How I made an Excellent Platformer

[@GoldenEvolution]

To those who do end up getting the game on Steam, make sure to leave a positive review, as that helps out the visibility for the game a lot!!!

[@rim3rh82]

Im finishing my own first game this weekend, when im done I will surely buy & try ur game!! Sad part is that since my game is a school assingment I dont think im going to have time to do all the post procesing. Eanyways your game turned out amazing!! Ill come back when ive traed it

[@Jack_______oh]

@@rim3rh82 you can always go back to your game after you've submitted it for the project!

[@somerandomchannel382]

good pitch, good game, good price. one buy! +++++

[@BanaKoolit]

how much will it costs for you to make me a game

[@The_Lumin]

French succesfully spotted. /j

[@angel_of_rust]

celeste and hollow knight both feel like the level design is built around the movement of your character (moreso than any other modern platformer), and i think that contributes to making a platformer great. your character's movement is effectively the game's "unit of measurement". that's probably why on hollow knight there are certain parts of levels that are just a smidge too far to reach with just your basic jump.

[@GoldenEvolution]

That is exactly the beautiful part that I tried building my game around as well. Definitely a good way to go around building these type of games in my opinion!

[@hollowknightenjoyer]

So basically, wario or mario. Good tip though, thanks, will remember it

[@ДаняФадеев-й3к]

And also, you can make 'Design' from the movement. Tips: Here are two Types: "Floaty" "Groundy". If You want a "Floaty" Platformer, The movement options, Should be more "Jumpy".

[@glitchpop600]

Based

[@pointfrogg]

That is a super subtle but super deep detail. Every step you take the game world basically moves with you, gives weight to every motion.

[@N6_mity]

Bro I just loved the way you understand that platformer games need "perfect" controls for making it fun

[@WannibeManisha]

That movement looks snappy and juicy!!! Congrats and well done :D Just grabbed my copy xD Your pixel art is so amazing and that track you made sounds great!

[@GoldenEvolution]

Thanks as always, and thanks so much for getting the game!!

[@franxd323]

I NEED a variable jump height tutorial, I tried many times

[@studychibi9930]

I just started making my game project for study last night and I love this conversation because this helped me make strategies and it allowed me to organize my thoughts through out the process. I am so interested in pushing stuff forward and it felt crazy fun to build such things all over. Thank you so much!

[@tobisegun-lean2593]

Did you make it ?

[@rgb-robloxgamingmore5062]

bro started out with 3 of my favorite games, I don't even need to watch to know he has good inspiration

[@iamsecrets]

Would love to see a in-depth dive into how you made the character controller. Getting movement feeling right is make a break for this genre. Looks great btw the FX at the end really tied it all together

[@bvs1q]

GMTK has a nice video on Celeste's movement. No code, but all the info

[@theresnothinghere59]

yeah and honestly nor ori, celeste or hollow knight have the "right" feeling.

[@aephemerial-tv]

I'd also love to see that. 😁

[@KitsuneFaroe]

@@theresnothinghere59 that really depends on the kind of Game you're making and the kind of Game people are looking for. Those Games do feel amazing for what they try to do.

[@KitsuneFaroe]

GMTK made a tiny essay Game about fine-tuning a platformer called Platformer Toolkit. You can experiment with that and he even shared the Unity scripts with comments.

[@kanolem]

I just bought your game, and oh boy. It's fun, it gave me emotions(rage). Very challenging. I love this style of your game. 10/10 beautiful

[@narumeia]

Thanks for the tips! I bought the game to support your work. Looking forward to more inspiring and educational content!

[@commentarytalk1446]

Your theme is really good imho: It's got those "smarty-fruitie-tootie" gummy-drop, sugar-bomb sweetie vibes ! The main character having a more unique outline would be a nice touch - possibly a little Witch's peaked-hat bobbling along her head somehow slanted to one side or even just a small touch as per Anya in Spy x Family? Mario has it all: * Physics of movement * Character design * Environment and obstacles including fun goons I think Celeste is note-worthy because it takes basic physics of gravity up-down then adds core air-dash and wall-bounce so you now have left-right and diagonal to the mix. Grappling-hooks, magnetic boots etc are all other contraptions for adding different dynamics to the physics of gravity.

