next »

[J. R. Hill]

It seems like the most used settings that platformers have are:

Pretty level - Grass, flowers, trees, sunny with a few clouds in the sky
Underground level - Rocks and dirt
Lava level - Rocks and dirt and LAVA
Ice level - Snow, ice, and snow-covered trees
Water level - Fish, seaweed, bubbles

So brainstorm with me some typical and unusual settings that work or don't work.

[Xion]

large falling/flying rocks that you have to jump from one to another before they hit the ground. some travel at different speeds. there's a main level though, which consists of certain rocks going through a cycle. The closer you get to the source, the earlier in the cycle the rocks get. if you stay on one rock for too long it will go through the life cycle and you'll find yourself on a rock identical to one you'd already traversed, essentially. of course, wait too long and the rock you're on will smash into (thing) and kill you or something.

huge moving war machine - It's been done but I wish it'd be done more often. taking out parts of the machine internally and avoiding its weapons which are usually meant for much larger or more distant targets is always good times.

[Sorano]

- A living Victorian era City that keeps changing it's configuration and slowly growing. Buildings grow or shrink, doors and windows appear out of nowhere. While it rearranges itself things can fall on you (bricks, plants, chimney sweeps, street urchins). Bosses could be Charles Dickens (ground stomps and throws street urchins), Jules Verne (exploding balloons), Nicola Tesla (Lightning!) and Queen Victoria (all-powerful British god powers).

- A fantastic World War pitting monsters from every mythology against one another. Quetzalcoatl and his army of the sun versus Anubis and his legions of the undead. Amatsu-Mikaboshi, japanese god of evil and the stars against Loki and his frost giants. Take the road of a mortal adventurer caught in the middle of ragnarok, travel the world and recover the 6 artifact that will bring on your ascension to godhood and universal abstract.

- Click Clock Woods in Banjo-Kazooie had also on the best level ideas ever. Check it out!

[SirNiko]

You forgot the Mechanical Level with gears and chains.

A space level, alien spacecraft and tiny planetoids.

A level filled with food, where the player dashes across a chain of sausage links, dives into a soda fountain to seek sunken treasure, then climbs a mountain of fruits and vegetables while using pieces of asparagus as spring boards to leap up into the air.

The potential for platformer stages is endless.

[Sir Raptor]

Rayman, guys. The music level, where musical notes worked as both platform and spike, depending on what side of it you were on, and the boss was a giant saxophone.

[Sorano]

Cloud Cuckoo Land in Banjo-Tooie proved that nothing actually as to make sense.

[chris_b]

A living Victorian era City that keeps changing it's configuration and slowly growing. Buildings grow or shrink, doors and windows appear out of nowhere.

I like this idea! It made me imagine platforming through

while it's reconfiguring.

[sodap]

banjo kazooie is a severly underrated game. and i say this knowing that most people love it, but seriously people that game is epicly awesome in most respects

[Sorano]

You could have a level where you play a single celled organism in the middle of the human body during cellular mitosis.

[J. R. Hill]

Has anyone ever done zero-G in a platformer well?

[Xion]

Has anyone ever done zero-G in a platformer well?

I ain't played it (not even sure it's available for public consumption?) but this might qualify as a 0-G platty?

[SirNiko]

You Have No Legs would probably be extremely easy to add a zero-gravity zone, since you can grip various surfaces to get traction and change your momentum.

You could do zero-gravity in a game where the protagonist has a firearm or jetpack, which they could use to propel themselves. Alternately an ability to cling to / kick off surfaces would be needed.

I'm having trouble thinking of any games that featured an actual zero-gravity zone.

[Sorano]

Like in real life, the challenge with true zero-g environments is definitely the apparent problem of orientation and vertigo.

On top of my head, most games that flirt with gravity usually use slingshot manoeuvres between gravitational bodies. Like VVVV, Shattered Horizon, Dead Space.

[J. R. Hill]

I was just thinking that cause there's always some kind of space station level, but there's also always gravity.  Not sure if zero-G would make for a great game mechanic anyway, that video looks hecka confusing (but possibly in a good way)

[ink.inc]

Inside an Eldritch abomination.

[PleasingFungus]

Getting slightly distracted: it might be interesting to set a platformer inside a rotating space station, where gravity grows weaker stronger the farther you go from the center.

Hm.

I should prototype.

EDIT: One, physics failed. Second, on thinking about this further, either you'd just have different gravity-strengths between areas - somewhat interesting, but not that unique - or you'd just have a harder and harder time jumping as you get further up in the same area - also not that interesting...

[Fifth]

An enormous, sprawling playground structure.  A la Cul De Sac.

[John Nesky]

I still want to see an upside down city, with a ceiling above and an endless abyss below, and the player spends a lot of time on balconies and catwalks and such. (The skytown in Metroid Prime 3 lacks the ceiling, and the inverted castle in Castlevania: SotN lacks the abyss.)

[J. R. Hill]

An enormous, sprawling playground structure.  A la Cul De Sac.

Someone make Playground Tycoon right this instant!

[Bree]

Can we make a game based on Recess already? That would be awesome.