#3d platforming

[foolish-ghoul]

Been playing White Knuckle after watching Markiplier play it. It's a fun, intense little horror platformer. It also has this unique 4d mechanic where playing it for long time messes up your hands irl as well as in-game

[windygames]

Last month we did some dev streams and made some new mini areas to traverse in the cave. Here is one of the Lava ones that got made, lots of platforming required to stay safe on this one.

[sonic7ischaos]

I’ve used Sonic Utopia as an example of what Sonic team should emulate in 3d Sonic in the past but I want to clarify something,

when I say that Sonic Team (or Sega or whatever they are now with the restructuring) should emulate Sonic Utopia, I’m saying that they should use it as an object lesson. This is because Sonic Utopia is the ULTIMATE object lesson for designing a 3d Sonic game. Ignore the aesthetics and artistic preferences of the creators and you’re left with a game that PERFECTLY captures the gameplay of the 2d games and translates it into 3d. It isn’t perfect (the most common criticism I see of it is the level design) but it answers every problem that comes up when designing 3d Sonic gameplay mechanics. How do we deal with the camera when the levels corkscrew and loop? We tilt the camera 1:1 with Sonic always in the direct center whenever the terrain tilts and curves so the player can follow him. How do we incorporate the rolling mechanic when pressing down moves Sonic towards the camera instead of crouching? Have a dedicated crouch button. How do we both let Sonic attack enemies at speed AND keep the pace up? Give him a homing attack and have it carry all horizontal and vertical momentum when it lands. There are so many solutions to the problems designers of 3d Sonic face in Sonic Utopia that it would be genuinely stupid to ignore it outright. I’m not saying copy it but definitely use what it has to teach. Unlike every single 3d Sonic game there isn’t a bit of automation in Utopia and that’s telling.

[dynamite-derek]

Banjo and keeping it simple

Growing up, I think Banjo-Tooie was one of my favorite N64 games. It’s something that I remembered fondly for years and years and it easily made my top 10 favorite games list. It was pure fun.

Flash forward several years, I think to around 2013, and I try it again. And just have no fun with it. Whatever. Maybe I was in a bad mood or something. Last month, because I needed something to do while waiting for Yakuza to come out, I played Banjo-Kazooie again and just had a blast with it. It holds up. Nostalgic goodness. Then came the big test. Tooie. One more time. Perhaps it would recapture the joys of youth.

Wrong. It was more plodding than I remembered.I wanted it to end so badly that, the second I got my 70th jiggy (the minimum needed), I went and beat the game. At one point I thought Nuts and Bolts was the ultimate betrayal, but coming out of Tooie a different part of me was feeling that maybe a new direction is something that the franchise needed.

So what was the difference between Kazooie and Tooie? Why is Kazooie such an enjoyable romp while Tooie is a plodding march? Banjo-Kazooie is a simple game. For almost every world, the exception being Freezezy peak, you can go into each level and do everything that there is to do. The worlds are all pretty small so you can scoot between places quickly also. You find your jiggy and you move on to the next one. Easy. Mario 64 outlined how to get the majority of its stars for you, Banjo encouraged you to explore the world. That’s how they were different.

Tooie takes this world exploration bit and goes insane with it. There are no levels in the game that can be 100% completed on your first visit. You either need new moves that you find later in the game or you need to do something in a later level in order to get something done in an earlier level. It makes the levels feel less standalone - Tooie can feel like an actual world. This deserves some praise because it was quite ambitious. You had giant worlds to explore and it was important to see how they connect if you wanted to get absolutely everything.

The problem with this though is that sometimes RARE would just take things too far. Sometimes just finding where a jiggy is and doing some task to get it are all you really need. For instant, let’s look at a Terrydactyland jiggy. You need to go into a cave and warm up/feed some cavemen. To get into this cave, you need Wumba to transform you into a giant T-Rex. Wumba normally transforms you into a baby T-Rex but, using Mumbo, you can have the T-Rex make you huge. You roar at the caveman blocking the cave and then you can enter it as regular Banjo and Kazooie (so you’ll need to go back to Wumba) You warm the cavemen up by shooting fire eggs at torches and you feed them by finding a secret path to an earlier level. Conveniently, that path is in this very cave. Once you reach the earlier level, Withcyworld, you’ll find that you can’t return to Terrdactyland in order to complete your mission unless you have the claw clamber boots. You can’t get those boots until you play the next world - Grunty Industries. You aren’t allowed to take food out of Witchyworld unless you do it through this secret path, so you can’t just go back to Terrydactyland through the hub world. If you want the jiggy, you need to access Terrydactyland from Witchyworld. This is just ONE jiggy. 

 In Banjo-Kazooie, you probably would have gotten a jiggy just from entering the cave since you had to go out of your way to get a different version of a transformation to get in there. Maybe you would have had to warm them as well. Feeding would have probably been its own jiggy. I don’t think they would have made you need the claw clamber boots for that either. 

With some of the extra steps you have to take in order to collect some things, it feels like they used tedium as a way to pad out the game’s length. A minor example of this is in Gruty Industries. You beat a boss here, which is usually a sign you’re getting a jiggy. Not so. You have to exist the boss chamber and complete a short platforming segment to get the jiggy. It’s not very long or difficult, but the main challenge (defeating the boss) is over. What does the player gain from spending an additional minute hunting the collectable? Just give it to them. 