[@BriggsMullen]

Looks great! I'm in the beginning phase of developing a similar game right now, and I'm really struggling to get the movement to feel right. It's frustrating because I know I can't really do any level design until I have the movement down. I think I need to step back and spend some more time studying good movement.

[@sandydarkfall]

I am currently in Indie game design school and I found this very interesting! Of course, I got the game and hopefully will be able to play it soon and give it the good review it deserves! Well done! ♥

[@Prajwal____]

Where is your school!!? Is it fun?

[@illford]

@@Prajwal____ lots of schools offer gaame design courses

[@tumultuousv]

​@@illfordindie game design school tho?😂

[@qadrianqe3444]

That was so fabulous and amazing. WELL FREAKING DONE!

[@thekevin271]

I really want this type of video talking about this specific topic but it's so rare this was the only video i could find about it.

[@thekevin271]

Mabye you can solve this problem by making more amazing games and showcasing them on youtube (i would prefer a 2d platformer game other than any other game)

[@GhostbitStudios]

Fantastic job! Will be checking out when I got time

[@Sidy86]

Wow man this game looks really good!!

[@Skeffles]

Looks fantastic! I love that witch house.

[@hackticdev]

This looks really good! The art of it and the overall feel really reminds me of celeste. Definitely gonna be picking this one up!

[@Luigi64]

Heyo I just found the game on steam sorting by new and beat it in around 47 mins! It was really enjoyable. I did have some feedback as a fellow indie dev I wanted to send outside of my positive steam review too: 1. Vertical camera movement is a bit jarring with how quickly it moves up (noticeable in the early east levels) 2. You respawn in the air, which means you can't immediately use certain powerups until you wait to touch the ground (it would be better if you were forced to touch the ground somehow before moving to prevent this) 3.There's a strange delay between the time when you walljump and until it lets you directional dash that killed me several times (seemed to only happen in certain spots, it also felt like after wall jumping I lost some of my additional jumps) 4. Weird resolution issues on my 1440p monitor where it wasn't pixel perfect in fullscreen even after attempting to letterbox (the 320x180 internal resolution should be pixel perfect at 1440p if I have that res right) Bug 1: if in powerup menu while on a one way platform, pressing down will let you go through it still Bug 2: if in powerup menu while a new powerup is being planted (and added to menu), you cannot go to the new powerup without restarting the powerup menu Bug 3: If you leave an area with modified music and immediately come back to it (as soon as you can), it will be the music of the room you entered briefly instead of the room you're currently in

[@GoldenEvolution]

Glad to hear you enjoyed the game! I'll see what I can do with the feedback. I am a bit confused what you mean with point 1 though. In the earlier levels, the camera shouldn't move vertically at all unless you move from one level to another vertically. Does the camera move slightly up and down on your end? If that's the case then it might be a resolution problem which I shall try to fix

[@EmiloGrande]

I think you could add diffrent music and soundefects to the different areas to help with the atmospher.

[@Sampras8491]

Bought the game just now. I am a big sucker for indie games and for a buck it's pretty much a free game. Keep up the creativity.

[@jaybugo]

The "feel" can make or break a game for me and just by how it looks in your game, I am itching to play it! I'm playing 2d platformers since I wanna make my own eventually.

[@JuhaniViitanen]

Nice progress looks really good!

[@javazombi]

Well done! I'll play this on stream sometime

[@dmitriyb.6201]

Amazing! This gives me so much motivation to redo my floaty I used to make in Unity :D Great visuals too!

[@iamgerer]

Man! I love that you decided to do the player controller first, because if its done then you can work under all those controls and wont break the game like many ❤

[@SecondsGuess]

Definitely an excellent platformer! The art and the animations are top notch quality, and I love the art style and vibes of the game. Fantastic work with the level design too!

[@I-OGameDev]

The absolute balls to go with this title and then the absolute skill to deliver on it

[@GoldenEvolution]

Haha thank you very much! I'm going to be honest, the title is obviously clickbaitey and should be taken with a grain of salt because everyone's opinion on what is good is different. But I am really glad you liked it!

