I decided to make this game a platformer, as the stargazing navigation mechanic didn’t have enough meat on its bones to create an entire game on its own. So I want to look more into what make a reeaaally good feeling 2D character controller.
The first thing I found was from Mark Brown, the person who runs the GMTK (Game Makers Toolkit) YouTube channel. I’ve been following and watching his videos for a while now but this one specifically is super informative when it comes to 2D platforming.
I want to go over a few things that Mark mentions in this video that will definitely influence my game.
Tuning the Movement
Adjustable acceleration and top speed
Making the acceleration to top speed shorter makes a player character feel more responsive and decisive – which is the goal that I have for this player character. Whereas, increasing the acceleration time to get to top speed makes it feel more ‘slippery’.
Ultimately, this is a design choice and neither of these decisions are wrong. But in the case of this project, I want the acceleration time to be as short as possible, if not, I want there to be no acceleration time.
Two gravities
Having two separate ‘gravities’ that act on the player at different points of their jump allow the player to have more control of the player character.
Having a lower gravity on a jump’s ascent makes the climb to the jump’s peak feel slower and more floaty – giving the player more time in the air to make decisions about where to land etc. Whereas, having a higher gravity on the descent makes landing feel more snappy and satisfying.
Additional Features
Jump buffer
A jump buffer is a quality of life feature that a player wouldn’t really recognise. But definitely makes playing the game feel better.
It makes the jump input more forgiving for the player, if they jump slightly before they land; The game will still recognise the jump input.
Coyote Jump
Very similar to the jump buffer feature, but instead of being forgiving for an early input, the game forgives the player for a late input – like if they were to jump slightly after leaving a platform.
Variable Jump Height
Another feature that give the player more control of their player character is variable jump height – letting the player control how high they jump depending on how long they press the input makes gameplayer faster and more responsive.
Visual ‘Juice’
Quality of life features don’t just come down to how a player controller feels, but also how it looks.
One of features is providing more visual clarity as to when the player has jumped or landed. But it also shows the player where the player jumped or landed, so that they can adjust accordingly if they need to restart the level etc.
How will this research effect my game?
Using all this research, I created a movement prototype for the platformer aspect of the game:
References:
“How to make a good platforming character”
www.youtube.com. (n.d.). How to make a good platforming character (Developing 6). [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep_9RtAbwog [Accessed 25 Apr. 2023].
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