platform game design clichés

[pixeltroid]

- starting level is set in a forested area. brown ground tiles/trees in back ground. (OR an urban setting with a skyline in the background)
- collect coins/gems/diamonds without being told in-game what they are for or how player may benefit after he collects a certain number of them
- mid air platforms. how exactly can a platform be suspended in mid air? shouldn't there be at least a column holding it up???
- small enemies that hurt you upon touching you. I'm talking about bugs, bats, snails etc. do you rationalize it away thinking they have a force field around them or something?

 

[NimNom1234]

- starting level is set in a forested area. brown ground tiles/trees in back ground. (OR an urban setting with a skyline in the background)
- collect coins/gems/diamonds without being told in-game what they are for or how player may benefit after he collects a certain number of them
- mid air platforms. how exactly can a platform be suspended in mid air? shouldn't there be at least a column holding it up???
- small enemies that hurt you upon touching you. I'm talking about bugs, bats, snails etc. do you rationalize it away thinking they have a force field around them or something?

Yeah, these cliches are stupid.
Most metroidvanias fix these, although they aren't technically platformes





Also, check the subreddit please

 

[sitebender]

- You have to jump.
- You have to stomp enemies when you don't have a gun.

Also about the getting told what gems do... do ya really want a tutorial on that stuff?

 

[Deleted member 13992]

- mid air platforms. how exactly can a platform be suspended in mid air? shouldn't there be at least a column holding it up???

Maybe, but maybe not.

I agree if your environment is a wide-open space with sky/landscape as a background, a mid-air platform will look weird. But if your environment is a cave, dense forest, or some other interior, I think it's fine, depending on how well you design your backgrounds. It doesn't have to be a pillar. In a cave, it can be assumed that the platform can be held up by the back wall (and unseen front wall) without the need for anything underneath it.

An exception is if the game is a fantasy and not grounded in realistic physics. This is also fine, as long as the theme of the theme of the game sort of makes that clear.

 

[pixeltroid]

Maybe, but maybe not.

I agree if your environment is a wide-open space with sky/landscape as a background, a mid-air platform will look weird. But if your environment is a cave, dense forest, or some other interior, I think it's fine, depending on how well you design your backgrounds. It doesn't have to be a pillar. In a cave, it can be assumed that the platform can be held up by the back wall (and unseen front wall) without the need for anything underneath it.

An exception is if the game is a fantasy and not grounded in realistic physics. This is also fine, as long as the theme of the theme of the game sort of makes that clear.

true. but the parallax scroll effect show that the platform is not attached to the wall

;-)

 

[Deleted member 13992]

true. but the parallax scroll effect show that the platform is not attached to the wall

;-)

Depends on your environment design, and how you implement the parallax effect. You can have subtle parallax on the wall and still have the platform convincingly attached to it.

I'll try to whip up a clip in a bit to show my implementation.

Edited, added clip

Here I have 3 environment layers, not counting the uniform sky. All have parallax, but the floating platforms still manage to look connected to "solid ground".

Granted architectural environments might have a harder time pulling this off, you can still do it by varying the amounts of parallax layers. You could have the wall of the building the platform is attached to not have parallax, but other (farther) parts of the building and the street have some. Then more layers for the cityscape and skyline, all with varying amounts of it.

 

[Ankokushin]

Depends on your environment design, and how you implement the parallax effect. You can have subtle parallax on the wall and still have the platform convincingly attached to it.

I'll try to whip up a clip in a bit to show my implementation.

Edited, added clip

Here I have 3 environment layers, not counting the uniform sky. All have parallax, but the floating platforms still manage to look connected to "solid ground".

Granted architectural environments might have a harder time pulling this off, you can still do it by varying the amounts of parallax layers. You could have the wall of the building the platform is attached to not have parallax, but other (farther) parts of the building and the street have some. Then more layers for the cityscape and skyline, all with varying amounts of it.

Firstly, your clip looks really nice. It is as pretty as any good 2d game out there. I cannot hope to do something that stylish now or any time in the near future.

That said, the platforms do look like they float. I see that you used shadowy layers to make a 3d-like effect, but it just doesn´t convince of their connection: only give me a nice sense of depth.
Perhaps one extra layer slightly less fog would be enough to convince of their connection.

Finally, I don´t really care about the reality-bending of floating blocks. If it helps your game be fun, go for it. Most of us have a really high capacity for suspension of desbelief in games anyway.

 

[Ankokushin]

I agree on the coin/crystal collecting, though. that.

 

[Niels]

Standard platformers have outdated and cliche'd mechanics by design...

It's your job as dev to run with those cliche's and add to it. (Or embrace it and call your game "retro")

How many songs are still written in the cliche 4/4 time signature and still sound modern and fresh?

 

[Will]

I'm playing Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze on Switch right now, and one of my favorite things about it is that there are no random platforms. You are always jumping on a tree, ship, rock formation, etc. - everything is a setpiece with context, and it really escalates the level of polish.

I don't know that random platforms are a cliche necessarily, but what DK is doing is very noticeable and appreciated.

 

[Yal]

Cave Story has all floating platforms either be attached to the background (most levels are in caves, after all), held up by pillars, or suspended by chains or other decorative-tiles structures. I can agree with @Will, it makes levels feel a lot more polished, and you subconsciously feel like the world makes sense somehow.

Starting out in grassy fields and going towards evil lava caves also makes sense - obviously the evil overlord you're trying to stop likes to make his lair threatening, otherwise he wouldn't be evil. And the closer you get to him, the greater his influence, so it makes sense those places would look more evil.

 

[Ode Imaginations]

The hovering platforms is an interesting topic I had never thought of from the point of view of story and setting. Having hovering platforms without there being a clear reason in the story why they would exist does make them seem a bit conventional. Like: "there are hovering platforms because this is a platformer and platformers have hovering platforms." Then again, if the world elements are tied to the story and setting, I don't see any issue there.

 

[Yal]

Like: "there are hovering platforms because this is a platformer and platformers have hovering platforms."

 

[The-any-Key]

Why can you re-play a game if you die in the game? (You are dead and you should not be able to play it again.)
What is HP anyway? (I got some spare hearts that I can very quickly transplant on myself?)
Why do the monsters want to kill me? (I didn't do anything.)

 

[sitebender]

Why can you re-play a game if you die in the game? (You are dead and you should not be able to play it again.)
What is HP anyway? (I got some spare hearts that I can very quickly transplant on myself?)
Why do the monsters want to kill me? (I didn't do anything.)

There was that one game that when you die you're forced to buy a new copy of the game. Why do hippos kill people? Perhaps explaining the logic behind things wanting to kill you when you die would be beneficial.

 

[NazGhuL]

It's a game...

 

[CleanWater]

- collect coins/gems/diamonds without being told in-game what they are for or how player may benefit after he collects a certain number of them

Actually, it used to be explained in the game's manuals.