Banjo-Tooie is full of tedious stuff like that. It also has some miserable first person shooting segments. If you can’t deal with them, I don’t know what to tell you because most bosses require you fight using the first person mode. Even the final boss, Gruntilda, requires it. My replay was on an Xbox One controller, so I can’t even imagine going back to the N64 controller and doing it. I do not think someone who wasn’t a child at the time Banjo-Tooie came out would have very much fun with that game.

It should still be applauded for being ambitious. They could have just as easily made a simple sequel and tried nothing new. They also toned down a little on collectables when compared to Donkey Kong 64 - which got to be overkill at times. I’d rather have something with this much effort than just a lazily put together sequel to the original game.

If they were to make a Banjo-Threeie, which is like the biggest pipe dream in the world, they should shoot for a combination of Banjo-Kazooie and Mario Odyssey. Just populate each level with a billion jiggies. Ditch world connectivity and make each level its own unique experience. I know Odyssey had very limited world connectivity, but it sucked there too so just ditch it. Make each one of these jiggies take exactly one task to collect. Some can be easy. Some can be hard. Just keep it simple. Just abandon Banjo-Tooie. Pretend it didn’t exist from a gameplay perspective. 

[windygames]

Some parts of the cave drop fast and require a lot of jumping to get through. Don’t run too fast or you might just fall in!

[windygames]

The updated tutorial introduces some platforming early on. A good place to get used to the jumps where there’s not much danger.

[sonic7ischaos]

Been thinking about learning some programming and a game engine so I can make a 3D Megaman game.

Not because It's something I've got some burning drive to make like some of my other passion projects, but more as sort of a hobby (though game dev in general is something I want to pursue). I just want to try to solve the problems of converting that gameplay into 3D without sacrificing the core game feel and mechanics of Megaman. The precision, the way shooting works. I wouldn't want to have aiming and targeting like a shooter, or Z-targeting like Zelda to compensate for the difficulty of aiming in 3D. In Megaman, you aim your shots by lining Megaman up horizontally with an enemy. Now, maybe some of the weapons have an added 3rd person shooter aiming mechanic, but the core run and jump and shooting mechanics and design philosophy would need be at the heart of things. I've thought about a Kirby and the Forgotten Land style fixed camera system that checks if an attack LOOKS like it should hit from the camera's perspective and does damage based on that, rather than the more direct collision detection most games use, but ideally for my purposes it would have a more free traditional 3D platformer camera you control with the right stick or mouse. Because I'm wanting it to be a "Mario 64" style transition to 3D rather than a "Mario 3D land" type thing. KIrby and the Forgotten land sort of has the problem of feeling JUST like a 2D Kirby game that HAPPENS to be 3D...I know that sounds contradictory, but I just mean it would be an adaptation rather than an exact, literal translation. Still, there are many different types of fixed camera, Penny's Big Breakaway has one and you don't even really notice it. OR, I could have some kind of aim assist? Blaster pellets could enter a certain enemy's range and home in slightly? Bigger hitboxes for shots?

I dunno. Just seems like a fun problem to solve.

[linuxgamenews]

Get Ready to Unleash Your Potential with Dynacat - Fast-Paced 3D Platforming!

Dynacat release for the fast-paced 3D platforming adventure game is coming to Linux and Windows PC. Thanks to Replayne Inc.'s imaginative team for their outstanding work. Due to make its way onto Steam soon. This is for all the action platformer fans. Replayne, a well-known developer and publisher, just announced that Dynacat is due to launch on Steam this March 1st, 2024. This Linux game is shaping up to be a thrilling ride, blending fast-paced 3D platforming adventure with an isometric view that really sets it apart. In the game, you're thrown into the paws of the titular character, Dynacat, on a quest to save his home from a robot army led by the Spherons. What's unique about our hero is his unique range of abilities. He has a magical tether that attaches to things, creating different effects, and also a speed mode that lets him zip along walls and smash through barriers. Due to offer a fresh experience every time you play. The stages are divided into three types: Action, Spheron, and Special. Action stages are all about making it to the end to destroy a Spheron energy extractor. You can either rush through these like a roller coaster or take your time exploring Dynacat for secrets – it's your call. Spheron stages are boss battles against the Spherons, where you have to outsmart them and navigate obstacles to hit their weak points. And then there are Special stages, where you're on a clock to gather energy orbs. Completing all these earns you a unique reward!

Dynacat - Release Trailer

For those who like a good challenge, try hitting the mission targets in Action and Spheron stages. Each action stage offers different paths – some are quick, others hold secrets, and some help you achieve secondary objectives. Such as beating a certain number of enemies or racking up style points. The Dynacat Spheron stages also require you to take down the enemy leaders by finding and exploiting their weaknesses. Crystals you collect in action stages unlock Special Stages. These are timed challenges where you collect energy orbs. Completing all of them gets you something special! There are three difficulty modes in Dynacat to suit every player. Normal mode lets you replay stages anytime. While Easy mode lets you go through stages without taking damage – great for beginners or those who want a more relaxed experience. And for the hardcore players, Hard mode is a real test. You have to play stages in sequence, and losing all your lives sends you right back to the start. For those itching to try Dynacat, there is a Demo available for Linux and Windows PC. Along with more details on the title. So, whether you're a proficient fast-paced 3D platforming adventure fan or just looking for something new and exciting, it's going to deliver a fantastic experience. Due to make its way onto Steam on March 1st, 2024.