This next idea is a puzzle platformer. Or to be more precise, it’s a puzzle crossed with a platformer. A lot of puzzle games revolve around making combinations of coloured blocks or shapes and destroying them.
So imagine if certain blocks had elements from a platformer game, such as keys, doors and levers inside of them. So instead of trying to destroy coloured blocks to get points, you would be destroying blocks so that you could get a key or a door to fall down so you could complete the level.
It could even get more complex so that you have to create an entire section of the level on your own. Some pieces would have to be locked down so they cannot be move/destroyed so that you couldn’t inadvertently make the level impossible (for instance the piece with your character on, or the end piece)
Note: I posted this idea yesterday but it mysteriously disappeared after I made a small edit to it. I had to rewrite it and re-post it today. Not sure if the culprit was blogger, my browser or me but my guess it was the combination of all three. It was much longer before, but I think this new version is better written, so I suppose it’s a win!
Showing posts with label platformer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label platformer. Show all posts
Déjà Vu
Picture this: you're playing a platformer game and you are walking along. You see a red button so you step on it, thinking that it will aid you in completing the level somehow. Suddenly a spike falls down from the sky. You 'die' and have to start the level again, but now you know not to step on the red button.
A lot of games require you to restart the level should you die. However the twist in this game is that restarting is part of the game, instead of a punishment for doing badly.
Each level would have a time limit, and if you didn't complete the level in under the time limit, it would restart, the same as if you 'died'. This means that if there was more than one way to complete the level, you may have to find the faster way in order to advance to the next level.
The real trick to this game would come after a few levels with just these mechanics. Probably in level 3 or 4, you would find a level that changes everything. There are two ways to go, one to a key and one to a door (and the end of the level). No matter how fast you run, if you go get the key, you cannot make it to the door in time. But if you do not get they key, you cannot unlock the door. There is a trapdoor that leads from the area the key is in to the area the door is in, but the lever for the trapdoor is down below, near the door.
If you pull the lever, the trap door only stays open for 3 seconds. And there is no way to jump up through the trapdoor. You may notice, though, that the lever is glowing blue.
Before you have a chance to work out what it means, the timer goes up once again and you restart. You walk down to the lever again and notice that it moves itself, right at the same moment you pulled it last time. You wait for the timer to go up, and then you walk back to the lever again, but this time you pull it as soon as you get there. You restart, climb up the ladder and get the key, walk through the trapdoor that seemingly opens itself, and simply walk through the door.
To cut a long story short, if you interact with a glowing blue object, then that interaction stays the next time you do the level.
A lot of games require you to restart the level should you die. However the twist in this game is that restarting is part of the game, instead of a punishment for doing badly.
Each level would have a time limit, and if you didn't complete the level in under the time limit, it would restart, the same as if you 'died'. This means that if there was more than one way to complete the level, you may have to find the faster way in order to advance to the next level.
The real trick to this game would come after a few levels with just these mechanics. Probably in level 3 or 4, you would find a level that changes everything. There are two ways to go, one to a key and one to a door (and the end of the level). No matter how fast you run, if you go get the key, you cannot make it to the door in time. But if you do not get they key, you cannot unlock the door. There is a trapdoor that leads from the area the key is in to the area the door is in, but the lever for the trapdoor is down below, near the door.
If you pull the lever, the trap door only stays open for 3 seconds. And there is no way to jump up through the trapdoor. You may notice, though, that the lever is glowing blue.
Before you have a chance to work out what it means, the timer goes up once again and you restart. You walk down to the lever again and notice that it moves itself, right at the same moment you pulled it last time. You wait for the timer to go up, and then you walk back to the lever again, but this time you pull it as soon as you get there. You restart, climb up the ladder and get the key, walk through the trapdoor that seemingly opens itself, and simply walk through the door.
To cut a long story short, if you interact with a glowing blue object, then that interaction stays the next time you do the level.
Consequences
Okay, it's only the second idea and I'm already resorting to thinking up platformer games. I'm not really out of ideas, I just think that platformers are such a great game type because most people have played one before, and it's so simple to learn how to play even if they have never played before. Essentially then, platformer games are a blank canvas on which you can put new, unique features and mechanics.
So my idea: A basic puzzle platformer, where you have to collect coins and keys unlock doors etcetera. But the twist is that wherever you walk you leave a faint ghost-like trail behind you. The trail does nothing except look cool - until you die. When you die you have restart the level, but the trail turns solid. Every time you die the last trail you created disappears, in order to prevent the level becoming a tangled mess. There could be a 'self-destruct' button so that you can arbitrarily decide when to create the solid trail, and completely restart the level if you need to (by self-destructing at the very beginning there would be no solid trail next time, because you hadn't moved to create a ghost trail yet)
So, this trail system is great an all, but how exactly does it make the game more fun, difficult or interesting?
Well think about this situation: there is a bottomless pit of brimstone and hellfire and you just can't quite jump all the way across. By jumping in once, your trail creates a bridge that goes half way across the pit. You are then able to walk on this bridge and jump off it to the other side of the bridge.
My friend No-Eyed Pete does a better job of explaining below:
Another challenge could involve a platform high in the air that you need to get to, but you just can't jump high enough. By jumping up and then self-destructing, you have created a nice step on which you can jump to get the rest of the way up to the platform.
So my idea: A basic puzzle platformer, where you have to collect coins and keys unlock doors etcetera. But the twist is that wherever you walk you leave a faint ghost-like trail behind you. The trail does nothing except look cool - until you die. When you die you have restart the level, but the trail turns solid. Every time you die the last trail you created disappears, in order to prevent the level becoming a tangled mess. There could be a 'self-destruct' button so that you can arbitrarily decide when to create the solid trail, and completely restart the level if you need to (by self-destructing at the very beginning there would be no solid trail next time, because you hadn't moved to create a ghost trail yet)
So, this trail system is great an all, but how exactly does it make the game more fun, difficult or interesting?
Well think about this situation: there is a bottomless pit of brimstone and hellfire and you just can't quite jump all the way across. By jumping in once, your trail creates a bridge that goes half way across the pit. You are then able to walk on this bridge and jump off it to the other side of the bridge.
My friend No-Eyed Pete does a better job of explaining below:
Another challenge could involve a platform high in the air that you need to get to, but you just can't jump high enough. By jumping up and then self-destructing, you have created a nice step on which you can jump to get the rest of the way up to the platform.
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