Movement

Matthew salmon

(most) games have movement

Whether the game be top down, side scroller, or a 3D experience, many games have movement

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It could be controlling a player, a car, or something completely different

(most) games have movement

Whether the game be top down, side scroller, or a 3D experience, many games have movement

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It could be controlling a player, a car, or something completely different

What is a platforming game?

A platforming game typically has a player who can move around a world.

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Players can typically move, jump, and perform other moves such as

• Grappling
• Dashing
• Double jumping

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Super smash bros, Nintendo™

What is a platforming game?

Why focus on movement?

• unresponsive controls
• Imprecise movement
• Sloppy physics

In games, especially platformers, movement is the core mechanic that players will be using.

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Putting work into getting core mechanics to feel good is one of the main features that makes a platformer feel good to play.

A platforming game typically has a player who can move around a world.

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Players can typically move, jump, and perform other moves such as

• Grappling
• Dashing
• Double jumping

Movement differs

Fast & snappy

drifty & floaty

Parts of a platformer toolkit

moving

Jumping

There are 2 main parts to a platformer’s movement

Parts of a platformer toolkit

moving

Key elements:

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• Maximum Speed
• How fast the player can go just by holding the movement input
• (Player could go faster with other moves)

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• Acceleration
• How fast the player can get to their maximum speed
• If the player needs to stop and start a lot, a fast acceleration could be preferred

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• Deceleration
• How fast the player slows down after releasing the movement input

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• Turning time
• How quickly the player can swap directions (usually tied to deceleration)

Parts of a platformer toolkit

moving

Key elements:

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• Maximum Speed
• High
• Acceleration
• Slow
• Deceleration
• Quick
• Turning time
• quick

Parts of a platformer toolkit

Jumping

Key elements:

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• Jump height
• How high the player jumps

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• Jump speed
• How fast the player reaches their jump height

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• Gravity
• How fast the player falls to the ground after they reach the jump height

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• Coyote time
• How long the player can still jump for after they leave the ground (demonstrated on the next slide)

Parts of a platformer toolkit

Jumping

Key elements:

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• Jump height
• Medium
• Jump speed
• Quick
• gravity
• Quick
• Coyote time
• 2-3 frames

Coyote time demo

challenge

In groups, come up with:

• Acceleration
• Deceleration
• Top speed
• Jump height
• Jump speed
• Gravity

For the examples following

Challenge 1

Acceleration – Deceleration - Top speed - Jump height – Jump speed - Gravity

Challenge 1 - Solution

Acceleration – fast

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Deceleration – fast

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Top speed – medium

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Jump height – low/med

Jump speed – medium

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Gravity – med/high

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Challenge 2

Acceleration – Deceleration - Top speed - Jump height – Jump speed - Gravity

Challenge 2 - Solution

Acceleration – slow

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Deceleration – slow

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Top speed – high

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Jump height – high

Jump speed – slow

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Gravity – high

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Challenge 3

Acceleration – Deceleration - Top speed - Jump height* – Jump speed* - Gravity

Challenge 3 - Solution

Acceleration – Med

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Deceleration – fast

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Top speed – very high

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Jump height – *

Jump speed – *

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Gravity – Medium

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*jump height and speed depend on the player’s speed in this example

Extra bits

• Coyote time
• Instant movement
• Some games (such as Smash bros) instantly move the character when buttons are pressed, with no acceleration

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• AIR MOVEMENT
• Air movement typically feels better if the player is slowed down in the air
• Happens in smash bros, Mario kart, etc.

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• Jump buffering
• The player can tap jump just before they hit the ground, and the game will jump when they hit the ground

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• Jump Squat
• A short amount of time after the player presses “jump” before they actually jump

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So how do I code it?

There’s a couple ways to code movement, but we will go over a very simple version.

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Let’s start with some pseudocode...

So how do I code it?

REPEAT EVERY FRAME:

// get_x_input = value between -1 and 1

horizontal_movement = Get_X_INPUT()

// move side-to-side by this horizontal_movement

X_position = X_position + horizontal_movement

Let’s Try it!

So how do I code it? (Part 2)

REPEAT EVERY FRAME:

// get_x_input = value between -1 and 1

horizontal_movement = Get_X_INPUT()

// move side-to-side by this horizontal_movement

X_position = X_position + horizontal_movement

So how do I code it? (Part 2)

X_velocity = 0

Acceleration = 1 // 1 unit/s^2

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REPEAT EVERY FRAME:

// get_x_input = value between -1 and 1

horizontal_movement = Get_X_INPUT()

// move side-to-side by this horizontal_movement

X_position = X_position + horizontal_movement

So how do I code it? (Part 2)

X_velocity = 0

Acceleration = 1 // 1 unit/frame^2

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REPEAT EVERY FRAME:

// get_x_input = value between -1 and 1

horizontal_movement = Get_X_INPUT()

// increase x_velocity by acceleration

X_velocity += (horizontal_movement * acceleration)

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// move side-to-side by this horizontal_movement

X_position = X_position + horizontal_movement

So how do I code it? (Part 2)

X_velocity = 0

Acceleration = 1 // 1 unit/frame^2

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REPEAT EVERY FRAME:

// get_x_input = value between -1 and 1

horizontal_movement = Get_X_INPUT()

// increase x_velocity by acceleration

X_velocity += (horizontal_movement * acceleration)

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// move side-to-side by X VELOCITY

X_position += X_VELOCITY

There’s a lot to movement

Even with all the code in the example, it still feels a bit crap

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This Is where all the “extra techniques” come into play.

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Are there any other features you’d add to make the character feel better?

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There is no “right” way to make your movement

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It all depends on the player’s experience and what fits best with your game

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All the techniques shown here can be used as tools to make player movement feel the best possible

Everything is a tool

that being said, knowing where to start can be quite tricky.

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My best advice is to look at games that have similar movement to what you’re aiming for.

I’m stuck?

Another great resource is the app “platformer toolkit”

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It lets you play around with everything mentioned in these slides, and more (camera movement, polish, etc.)

I’m stuck?

Platformer toolkit on itch.io

Thank you

Any questions?