Posted May 30, 2013
Have you ever had a moment when you saw a thing / feature in a video game that made you think like a designer? Questioning why it's there / why it isn't there?
This happened to me when watching JonTron's review of Bubsy the Bobcat games. (Link for those who care: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTAlr5raV2U) In points 03:43 and 04:43 he adresses the falldamage in the first game. My tought process went something like this: "Hah! This is probably the only platformer that I know that has fallda- Oh right... Super Mario 64 has falldamage, but nobody complains about that. Wait... MOST 3D platformers have falldamage, but not 2D ones. I wonder why..."
I came to a conclusion. Falldamage in 3D platformers is there to restrict the player to certain paths and areas. It's basically discouraging players to take shortcuts. Let's say, for example, that you start on the roof of a skyscraper and your goal is on the street. Normally you'd have to navigate through the building to get to the goal, but a lack of falldamage would allow you to jump down from the roof to the street without penalty, thus bypassing most of the level. Restricting players with falldamage isn't necessary in 2D platformers, because simple walls can do that. You have one less dimension to go around them. However, if you tried to limit player movement in a 3D platformer only with walls and ceilings, the level would end up being just a series of corridors. That's just not good level design!
And that's how Bubsy the Bobcat made me think like a designer. Extra Credits was right when they said that you can learn more from bad games than from good games. What do you guys think? Have you had moments similar to this? I'd like to hear your stories!
This happened to me when watching JonTron's review of Bubsy the Bobcat games. (Link for those who care: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTAlr5raV2U) In points 03:43 and 04:43 he adresses the falldamage in the first game. My tought process went something like this: "Hah! This is probably the only platformer that I know that has fallda- Oh right... Super Mario 64 has falldamage, but nobody complains about that. Wait... MOST 3D platformers have falldamage, but not 2D ones. I wonder why..."
I came to a conclusion. Falldamage in 3D platformers is there to restrict the player to certain paths and areas. It's basically discouraging players to take shortcuts. Let's say, for example, that you start on the roof of a skyscraper and your goal is on the street. Normally you'd have to navigate through the building to get to the goal, but a lack of falldamage would allow you to jump down from the roof to the street without penalty, thus bypassing most of the level. Restricting players with falldamage isn't necessary in 2D platformers, because simple walls can do that. You have one less dimension to go around them. However, if you tried to limit player movement in a 3D platformer only with walls and ceilings, the level would end up being just a series of corridors. That's just not good level design!
And that's how Bubsy the Bobcat made me think like a designer. Extra Credits was right when they said that you can learn more from bad games than from good games. What do you guys think? Have you had moments similar to this? I'd like to hear your stories!
