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[increpare]

cave story didn't invented anything, there are a lot of games on the nes using a similar style

Actually, one of the things I associate cave story with is the scattered placement of square blocks within a slightly smoother landscape.  Are there nes precedents for this technique?

8bit platformers barely had any non blocky collision method (i can remember only kirby having several degrees of slopes) so i don't think there's a game with smooth landscapes and such, with or without square blocks inside it...

Hmm...let me rephrase; I was speaking of the inclusion of rigid blocks within a slightly more organic-looking backdrop.  One could just as easily achieve this effect by putting blocks in amidst rock-tiles on a nes game as in a mode modern one.  And if the block is firmly embedded in the landscape, collision doesn't really come in to play directly.

THAT SAID, I think the thesis that this emerged as a result of non-blocky collision a not-at-all unreasonable one, and quite interesting.

[Hideous]

Did this post end up wrong

[increpare]

wow. yeah.  fixed it sort of.

[godsavant]

Is there part of a thread I'm not seeing?

[godsavant]

Is there part of a thread I'm not seeing?

[Cheater‽]

Is there part of a thread I'm not seeing?

[Devlin]

Is there part of a thread I'm not seeing?

[policedanceclub]

This again. 

[godsavant]

This again. 

[moi]

Is there part of a thread I'm not seeing?

Are you doing a serve or do you need to know?

[godsavant]

Is there part of a thread I'm not seeing?

Are you doing a serve or do you need to know?

I am seriously bewildered...I stumbled onto this thread that had a bunch of quotes in the first post, despite it being the first post. I don't know if the quotes were from another thread or if a bunch of posts got deleted, but there doesn't seem to be a clear question or discussion topic for this thread...

[increpare]

I am seriously bewildered...I stumbled onto this thread that had a bunch of quotes in the first post, despite it being the first post. I don't know if the quotes were from another thread or if a bunch of posts got deleted, but there doesn't seem to be a clear question or discussion topic for this thread...

The quotes have links at the top to the threads where they were posted. 

Here's the deal:

1: I wanted to talk about one particular feature of cave story's graphical makeup
2: I sure as fuck didn't want to stink up the Verge thread any more than it already is with cave story chitchat
3: I didn't want to create a cave-story thread; so I decided to generalize the context to looking at any particularly characteristic aspects of any platform games. 

Apologies if this wasn't clear.

[laserghost]

I wonder sometimes if the popularity of floating islands comes from platformers. I occasionally see the concept used in tv, movies, books, etc. and I can't help but wonder if it was all the inexplicably gravity-defying platforms from video games that inspired it.

[William Broom]

I wonder sometimes if the popularity of floating islands comes from platformers. I occasionally see the concept used in tv, movies, books, etc. and I can't help but wonder if it was all the inexplicably gravity-defining platforms from video games that inspired it.

You're probably right.

Another thing I wonder about is the prevalence of bottomless pits in 3D games. If it weren't for 2D platformers, I think a lot of those bottomless pits would be filled with something sensible like lava or spikes.

[nihilocrat]

I wonder why we don't see people implement lots of different game genres within a platformer perspective.

Platform RTS
Platform MuMORPuGer (Maple Story is the only one I've heard of)
Grand Theft Platform (sandboxy real-world game)
Platform Shmup (You are forced to keep running in one direction, basically)
Platform Sims (or Sim City or any other sim game... you could argue that Sim Tower vaguely fits this)
Platform survival sim
Platform roguelike (I wonder how you would jump given a turn-based environment...)
and so on...

[Cheater‽]

Platform roguelike (I wonder how you would jump given a turn-based environment...)

[increpare]

Platform Shmup (You are forced to keep running in one direction, basically)

Eh?

Platform Sims (or Sim City or any other sim game... you could argue that Sim Tower vaguely fits this)

Also creatures.

Platform roguelike (I wonder how you would jump given a turn-based environment...)

Either spelunky or roguelike megaman might satisfy this description, depending on one's interpretation.


As for floating islands, the first floating island I remember coming across was sonic 3's.  What are the other, earlier, ones?

[Xion]

Platform Shmup (You are forced to keep running in one direction, basically)

Gunstar Heroes?

[laserghost]

As for floating islands, the first floating island I remember coming across was sonic 3's.  What are the other, earlier, ones?

Wikipedia has this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_island_(fiction)

It says The Odyssey was the first to hint at a floating island, but the first definitive use of the concept was in Gulliver's Travels. What's interesting about the article, however, is that the majority of examples it lists are from modern entertainment - namely games. The first few examples it gives are separated by centuries, while uses of the idea become more condensed around the time of video games.

Another thing I wonder about is the prevalence of bottomless pits in 3D games. If it weren't for 2D platformers, I think a lot of those bottomless pits would be filled with something sensible like lava or spikes.

That's another interesting concept that I think may have gained more recent popularity because of it's use as a game mechanic. I looked 'bottomless pit' up on wikipedia also, but the only real mention of it before video games was the biblical 'Abyss' which meant a hole straight to hell or the underworld. That's not something that's really been used much in literature or entertainment much except in video games.

[William Broom]

As for floating islands, the first floating island I remember coming across was sonic 3's.  What are the other, earlier, ones?

Wikipedia has this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_island_(fiction)

It says The Odyssey was the first to hint at a floating island, but the first definitive use of the concept was in Gulliver's Travels. What's interesting about the article, however, is that the majority of examples it lists are from modern entertainment - namely games. The first few examples it gives are separated by centuries, while uses of the idea become more condensed around the time of video games.

Another thing I wonder about is the prevalence of bottomless pits in 3D games. If it weren't for 2D platformers, I think a lot of those bottomless pits would be filled with something sensible like lava or spikes.

That's another interesting concept that I think may have gained more recent popularity because of it's use as a game mechanic. I looked 'bottomless pit' up on wikipedia also, but the only real mention of it before video games was the biblical 'Abyss' which meant a hole straight to hell or the underworld. That's not something that's really been used much in literature or entertainment much except in video games.

I would take this with a grain of salt. Remember that Wikipedia is edited by nerds and pretty much every 'In Popular Culture' section features a lot of references to videogames, anime and Firefly.