[@I-OGameDev]

@@GoldenEvolution This video came back in my feed recently. Guess who's making adaptive music for indie platformers now 😅

[@DarkDax]

Great insight! Can't wait to see more!

[@zojirushi1]

This guy uploaded this great video then he left and stopped uploading. 😭

[@katsucchivt]

Watched a fren of ur frens playtest the game, was rly fun the see her completly struggle at the caves and getting mad 10/10 would recommend

[@GoldenEvolution]

oh god

[@wellhellotherekyle]

Your game looks great! Love the lighting effects. I'll have to try it this weekend :)

[@Podckast]

bought the game gonna check it out today!

[@AntonyCannon]

Well this is lovely. Great job!

[@JuhoSprite]

The game turned out so good. I loved the movement a ton, would love to see another platformer from you, maybe something more like mario this time

[@Finalldrace]

first found your game on steam and then two hours later youtube recommended me this video :)

[@Finalldrace]

give the game a review on steam (and you a pm via email) some small things to mention: bugs - you can open the ability menu and config menue at the same time. - in the end screen i can still move and open/close ability menu ( hearable, but not visible) - in the end screen - quit and try again not selectable with controller easy integratable gamefeel ideas - a "rewarding" sound on each seed collection (zelda like) - a name for each ability in the beans menu (Double Jump, Dash etc.) - red eyes in background could blink - add additional 2-3 music tracks (maybe one per region) - add small movement to light sources like pink lakes or lighbeams - gives some dynamic in scene personal opinion - so much backtracking, some levels could be more of a "circle" (the end level is not placed so well) - would wish for a unique path to the last level.

[@makeitsogames]

nice to see your evolution!

[@pedroparreira1695]

It looks very polished. I love the art style. I have to buy and try it later. Well done.

[@captn_hanky]

I wonder when the number of platform games released will surpass the one trillion mark

[@mmmmmmmmmmm10]

Love the music, melody at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="467">7:47</a> is dope. Gonna check this out.

[@theintroverse3494]

Hey man, great stuff you're doing! I saw to the end of the video, and was like, YO! He actually posted the game! I Instantaneously bought it because I could tell you put in a lot of hard work and dedication into it, and I have played Celeste so I was fascinated by how the game would be. As I saw in the video the movement and soundtrack honestly sounds incredible. This a comment before I actually go ahead and play the game, but so glad this came on my youtube recommended. Congrats!

[@malekelsady]

You legit had the same idea I did for this jam but you just did it much better than I did lol

[@amj.composer]

This looks incredible, good stuff and congrats

[@MysticRiverGames]

Great video! looking to see what comes next!

[@patrickjones2843]

Thanks for the video. I love metroidvanias. I picked up your game as it looks fun to play and may help give me inspiration. I totally agree with you player control is the most important. Metroid Dread just plays so smooth. If I can get my characters movement close to that it would be amazing.

[@Soulstice-vl3db]

The art of this game looks great but it might be good to try adding some parallax to the larger backgrounds ( like at the beginning) to help add depth. Still tho good job great art style

[@GoldenEvolution]

Thank you! That was indeed something I considered adding but ended up not adding it because it felt a bit stuttery/laggy with the pixel perfect camera.

[@99ZULU]

Looks really good. Well done.

[@NoahNCopeland]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="421">7:01</a> that feel when the GEMS sound driver hits

[@jno7]

Damn this looks great! :o I love the graphics and the character controller looks exactly like the perfect one that I always wanted to have but never really figured out how to script lol I might buy it the next time I get a Steam gift card haha Btw, if you need any help with music in future projects I would offer you my help for free if you want that, even though what you made here sounded really cute too ngl I have a few years of experience in making video game music and would love to work together with someone again ^- ^

[@andyprice2383]

Fun game. Enjoyed the YT video on it also. Good work!

[@adilife6080]

bro, it looks amazing. Good Job

[@marccawood]

The music is great, reminiscent of Kyrandia!

[@gabrielzanda6890]

Nice content bro, thank you my youtube algorithm for showing this.

