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What are the elements of a good platformer

In our article Are Platform Games Good For Your Brain, we already made a rough definition of what this genre represents. Platform video games are those that rely on a jumping mechanic to reach a certain area of the stage. The main gameplay element lies in the scrolling. From this initial framework, additional mechanics can be added, such as eliminating enemies, collecting bonus items (Super Mario’s coins or Sonic’s rings), exploring or revealing the storyline component.

Platform video games are a very popular and long-lived genre, dating back to the early 1980s, with the launch of two arcade machines such as Donkey Kong (Nintendo, 1981) and Space Panic (Universal, CBS Electronics, 1980), in which scrolling had not yet been implemented; the character scrolling was done on a fixed screen. Evidently, the platform genre has evolved significantly since then, to much more complex and elaborate releases such as Exographer and Celeste (in 2D) or Super Mario Odyssey in 3D. Any of these games serve as an example to study what makes a good platform game?

The first element is control. Platforming tests the player’s skill and precision of movement, and for this it is essential that the game establishes fair rules. It is very important that the main character shows an immediate response to the player’s input with the controller, and that a clear behavior of inertia and gravity (which influences the height the character reaches and the speed of the fall) is established. It is not a bad thing for a game to be demanding, but the player must be clear at all times what he is capable of doing, and have a feeling of absolute control. Adjusting these parameters takes time, but it is one of the most important parts of development. If the control is fine-tuned, the player may never notice it, but if, on the contrary, it is flawed, these errors become obvious and spoil the experience.

What are the elements of a good platformer

The second component to highlight is the variety of scenarios. Video games require a balanced learning curve and difficulty to be fun. This means that in each level we must find new mechanics, obstacles and situations, which stimulate our curiosity and force us to combine everything we have learned so far. At the same time, the variety of scenarios gives us a sense of progress and continues to stimulate the player to move forward; to know what will come next.

Platforming can be pure, or be combined with different complementary skills, which make the video game more fun. In the more traditional titles we find the possibility of eliminating enemies or collecting bonus items, even a countdown that determines our skill (or prevents us from being too entertained). But in more modern developments, such as Exographer, we also find puzzles, search for secrets or conversations with other characters.

Checkpoints and saving system in a platform game.

Something that applies to all video games and that marks the experience of the players is the saving system or checkpoints. The placement of these save points can make the difference between a satisfying or frustrating experience, and is directly related to difficulty and length.

In Exographer, a unique save system has been implemented: each photograph that the protagonist takes using his tablet becomes a save point, and also a place where we can teleport to at any time. In this way -which is quite a technical challenge- it is the player himself who chooses the frequency with which the checkpoints appear, according to his skill. In a game, like the one we are talking about, with a duration of more than 15 hours, the saving system is key.

Finally, and this is something that is not essential to the genre, a good story must be added. Platformers can have a simple story, such as rescuing a princess kidnapped by an evil turtle. But you can also introduce a contextual narrative, which emerges from the different scenarios, and even a lore that completes what the player is seeing and gives the feeling that everything takes place in a coherent universe.

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