Very basic player controls...

pixeltroid

Member
What are your thoughts on a platformer where player CANNOT do the following:

- shoot while running
- shoot upwards
- crouch
- dash
- slide
- double jump
- wall jump
- climb ladders
- hold ledges
- swing

In my humble (first) game all you can do is run, jump and shoot 4 weapons. I know early Megaman games did not let you do the above moves (except dash and climb ladders if I remember correctly).

The reason: Besides being a novice at gamemaker (and not feeling too motivated right now to look up tutorials), there's also the reason that my player uses a rather large gun. So I felt that fancy acrobatic moves like double jumping, wall jumping, swinging etc. would feel unrealistic.

Would you say that the above list is mandatory for modern platformers? Or would you see still try out a game with very basic player controls? Thoughts?
 

NicoDT

Member
Well, most people like those features, and not doing them because you don't want to learn how to do them is a terrible reason.
I get that most of those things would be hard with a huge weapon, but maybe the character could drop it momentarily and perform some of those actions (making you vulnerable).

Anyway, I don't think those actions are mandatory, as long as you compensate with something else.
 

Yal

šŸ§ *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
Iji had a similar system (no aiming up or down, no shooting in mid-air) and people generally didn't care... but it's a slow-paced game which is much more about planning ahead and stealth than action, so the gameplay never really put you in a situation where you'd NEED to do those things. You don't question the lack of something you don't realize isn't there, so design your game around what the player character can do rather than designing the world first and then dropping the player into it.
 

Mr Magnus

Viking King
Just a side note: a realistic platformer is a story of a guy who died at the first gap because he couldn't jump twice his height. Don't wonder about realism, people aren't really going into a game thinking "Oh my, a realistic platformer, this is going to revolutionize gaming".

My tip to you is simply do what you feel is fun and design the game around it. You don't need justification, just need good execution.
 
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