What Makes a Good Platformer?

These are some of my thoughts and feelings on what actually makes a platformer good. The example games used are Super Mario Odyssey, Celeste and Velocity Noodle (and kinda the ninjabread man). Due to uni and general life stuff I didnt have a load of time to record and edit this but I hope you enjoy the final product! :)
Music used throughout was from the Super Mario Odyssey OST and the Celeste OST (and some in game sound near the end from the ninjabread man).

[@shotgunanacondagames]

Thanks for playing the game :) There is actually a thought behind the countdown. On the first run of the level it counts down properly (3 seconds), on restarts it's barely one second. Initially the game had no countdown on restarts but it actually made players not realize the level had restarted and they ran out of the starting zone triggering the timer. It felt much better to give them that half second to realize they are back to the start and can start running when they want.

[@T1nk]

Hey! Thank you for taking the time to comment about this and explaining the process behind the countdown, if players weren’t realising that the level had restarted then this makes a lot more sense. Also, I’d like to also apologise a little for how most of what I was focusing on were negative aspects, and then only mentioning positive ones near the end - at the time of making the video I was still fairly new with making videos and hadn’t done a whole lot of content where I looked at games critically or reviewed them, and was still kinda learning about it all. (Also why my joke about the drone absolutely didn’t land properly lol, it’s just because I was personally pretty bad at those levels). Imo I should have mentioned a lot more of the aspects I really liked, such as how the game controlled and felt to play. - I will pin this for clarification! :)

[@shotgunanacondagames]

@@T1nk No worries, feedback is good :). Hopefully you give it another chance soon, there's a console release april 27th with a free PC patch with 16 new hard levels and various fixes so could be worth revisiting!

[@soundzythedev]

"Holy shit its the fucking ninja bread man" Tink 11 months ago

[@scriptyshake]

I'm making a platformer right now and I needed exactly this video, very informative, and you're so underrated! Really good video 👍

[@T1nk]

Thank you so much! Best of luck with your platformer :D

[@breakit_makeit]

Great breakdown and examples

[@7amdan.7amid]

Awesome content! Needed this for my current platformer game.

[@AzureOtter]

This video is so good, I genuinely thought I was watching a 10,000+ sub channel for a hot minute there. So much info packed into only 7 minutes, with some humour to rest a bit throughout. I'm making a platformer myself and this really helped me, I really hope your channel takes off :)

[@T1nk]

Thank you so much! I’m glad it helped, best of luck! :)

[@AzureOtter]

@@T1nk Thank you so much!

[@Squilllo34]

My favorite part of the niniabreadman game is when he said "what am I some kind of ninja bread man?" And he ninjabreaded on all those guys.

[@infinitenight7246]

Excellent video! Also making a platformer / hack n slash and enjoyed this one. Keep it up!

[@T1nk]

Thank you so much! Best of luck with your game! :)

[@BillCypher95]

I really enjoyed the video, and it was an interesting outside perspective for someone trying to work on a 2D game with platforming elements, keep it up!

[@T1nk]

Thank you so much!

[@MedK001]

Your takes on the Ninja Bread Man game remind me of mine on Crash Tag Team Racing lmao.

[@joushuweha8567]

ONCE AGAIN I LOVED THE VID

[@T1nk]

[@theothetorch8016]

This video is pretty high quality, actually. Pretty high. Deserves a bit more views, imo.

[@T1nk]

Thank you! :D

[@notacatiswear2849]

who are you, why are you in my recommended and why are you so criminally underrated

[@T1nk]

I am Tink, I have no ide a why I am in your recommended, and thank you so much!

[@enzoyasuo9264]

Great video

[@T1nk]

Thank you!

[@raptorprimal1077]

You think it's possible to blend genres in a way and try to innovate? I've always thought about trying to make an action platformer that has more a focus on action than most with a unique combat system but idk if players would be turned off a new action system compared t the usual

[@T1nk]

Yeah absolutely! Its really hard to put games into one single genre most of the time because the lines blur and most games are mixes of things - imo the main focus of a game is to be fun, so as long as the platforming and action can come together in a way that allows for a lot of fun then it is doing its job!

[@raptorprimal1077]

@@T1nk thanks. I'll give a little brief about it coz why not just to hear an outside perspective. You would play a humanoid raptor (half human half dino) who wears a suit n bow tie that wields a variety of weapons and fight creatures of legend and occasionally augmented dinosaurs. So like a hybrid of prehistory and cyberpunk but with gameplay elements from....of all things..... doom eternal and "boomer shooters" It's alot to explain but in short it would have one unique mechanic that would encourage players to not only fight but fight fast and mobile and to utilize the platforming in the combat. It's a crazy idea I've had for years, notes and everything but sadly never got down to it. Hardest part is finding the right engine. But I'll find it. Till then imma just try to write down and draw the idea down perfectly so others can see what I'm trying to get at if i ever get the time to make it and need help to do so.

[@hoverpatatoes1572]

Hello man love the video, however the game its not called v a eleven (nerd sounds)... it just VallHalla, please man

[@Tsea200]

This video partly inspired me to start making a 2d platformer

[@T1nk]

Awesome! Good luck! :))

[@soratheorangejuicemascot5809]

4:24 why are so many 2d platformer games tend to have a small character like Velocity Noodle?

[@T1nk]

Honestly I would assume its to do with simplicity and it being an indie game meaning less complicated design choices make it much more manageable for the developers. Although sometimes in fact-paced games like Velocity Noodle where the background and character's colours blend together it can be pretty difficult to keep track of your character

[@shotgunanacondagames]

Hey, im the dev. The levels are zoomed out because players preferred to see more of the level when running at high speed, that way they could see further ahead.

[@soratheorangejuicemascot5809]

@@shotgunanacondagames I am someone who just tend to lose focus on my character if I can't immediately see my sprite after I observe the whole area. I just discovered this problem of mine when I am playing a very wide vertical shoot em up. I still think your game looks fine though.

[@shotgunanacondagames]

@@soratheorangejuicemascot5809 totally understand that! its different for everyone, for the style Velocity noodle was going for (speedrunning and going fast) this is what most players preferred after a lot of playtesting :). All games are different though so what works here wont work for the next.

[@Jrm_2211]

Where's my switch remake of the ninjabread man?

[@T1nk]

I don't want a remake, just a port. Ninjabread man is perfection as it is

[@KlemoneDeal]

I am making a platformer at an early stage. I feel the game is to generic, I'm planning on adding melee combat, but it just feels like mario... How could I possibly imrove it

[@T1nk]

I’d say it could be good to take a look at and play a whole range of platformers to see the different ways they make themselves stand out! I’m currently playing a game called Germinal which takes heavy inspo from Celeste, however I’m noticing that it has made its main mechanic (a Jetpack-like boost, and hover ability) much different to celeste’s main mechanic (air dash) - From a player’s perspective; focus on what sort of mechanics you want the game to focus around, then create the stages around that!

[@dylanenriguehuntington2908]

I'd honestly recommend to not worry too much about being derivative, especially if it's one of your first games. Try to push the gameplay in a certain direction, maybe you want the player to feel fast, or maybe you want to reward memorizing every inch of the levels, etc.

[@ponfi0275]

Celeste had terrible controls, I could never dash in the right direction, it would always dash in the completely wrong direction. I love the game, but it's not a good example of good controls.