement. I always found mario a bit too slippery compared to sonic. I have a movement test of a platform game I'm working on, does anyone want to try it out and tell me how it controls?

http://www.mediafire.com/file/34gzdgak9 ... engine.zip

Ignore the mismatched animations, the sprite is in the process of getting a makeover.

[ZeroAX]

Hmm, a lot of people have mentioned controls/movement. I always found mario a bit too slippery compared to sonic. I have a movement test of a platform game I'm working on, does anyone want to try it out and tell me how it controls?

http://www.mediafire.com/file/34gzdgak9 ... engine.zip

Ignore the mismatched animations, the sprite is in the process of getting a makeover.

nice work

anyway what I would improve

A) The camera. It shifts around too much when you jump, and personally that made me dizzy (and I'm the guy who's been playing sonic for 14 years and that has never made me dizzy).

B) Imo the strength of the jump should be

time jump button is pressed + velocity

the way you have it programmed the jump button alone gives you too much height when you jump, and it becomes hard to control your jumps. But if you reduce the power of the jump button being used alone, make sure that you change your level design accordingly.

still good game dude, let us know when it's complete

[Jrecee]

Do you mean the vertical movement of the camera when jumping? I can either make it follow him more precisely, or make it follow him less precisely. I'm not sure which would be better.

Not sure what you mean with the jump. Are you saying he should jump higher depending on the speed that he's running? Or just make the jump lower if you tap it?

[ZeroAX]

Do you mean the vertical movement of the camera when jumping? I can either make it follow him more precisely, or make it follow him less precisely. I'm not sure which would be better.

Not sure what you mean with the jump. Are you saying he should jump higher depending on the speed that he's running? Or just make the jump lower if you tap it?

Hm, I think the camera following him a bit slower. I don't know, it seamed to me that when I stopped the camera would shake.

Both I think, and not just higher also farther. The Sonic Mega Drive games are excellent examples of good velocity and jumping mechanics.

[Jrecee]

Well the sonic games were pretty much the pinnacle of 2D physics, there's no way I'm going to be able to get near that.

I'm messing with the camera to get it a bit smoother, and I think I'll tweak the deceleration when he jumps. Right now if you aren't pushing left or right he decelerates in midair at the same rate as he does on the ground which doesn't really make sense.

[ZeroAX]

Well the sonic games were pretty much the pinnacle of 2D physics, there's no way I'm going to be able to get near that.

I'm messing with the camera to get it a bit smoother, and I think I'll tweak the deceleration when he jumps. Right now if you aren't pushing left or right he decelerates in midair at the same rate as he does on the ground which doesn't really make sense.

yeah. So good physics actually that even the Sega of today can't top/copy them

[Lord_Santa]

I'd say that the fighting mechanics are also important

any platformer can have a guy jumping on his enemies and nothing more

it takes a good platformer to include some kind of variety, as per example the Fireflower in SMB

although Sonic has (seemingly) no need for weapons, his attack is based off of his speed (he runs enemies over, as he's curled up)

there are various examples of this, throughout platforming history and I think it's an important aspect of the games themselves, since it's such a great part of the game

[Gamerforlife]

I'd say that the fighting mechanics are also important

any platformer can have a guy jumping on his enemies and nothing more

it takes a good platformer to include some kind of variety, as per example the Fireflower in SMB

although Sonic has (seemingly) no need for weapons, his attack is based off of his speed (he runs enemies over, as he's curled up)

there are various examples of this, throughout platforming history and I think it's an important aspect of the games themselves, since it's such a great part of the game

Well, this subject gets more interesting if you look beyond the hop and boppers, which is really just one type of platformer. Mega Man, Castlevania and Ninja Gaiden all give you more interesting offensive options

Course, even the cutesy Sonic, Mario type games have evolved into things like Sly Cooper and Ratchet and Clank, which give you lots of interesting attack methods