Elements of a Good Platformer – Gaming's Brink

It has been brought to my attention that our audio sucks. I would like you guys to look at our latest video to see if it's been improved. I'm learning about these things as I go. Thank you!

Everything is correct but you forgot about level design

In terms of collectables, I'd say there are three types:
1. The abundant money collectable, such as coins in mario
2. The end-goal collectable, such as stars in mario
3. The optional challenge collectable, such as star coins in mario

"all sorts of other creatures"
not sure mario is a creature but okay

– game flow
– level design
– puzzles vs action
– meaningful items and objects

this will help quite a bit for my roblox game

What makes a good platformer today? You forgot the most important one: Purpose.
A video by a guy who makes his own games talks about this and he asks: Why should your game exist? What makes it any different from every other game of the same genre?
One example is the game MLP: Story Of The Blanks.
It's a basic horror top down 8 bit looking game. The controls are just move keys, why make it? Cause of it's story and setting. And it's approach to that story.
Creepy pastas have been done to death especially of mlp. But it's the monotony and huge gallery that is the biggest challenge today.
Make a 2D fighting game? DUH system stolen from Street Fighter 2.
Making an RPG? DUH just copy pasted Pokemon and Final Fantasy.
Non turn based rpg? DUH it's been done like that befoooore.

Then look at 3D platformer on the ps2. Sly Cooper, Rayman 3, Rathet & Clank, Jack & Daxter and Spyro games.
Then look at horror like Silent Hill 2 and Fatal Frame. All of them have the same exact controls and movement. But they work differently.
And on top of it they each handle one aspect differently or adds something to it that the others don't.

Now look at modern 3D platformers. Cutesy bright kid friendly barf fests except A Hat In Time.
They have no purpose to exist cause the pacing, feel, movement, goal and gameplay is exactly the same. Just a single simple gimmick to differentiate them.

So a really good platformer sets itself apart to have a purpose to exist, an experience nowhere else. Otherwise you can play anything else made before to get the same thing.
Otherwise Shovel Knights and Celeste wouldn't have been such beloved platformers if they didn't give a completely unique experience and feel compared to everything else.

Wait!?!? Are you telling me that an italian plumber and a shaman’s apprentice aren’t human!?!? Then what are they? Aliens or something

I've been trying to find a video that would help me enjoy hollow night and ori but I just get tired of it really fast. I'm sure there is something I'm missing.

Well I’m not going to say Ratchet and Clank has no platforming at all but it’s primally a third person shooter since more emphasis is on the shooting and weapons but then you would also have to call Turok and Doom 2017 platformers as well since they both are shooters with platforming elements

the comedy elements of this vid really didnt work cut that stuff and stick to the educational content you are good at that.

Did you just call Jinjos “Dinos”?

Cobker has no collectable.

Edit: Conker*

How did level design not come

1. Art design (Ubisoft)
2. Story (i guess…)
3. Lack of glitches
4. Music
5. Badass characters (Shantae 🙂

Any guesses- roto?-
Answer:lack of caffei-er coffee

How do you manage to completely level design. It's the entire reason I came! Plus that deep-voiced alter ego is just plain annoying.

A lot of these points can be said about any game. IMO the most important things are: Level design, flow of movement, creativity, secrets and collectables, and tight controls.

are you saying you dont like the original mario games because of the same gameplay and mechanics……..HOW DARE YOU

Level Design.

The sound is bad. It is too loud and there is clipping. Check your input level with a vu meter app if necessary and adjust gain so that it does not overflow.

How doesn’t this video have more views ? I swear this video has some quality editing and you prove some good points in this too

I sense some bias against a certain red-hatted genre-defining plumber.

Style. It's not enough to carry a game but I'm far more likely to give a game a try if the art appeals to me. I prefer bright colours and crisp models. A good example is Mario 3D World or Captain Toad's Treasure Tracker.

This comment and question goes out to the strange creepy voice that was in the background of the vid.. First The Question, Do you come from a family of dark warbly voice like encounters or are you more like a Doom Bot from old school Marvel with no family and rather just got out of the random encounter buissness before you got killed. MY Comment to you is , you mention glitches and hacks .. while not all hacks and glitches pertain to control they all effect control as control is the central aspect of gameplay that bridges the player and the game the most directly.

melon 🍈

Good physics are most important

All sorts of other creatures: MARIO???
Is an Italian or a plumber non-human?

a likeable character

Very good suggestions. I'll add them to my list.
So here's what I have: sufficient sense of danger (which I neglected in my earlier games), secret areas, secret items, secret transformations or abilities, upgradability, reasonably simple/difficult puzzles/mechanisms(to pass certain parts), ability to destroy or transform elements of the environment, speedy control and character maneuverability, skill-based obstacles and enemies, colorful and imaginative worlds to entice curiosity and exploration, periodic emotional(happy, sad, angry, comical, etc)  story elements, temporary – powerups, gear/items, assimilate enemies as allies, lay traps, unlock secret outfits/equip, sense of unknown/suspense, rhythm in difficulty (stress and relaxation moments), avoid excess frustration (ie: bad cdcr causing cheap deaths), acceleration, flipping/spinning, random treasures/items/drops, optional dialog/character-development, reasonably smart(seemingly alive) bad guys or np-characters… ummm… I'll probably add more to this list as I research… 😉

1. Tight Controls
2. Level Design
3. Reduced Iteration Time

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nice video man. keep it up

Your channel isn't popular enough! You seem really awesome! Anyway, I say a good platformers also need a memorable character, decent graphics, good sound effects and music, and Variety in enemies. About that last one, let me ask you something. What would be more fun, a small creature that walks back and fourth, or flies up and down, or something that hops around and throws stuff at you?

What about level design?

Flaffy! This video was awesome. I liked it a lot! You really know how to incorporate professional tools into your videos. The voice-overs, the footage, and the background music was perfect. Totally subscribed! 🙂

are endless runners a platform game too?

I'm going to take a look at the original Duke Nukem:

Variety: About a dozen different designs for Dr Proton's robots. Grappling hooks to move along special ceilings (once you find them). A fair few block types for different looks, and a handful of background scenes. Enough types of hazards that you won't get tired of any specific one.

Uniqueness: It's a DOS platformer with EGA graphics and PC speaker sound effects and no music. Not particularly unique for the time. The shareware distribution model was somewhat new back in 1991, though.

Story: Duke is sent by the CIA to stop Dr Proton after he takes over a city. Proton is smart enough to require three episodes to finally defeat. Pretty simple story overall.

Collectables: Various items for points, the letters to spell out "duke" which give extra points if collected in order, keys to get though doors, cola and drumsticks for health, extra firepower.

Controls: Pretty responsive, uses the standard Ctrl to jump and Alt to shoot PC platformer controls.

You only really talked about 3D platforms. What about Shovel Knight, it follows all the rules and more.

Deserves way more views for the amount of work that went into this video.

You can have all of the things in the video and have it still be a bad game without good level design, if it's too easy then it's boring, if it's too hard it's frustrating