Platform Game Ideas

Platform Game Ideas

Torbjörn Josefsson

Member #1,048

September 2000

MWAH-HAH-HAH-HAAAAA!

Once again I foil you, caster of spells, by already having posted this link - albeit in a less auspiscious form

No, I'm not entirely sure what "auspiscious" is either, or if its really spelled that way

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Specialization is for insects

spellcaster

Member #1,493

September 2001

I must admit, I haven't actually read the thread.
But it seems to be pretty obvious, that you're way superior.

*spellcaster bows

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There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots.

An Ly

Member #185

April 2000

Okay, here is some design comments.

1. You need a hook. Sonic runs fast, Mario can headbutt bricks and jump on guys, Happyland Dog picks up friends and brings them home. What is your hook? What is the focus of the game? What sets it apart? Having a squirrel which can be replaced by anything isn't good enough. Think of a FEATURE.

2. Level design. If you think that gliding is the feature then make it prominent in the level design. Make sure you need the feature and make sure that it is FUN to use.

3. Keep it simple! Not too many controls, that pisses most people off. Platformers are generally pick up and play games, too make moves to perform can be a negative. Some ideas can be discarded. eg. Hanging off ledges. do you really need it? Just make the guy jump futher (or bring the platform closer). If you do decide on a new action for your character make it relevant. Make the character NEED it and make it fun to use.

Rick

Member #3,572

June 2003

1) The hook is she's a good looking explorer chick squirrel. She can shoot acorns and has a boomberang cashew.

2) Copy that

3) This is something that I am trying to do. I know some of the features won't make it into the final game. I'm testing them out to see how fun they are, and how easy they are to use.

Thanks for the input.

[EDIT]
Status - still working on the level designer.

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Actually I think I'm a tad ugly, but some women disagree, mostly Asians for some reason.

Johan Halmén

Member #1,550

September 2001

Squirrels can change the direction in the air with their long tail. Lots of sidescroll/platform characters can do that without an obvious connection to reality*), but Squirly/Lorna had this feature, it would relate to the real world.

*) Anyone ever played Monkey Shines on a Mac? It is old but a great platformer with a level editor. Bonzo, the hero gorilla, makes these funny jumps. While in the air, he can move sideways just by that. Without a tail.

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Years of thorough research have revealed that the red "x" that closes a window, really isn't red, but white on red background.

Years of thorough research have revealed that what people find beautiful about the Mandelbrot set is not the set itself, but all the rest.

Torbjörn Josefsson

Member #1,048

September 2000

I think she IS a pretty special 'hero', in that she is able to climb Most (I guess) things - sometimes also upside-down, and in having the power to glide short distances

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Specialization is for insects

Yves Rizoud

Member #909

January 2001

Yes the hook is important.
> explorer < chick squirrel
You can focus on "complex" levels with a lot of things to discover. What about digging for secrets, or hitting switches / collecting bonuses with the boomerang ? (I'm thinking of Megaman's "boomerang cutter")

Rick

Member #3,572

June 2003

Hitting switches is a good idea.

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Actually I think I'm a tad ugly, but some women disagree, mostly Asians for some reason.

23yrold3yrold

Member #1,134

March 2001

TMS has a hook; all his moves look "accidental". Or at least, as many as possible ...

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Software Development == Church Development
Step 1. Build it.
Step 2. Pray.

Rick

Member #3,572

June 2003

Small delay on the early demo. Problem loading the map from the editor. I have found the problem this morning, but am at work and will have to fix it tonight.

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Actually I think I'm a tad ugly, but some women disagree, mostly Asians for some reason.

Dassedare

Member #3,824

August 2003

are there not any TRUE miner willy games under development?
with THAT graphic and sound as BEFORE

"I`m in love with MINER WILLY"

Trezker

Member #1,739

December 2001

You better get that demo out soon, I'm getting nervous...

[My github]

Torbjörn Josefsson

Member #1,048

September 2000

DON'T LET US PRESSURE YOU!!!
TAKE YOUR TIME... TOMORROW OR THE DAY AFTER;
EITHER IS FINE!!!

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Specialization is for insects

Rick

Member #3,572

June 2003

Problem Loading levels is fixed.

I then ran into a problem with slow drawing. I will change the way I store my tiles today in the game today, as well as getting my scroll bars to work on my VB Level Editor.

The old way:
My editor in VB uses a 2D array for the map. When I save to file I first write all tilesets used. Then for each tile in the 2D array that has a tile I write the location of the square, the location of the tile in the tileset, and the tileset filename.

Then in the game, I read in all tilesets and load them into my tileset manager. Then instead of a 2D array (that could have emtpy slots) I use a array for each object. The tilemanager takes each tiles tileset filename and retrieves the actual BITMAP*, and blits that at the tile location. This is apparently slow.

The new way:
Each tile will have it's own 32x32 BITMAP* that gets created and blitted to on level load. That way each tile can easily draw it's BITMAP*. This should speed up drawing.

I'll do all this today. )

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Actually I think I'm a tad ugly, but some women disagree, mostly Asians for some reason.