[@omaryasser2727]

Bro you have a great ton of potential

[@Poniksei]

very very cool, i really loved the post-processing? you did with the graphics to make the lights glow and shadows and stuff im very curious how that is done

[@blinxerizer5426]

Just bought your game instantly after watching this video.

[@smhooo]

Please tell me how you did those post processing effects, it almost looks like shaders it looks gorgeous!

[@Equisdeification]

The game looks excelent! Be careful with the game duration tho since I've seen people with small games complaining about people buying the game, beating it under 2 hours and then refunding it

[@GoldenEvolution]

Thank you!! Hopefully with the game being as cheap as it is that won't happen haha

[@jojoaky]

It looks so good!

[@herrflantier3739]

Big ups! And thx for the tips

[@iamgerer]

Wow i didnt knew post processing /polishing does so much to game graphics. 🤯♥️

[@adammickiewicz7818]

Maybe I didn't learn anything about gamedev that I didn't know already but somehow this video was e x t r e m e l y motivating. Take my $1 as a thank you gift.

[@xtrellahh]

wow what a piece of art!

[@snowgui4086]

I'm definitely gonna buy it

[@samuellees3534]

Cool Celeste vibes. You're a pretty underrated creator. -sincerely Uel

[@pedroreislima4151]

loved the menu

[@beri4138]

I'm trying this myself lately and it's really, really hard to get the movement just right.

[@MrSmashmasterk]

This is so interesting. If you want help with music lmk!

[@traycraft_]

This is so cool! What software did you use for all of this?

[@EternalFinity]

He used Unity (probably) for the level design, Aseprite for the artwork and sprites, and some or other music app for the music.

[@septarap3901]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="307">5:07</a> this is extremely relatable.

[@martyballamore2760]

>Lots of input lag >Falling faster than ascending while jumping gives a smaller window of reaction for a safe landing, given I managed to jump in the first place my concern isn't where I jump from, is where I land, at least halve the gravity on the jump highest point so I get more time to plan it midair if it's gonna be like that, like Celeste does since it was your frame of reference. >Climbing has stamina, apparently, I had to figure that out (as well as how to climb, apparently the thinking clouds are more concerned in showing me a cat and how to harvest abilities than teaching me how to use them), I kept thinking I did something wrong and that's why I couldn't climb further, guess I'll must pray I don't run out of stamina when I need it because I have no idea how much do I have. >I can't predict how far will I wall jump because I either was snapped to the wall while climbing or I pressed the opposite direction too fast/soon, it would have been nice to reuse the interact button for grabbing onto the walls so the climb had a button to rely on, but it seems it's main purpose is for harvesting the abilities... even a new button would have been nice. >Why farm the abilities on the first place? just give em already, the farm is looks nice but is as useful as nipples are on males they are just there because otherwise it would look off to you If the controls where somehow average I think the game could be finished in 5 minutes or less, funny how I barely care about the amount of content, the controls are just bad

[@mrchuuni1517]

This comment just screams "skill issues" damn💀

[@kbw_dev]

Please make some tutorials on this stuff! I would love to learn how you make good player controllers and so on! Thanks and great game!

[@GoldenEvolution]

I'll see what I can do!

[@Garance-rz2br]

Hey ! Congratulation for your game :) It gives a great blueprint on how to create a fairly decent platformer! Did you do all your assets by hand?

[@hollowknightenjoyer]

Good luck on the platformer:) this has a lot of potential imo

[@hollowknightenjoyer]

Oh.

[@fubsy7806]

Great video and fun game, could you do a video on what you use to draw the levels ? Look forward to more videos 👍

[@StanKranenborg]

This looks amazing dude! Quick question maybe this is not the way... but any advice on how to start with learning game dev in unity? I tried many times with tutorials on udemy and KZbin but it doesn't work for me, any tips? This really sparked my enthousiast again! (Trots op de Dutch Dev Community!)😬

[@vladdenis6905]

Great video! Can you please tell me exactly how you improved the visual of the game with the help of particles, postprocessing, etc.?

[@GoldenEvolution]

I'll try to make another video on that going more into detail

[@fernidadeveloper199]

good video, this video inspiring my idea

[@vvvorlds]

Xavier Naidoo the cat!

