“13 More Tips for Making a Fun Platformer”

• Discuss how these elements may or may not relate to the game you’re developing

I thought the Dev.Mag article was extremely helpful for me to understand and properly analyze a platformer’s thoughtful design. The author managed to state general design rules to follow without being too opinionated. It is too early in my platformer development to really know what is relevant to me or not but knowing these fundamentals will definitely effect my brainstorming process.

I found it interesting that 3 of thirteen rules contain the phrase “make it easy to” but I suppose this is to follow rule ten, making sure the game is not frustrating to play. On a fundamental level it is important that bugs or errors don’t make the game awkward or annoying to play but even on a higher level certain game mechanics or cuts scenes can still make you want to throw your controller at the screen, a feeling I am too familiar with. My aim for my platformer is to make the environment as intuitive and fluid as possible. I definitely want my game to be more about traversing the environment rather than fighting enemies so I will be using ladders and probably rope swings in my game

The reading has shown me how much a game’s environment can affect the way a player approaches and interacts with a level.

 

•  Discuss a precedent for your game. How are they similar and how are they different?

For my game’s aesthetic I want to use oversized pixel art similar to Pitfall for the Atari 2600 although my game will be a bit more detailed. I have wanted to use this style for quite some time but I struggle to settle on a design as I worry people won’t be able to fill the blanks in their imagination. I’ve finally decided to push on and at least take the designs to the playtest stage.

I am struggling to come up with a precedent for the mechanics yet but Mickey Mouse Castle of Illusion plays with scale in a similar way to my game. I have settled on a platformer set in the world of The Borrowers. Borrowers are very small humans who live hidden in people’s homes. They ‘borrow’ things from the inhabitants of the house and use them in creative ways such as using a thimble as a little strainer or a needle as a sword. I want to create each level as a different room of a house. Castle of Illusion contains two levels where Mickey is scaled down in a world that was clearly not built for his size. He is jumping on children’s playing blocks or walking between sky high blades of grass. I’m excited to play with the scale of the environment and coming up with interesting ways to use regular household objects in a game-like manner.

There have been many renditions of the Borrowers and their world. The narrative is usually centred around a young girl desperate to get out and see the big world. Her father is protective as he knows how dangerous the outside world can be. Borrowers live in constant fear of being discovered by the humans and exterminated or killed by a house pet.

Mickey Mouse Castle of Illusion inspiration:

The Borrowers Precedents: