CHARACTER CONTROL IN PLATFORMERS
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I'm curious about what people think about how characters should control in sidescrolling platformer games. It occurs to me that platformers are very similarly set up to 2D fighting games and am wondering if it is acceptable for platformers to use basic character control principles from fighters. To start with I will clarify a term;
Wikipedia on Responsiveness
The responsiveness of an interactive system describes how quickly it responds to user input.
For instance, when typing letters on a computer keyboard, the user will usually expect these letters to appear immediately (< 0.1 seconds delay) on the screen.
In "car" parlance the responsiveness of the vehicle is how quickly it reacts to input. Obviously in video games, high responsiveness is desired.
Character movesets/limitations/freedoms
This is different from responsiveness. It is the percentage of time a character is open to new inputs. A lower percentage of time is not necessarily bad; sometimes when a character executes a certain move he will have to dedicate X number of frames to it before being able to do another move. This is common in fighting games. When you execute the fireball command in Street Fighter, the character cannot jump or use any other move until he is finished with the minimum required frames to complete the fireball. There are characters with moves that require a (relatively) great number of frames to execute, but they often have powerful advantages. This is where important factors like spacing and situational awareness come in. You don't want to dedicate a lot of frames to a move when it is inappropriate to do so, otherwise you are leaving yourself open to attack. A skilled player will utilize the move in an effective manner, maximizing its potential and nullifying its drawbacks.
I am supposing most people here have at least played Smash Bros. Obviously some people prefer characters that have quick execution times (i.e. very few frames wherein new inputs are not accepted) on all their moves, such as Meta Knight, while others enjoy the play style of characters with slow execution times such as King Dedede. I should note that both of these characters are considered "top tier" - it has been proven time and time again in fighting game history that both styles can make for an effective character.
My question is, do you think this sort of variety of control in a single player platformer is acceptable? If your main character has a move he can do that has a relatively long execution time, but a strong property like a sizable hitbox or long range, would you consider that unacceptably limiting to your freedom to control the character, or would you regard it as a limitation around which the character and game is balanced? Would you dismiss the game's controls as "poor", or think of the move as if it were a fighter and consider its advantages and utilize it effectively and appropriately? Are both of these styles viable in a platformer, and if one is unacceptable why so? Do you personally like having to think about spacing and potentially leaving yourself vulnerable in a single player game or do you find it a nuisance?
These are a lot of questions about video games I know!! But I think people tend to be narrow-minded when it comes to the variety of manners in which a platformer character can control - they always want to be able to press buttons and see something happen no matter what (Meta Knight style) and if this is not the case the controls are "poor" or "clunky". 2D Fighters and 2D Platformers essentially both amount to a character moving on a x and y axis with the objective of destroying enemy targets, so why would certain things be acceptable in one but not the other?
Wikipedia on Responsiveness
The responsiveness of an interactive system describes how quickly it responds to user input.
For instance, when typing letters on a computer keyboard, the user will usually expect these letters to appear immediately (< 0.1 seconds delay) on the screen.
In "car" parlance the responsiveness of the vehicle is how quickly it reacts to input. Obviously in video games, high responsiveness is desired.
Character movesets/limitations/freedoms
This is different from responsiveness. It is the percentage of time a character is open to new inputs. A lower percentage of time is not necessarily bad; sometimes when a character executes a certain move he will have to dedicate X number of frames to it before being able to do another move. This is common in fighting games. When you execute the fireball command in Street Fighter, the character cannot jump or use any other move until he is finished with the minimum required frames to complete the fireball. There are characters with moves that require a (relatively) great number of frames to execute, but they often have powerful advantages. This is where important factors like spacing and situational awareness come in. You don't want to dedicate a lot of frames to a move when it is inappropriate to do so, otherwise you are leaving yourself open to attack. A skilled player will utilize the move in an effective manner, maximizing its potential and nullifying its drawbacks.
I am supposing most people here have at least played Smash Bros. Obviously some people prefer characters that have quick execution times (i.e. very few frames wherein new inputs are not accepted) on all their moves, such as Meta Knight, while others enjoy the play style of characters with slow execution times such as King Dedede. I should note that both of these characters are considered "top tier" - it has been proven time and time again in fighting game history that both styles can make for an effective character.
My question is, do you think this sort of variety of control in a single player platformer is acceptable? If your main character has a move he can do that has a relatively long execution time, but a strong property like a sizable hitbox or long range, would you consider that unacceptably limiting to your freedom to control the character, or would you regard it as a limitation around which the character and game is balanced? Would you dismiss the game's controls as "poor", or think of the move as if it were a fighter and consider its advantages and utilize it effectively and appropriately? Are both of these styles viable in a platformer, and if one is unacceptable why so? Do you personally like having to think about spacing and potentially leaving yourself vulnerable in a single player game or do you find it a nuisance?
These are a lot of questions about video games I know!! But I think people tend to be narrow-minded when it comes to the variety of manners in which a platformer character can control - they always want to be able to press buttons and see something happen no matter what (Meta Knight style) and if this is not the case the controls are "poor" or "clunky". 2D Fighters and 2D Platformers essentially both amount to a character moving on a x and y axis with the objective of destroying enemy targets, so why would certain things be acceptable in one but not the other?
I can definitely have fun with both types of games. There are tons and tons of games that took the approach of Super Mario/Sonic and have simple 'press button and you do this immediately' sort of deals going on. This approach is tried and true, but at the same time its simple, which can be a lot of fun, but only allows itself for so much complexity.
One of my favorite approaches on the opposite side of the spectrum is the way the PSX Megaman games did it; you could control either X or Zero, and while X controlled the same way he has since the old school Megaman games (shoot, and all of his weapons were as simple has selecting them and shooting them as well), Zero had an interesting control scheme, where when he got different abilities, since he doesn't 'shoot' his out, his acquired powers from bosses took the form of fighting moves using his sword, that required a set of button combination like a fighting game (some of his abilities were pretty much straight out of Street Fighter, button combination and animations and all). In those games I find that both characters, their playstyle, and the strategies required to use them bring a lot to the table and I find myself alternating between one character and another between levels.
One of my favorite approaches on the opposite side of the spectrum is the way the PSX Megaman games did it; you could control either X or Zero, and while X controlled the same way he has since the old school Megaman games (shoot, and all of his weapons were as simple has selecting them and shooting them as well), Zero had an interesting control scheme, where when he got different abilities, since he doesn't 'shoot' his out, his acquired powers from bosses took the form of fighting moves using his sword, that required a set of button combination like a fighting game (some of his abilities were pretty much straight out of Street Fighter, button combination and animations and all). In those games I find that both characters, their playstyle, and the strategies required to use them bring a lot to the table and I find myself alternating between one character and another between levels.
This depends on level design and what kind of platformer we're talking about.
A game like Castlevania has a slight animation delay to stuff that happens. The character usually has the whip backwards before slashing it forward and even then it's forward for a little bit before you can really do anything else. But Castlevania is a platformer that is more focused on battling around than navigating tight platforms. (I think certain castlevania-esque platformers sometimes have delays between jumps as well. With a quick landing animation)
These controls tends to make a game slower and less... platformy.
In a jump-around and do shit game you'll want ultra-responsiveness in your actions. Landing on a platform that will fall down within a second and jumping to the next one before wallbouncing up to safety needs a certain amount of timing and there's nothing worse than some kind of animation that needs finishing before you can get to the next action in the group.
So if a platformer has a lot of platforming you don't want those crappy controls. However crappy controls are okay otherwise.
(One fairly recent example of crappy controls must be the puzzle/platformer Henry Hatsworth. It takes ages to get anything done in fairly complex platform levels. tssk tssk, what were they thinking?)
