Thoughts on platformers with nonlinear exploratory levels? Which games>you liked>had best design>worked best with the game mechanics>you enjoyed to get lost in>were a pain to navigatePost level maps
>>12650932Only got good with Sotn onwards, without rpg elements they are just super boring and feel like a waste of time compared to linear levels
>>12650932this genre of platformer is so ... stressful isn't the right word, but I never feel good playing these. Levels have no flow to them and I spend the whole time wondering if I'm missing things or even going the right way. I grew up playing James Pond though and liked it as a kid, but nowadays I can't stand these games.
>>12650937Those are metroidvanias. Metroidvanias are more linear than what ops describing and they don't really have levels. Levels are things you clear and don't come back to, or if you can replay them it's usually not mandatory. He probably means things like Jazz Jackrabbit or maybe even Earthworm Jim
>>12650959I feel the same way nowadays. I used to enjoy most of the popular DOS platformers as a kid. Now I find them a slog clear when trying to achieve top score. Duke Nukem II has some really complex and interconnected levels (picrel is a monster) where the most optimal routes are still not clear to me after years of playing. However I still admire the thorough design of the DN2 levels. A lot of effort had been put into them.
>>12650959I call it Western Platformer level design. It's common in EU and US platformers alike. Large non-linear levels full of score-items with an occasional power-up randomly thrown in there. The idea is that the challenge isn't in the platforming or enemy encounters, but in locating the next key/exit.James Pond, Claw, Commander Keen games, once you see it you start seeing it all over in western platformers. Earthworm Jim 1 and 2 stand out as rare examples of western platformers that had some kind of level flow.
>>12651056Bubsy 1 actually has solid level flow, despite too many cheap deaths and some blind jumps. You can tell they actually did try to imitate games like Sonic and Mario to a degree. The levels feels quite nice after you've memorized them a bit.But Bubsy 2 and Fractured Furry Tales ruined things by adopting this type of maze level design, rather than improving on the good parts of the first game.
>>12651009Haven't played the first JJ much. Suppose that game focuses more on speed and route picking like Sonic? The levels of EWJ are mostly linear with hidden areas and routes. The most complex level I can think of would be Lorenzen's Soil from EWJ2.
>>12651056There were some Japanese platformers with exploration such as Decap Attack.
>>12651107Round 8-2, The Revenge of Shinobi
>>12650932Kid chameleon
now THIS is level design
This place is plagued with the absolute worst kind of people
>>12651232Case in point. Shouldn't you be in reddit?
>>12651232What about this thread triggered that reaction? It's so innocent compared to most of 4chan.
for me it's Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