[@GermyJer]

That music was cute!

[@kreat1vich]

how to do a ledge hop?

[@martingjelaj9893]

can you please make a tutorial for the end lighting and effects

[@ThomasEdwards-m4y]

Did you use a media library like SFML or a game engine? Love the work 😊

[@josetaboada3796]

Bro I loved your video, the game is amazing, if it's not too much trouble could you make a video about Celeste's movement, I loved it!

[@GoldenEvolution]

Thank you!! There should be videos made about Celeste's movement. I highly suggest the one from Game Maker's toolkit.

[@micmacha]

I just looked up and bought your game, and I have to say that given that you did all of the art yourself, along with level design, mechanics, and so forth, and apparently have something completed, you can probably charge at minimum three times what you do. ADDENDUM: OK, having played it part way through, I think you should *at least* add an extra dollar on there!

[@alasseearfalas]

Thank you for sharing your process with us! :D

[@blossumgames9443]

sir, you are a legend! any way I can get my hands on the code of your game? or do you have a course for that game that emulated the celeste movements quite fine IMO? my game is currently on hold but when I get back to working on it again, I'd like to update the movement, slopes and moving platforms ^^

[@sergioendo2542]

Nice job bro

[@vatrenikrug]

It's beatifull.

[@YuutaTop]

Xavier is not a name i will choose for a cat, just saying. Keep it up doing more levels or making the game look prettier. The base seems perfect for me, maybe the game feeling kinetics will not be my type. But congratulations for all of your effort you deserve all succes you would get. And probably more

[@MkhitarKojoyan]

Man how u did the effect since <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="441">7:21</a> - that make the behind of the yellow fly with a halo , light effect?

[@71699]

I buy this game and it very cool

[@ArtoriasDSII]

I know I’m a little late on commenting- but do you plan on making the game longer? Or maybe adding a paid DLC? Not sure if you can change the prices of a game you make on steam so a paid DLC would be better if that isn’t possible so you get the money you deserve

[@GoldenEvolution]

I'm not quite sure yet. I am very tempted to do so but right now I am quite busy so we'll see what happens

[@MrOrangejuicer]

i remember when ken uplaoded content

[@danielepomposelli7345]

Hi, I need some advice. I filmed my son with the camera and I want to convert his movements into a 16-bit character for a classic platform game. How can I download his animations? What software is needed and how is it used? Thanks in advance ps: to make you understand, a bit like the rotoscopin for the first Prince of Persia, but using modern software to reduce times. advice? Daniele

[@itztwinzrl9788]

so great vid and game! thats maybe a game i have to buy :D

[@ThaerRazeq]

You got that wrong, for most platformers especially metroidvanian ones, the jump should be fast and the fall should be slow (kind of floaty).

[@MelonMuskk]

wtf are you talking about that's horrible game design. it's the other way round.

[@anytng2077]

Wow! This video is a real hidden gem. I definitely didn't expect to find this out of the blue. Seriously, great video! Now over to my question. How long did it take to polish the game, in other words from <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="354">5:54</a> and onwards til finish? Keep up and I'm interested to see what you make in the future!

[@GoldenEvolution]

Thank you! Making the art became a bit tedious at some point as that was all that I was doing but overall working hours was actually not that bad. Drawing out the first level for example takes a lot longer as I'm figuring out what style to go for but the others go a lot more quickly. If you'd translate the hours I worked on it into a regular working week, it probably took me around 2 weeks. Which really isn't that bad

[@anytng2077]

@GoldenEvolution Impressive. The time it took isn't really that long tbh. But I tend to believe doing the artwork at the end keeps the project fresh with a continuous art style. Your workflow, consisting of first focusing on the game loop and then figuring out the aesthetics later surprised me. I was about to do the reverse by starting with the art but I now understand it is the wrong way to approach it. This video inspired me to look at my little 2D project at another way and I'm happy it did.

[@ianmclean9382]

have you watched the GDC talk, building a better jump?

[@GoldenEvolution]

I have seen it a long time ago, think I'll give it another watch to refresh my memory of it!