A game like Castlevania has a slight animation delay to stuff that happens. The character usually has the whip backwards before slashing it forward and even then it's forward for a little bit before you can really do anything else. But Castlevania is a platformer that is more focused on battling around than navigating tight platforms. (I think certain castlevania-esque platformers sometimes have delays between jumps as well. With a quick landing animation)
These controls tends to make a game slower and less... platformy.
In a jump-around and do shit game you'll want ultra-responsiveness in your actions. Landing on a platform that will fall down within a second and jumping to the next one before wallbouncing up to safety needs a certain amount of timing and there's nothing worse than some kind of animation that needs finishing before you can get to the next action in the group.
So if a platformer has a lot of platforming you don't want those crappy controls. However crappy controls are okay otherwise.
(One fairly recent example of crappy controls must be the puzzle/platformer Henry Hatsworth. It takes ages to get anything done in fairly complex platform levels. tssk tssk, what were they thinking?)
In my opinion, a good platformer is built around the physics. Like a fighting game, a platformer should balance availability of input with the speed of response required to navigate the levels. What makes this different from a fighting game is that you are not theorycrafting choice of moves or characters based on an enemy opponent with similar control philosophies. You have to choose based on the amount of navigation and response a level requires to navigate. This is why the vast majority of platformers use only a single playable character, or multiple ones with the same control philosophy.
If one character has more powerful moves, but is slower and more open to attack, then how will they fare in a sidescroller? In Megaman, the majority of enemies in the levels are merely obstacles to safe platforming, and may or may not require more than a few blasts to be destroyed. Some enemies are more complicated, which is why the added of mechanic of switching weapons for a cost is added. The point is that the overall progress through the level should NOT be slowed due to using a character that's more portly and powerful, for example.
Change the example to Castlevania, and you have more flexibility. There is much more emphasis on clearing enemies in varying ways. Playable characters (which are still minimal, nothing like a fighting game) often are given different attacks with these properties, some slower and more powerful, some quicker with less punch. Since there is more of a focus to dispatch enemies quickly, rather than reach a destination quickly like Megaman, the choice of such attacks is much more valid.
Probably the closest to what you're suggesting are beat 'em ups. Most of them have character choices that vary wildly with speed and power. Why these games best represent the fighting game mechanics is the sense of risk and punishment. Using slow, powerful attacks can wipe enemies up quickly, but when you're open, the more AI-driven enemies will see it and punish you. Progress is almost entirely combat-driven. Enemies are much more robust, and in essence, are like less-intense versions of fighting game opponents.
I think the key to opening up decisions about character action requirements and input availability is properly balancing the effectiveness of making a good choice with the punishment of making a poor one.
If one character has more powerful moves, but is slower and more open to attack, then how will they fare in a sidescroller? In Megaman, the majority of enemies in the levels are merely obstacles to safe platforming, and may or may not require more than a few blasts to be destroyed. Some enemies are more complicated, which is why the added of mechanic of switching weapons for a cost is added. The point is that the overall progress through the level should NOT be slowed due to using a character that's more portly and powerful, for example.
Change the example to Castlevania, and you have more flexibility. There is much more emphasis on clearing enemies in varying ways. Playable characters (which are still minimal, nothing like a fighting game) often are given different attacks with these properties, some slower and more powerful, some quicker with less punch. Since there is more of a focus to dispatch enemies quickly, rather than reach a destination quickly like Megaman, the choice of such attacks is much more valid.
Probably the closest to what you're suggesting are beat 'em ups. Most of them have character choices that vary wildly with speed and power. Why these games best represent the fighting game mechanics is the sense of risk and punishment. Using slow, powerful attacks can wipe enemies up quickly, but when you're open, the more AI-driven enemies will see it and punish you. Progress is almost entirely combat-driven. Enemies are much more robust, and in essence, are like less-intense versions of fighting game opponents.
I think the key to opening up decisions about character action requirements and input availability is properly balancing the effectiveness of making a good choice with the punishment of making a poor one.
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