Game Mechanics A term for side-scrollers with depth? (Castle Crashers, Golden Axe, etc?)

[ChadSpence]

Hey, guys. First post here in yeeeears!

I'm trying to figure out if there's a specific term for side-scrolling games that integrate depth.

If you've ever played games like Castle Crashers, River City Ransom, Golden Axe, Battletoads, Double Dragon, etc.
All of these games allow movement on the Y-axis to walk around obstacles, enemies, etc.

I'm looking to develop a game in this way, but I'm not sure what it's even called.

Thanks!

 

[Mick]

Beat 'em up / Brawler

 

[Yal]

Wikipedia says the commonly-used perspective is "cabinet projection" (one of many oblique projections), assuming you're asking about the art style and not the game style. (The game style, I think is called "scrolling beat-'em-up", to contrast from vs fighters like Street Fighter and Tekken)

 

[Mick]

(The game style, I think is called "scrolling beat-'em-up", to contrast from vs fighters like Street Fighter and Tekken)

Generally it's just "Beat 'em up", scrolling is assumed in a beat 'em up. Street Fighter and Tekken are fighting games, although a few Tekken games have beat 'em up sections.

By the way, Golden Axe and games like that (with swords and melee weapons mainly) are also called "Hack 'n Slash". I really like that term myself, it's so fitting.

 

[Pelican Police]

Wikipedia says the commonly-used perspective is "cabinet projection" (one of many oblique projections), assuming you're asking about the art style and not the game style. (The game style, I think is called "scrolling beat-'em-up", to contrast from vs fighters like Street Fighter and Tekken)
View attachment 29846

I thought you were saying this type of game category was 'potting bench' at first

Also isn't this type of game just restricted top down?

 

[BrownBox]

Good fun..

 

[sitebender]

I've heard the term Belt scroller, but I'd go with brawler or beat'em up.

 

[Niels]

It's basically just top-down with depthsorting and a jump state. From there on you can add genre specific mechanics

 

[Meatjunk]

They're called brawlers
Beat-em-up is ambiguous, at least when I was a kid, as that term meant fighting games and brawlers

 

[Jsnye_Mechworks]

Depth sort by doing "depth = -y". Probably also have to do something funky to figure out if the player is jumping or not, a rudimentary z variable probably to get collisions right.
I remember doing a fps in gm6.1 (without registration). Pretty neat but tedious.

 

[Kelly G]

Back in the 80s/90s magazines called it "3/4 perspective". After searching google, it looks like the term is still relevant.

 

[honeybone82]

i like to refer to brawlers as vertically challenged dungeon crawlers

 

[honeybone82]

we need a brawler mmorpg, get the boys down in research on it, chop chop.