06-19-2013, 01:40 PM
Ugh...you know...right when I saw "Controls" immediately Frogatto popped into my head. That game is a perfect example of a game that got everything right...except for the most bare basics. Your jumps are awkward, you slide a ton when you land and it's nigh-impossible to do basic platforming things like...UMM...LANDING ON PLATFORMS? I really don't understand how Frogatto was trying to recreate the classic SNES feel, but at the same time really just botched all three of these categories. :X But I digress...
Controls
I think Smash Bros. is a good example of this one (with tap jumping turned off, that is). What made Smash Bros. work was something I like to call "Button Piling". Whenever you try a move, it always does exactly what you want despite your character having far more moves than buttons. And why? Button combinations, duh! I think a big problem many modern game developers have is that they want to map one thing to one button to keep things "simple", but in the process they just overcomplicate their games. I can't give any specific examples of this, but ooooohhh it's defenitely out there...A good way to pull off controls is to be less binary about things and work with button combinations that make sense.
Physics
For controls, a game I think that pulled it off perfectly would be Kirby Super Star. The physics are very...organic, unlike Megaman's. You have a short acceleration time and slide a little bit at the end of your walks, but it never feels annoying. Your jumps are a little floaty, but some of the heavier characters don't suffer from this, so even if you don't like the physics, you could always try out different characters like Plasma Wisp that throw out the physics system entirely.
When it comes to physics, I'll say the best way to pull them off is to give lots of choice!
Rules
Rules, rules, rules. This is something that's always come up for me, so I think a great way I can address this is my own little paracosm, Super Dragonsin Saga (SDS). And to be specific, I'm going to address RPG-specific rules. RPGs IMO always have quite the lazy gameplay design...they recycle too many rules from other RPGs. Things like "Get exp to level up and spontaneously grow stronger". The reason many RPGs go for systems like this is because being realistic wouldn't be "fun" so they just want to stick to tried and true systems. But I've put a lot of thought into it, and here are some ways I broke the boring-bland RPG sterotypes I've come to hate by introducing a little more realism. I'm kind of rambling here, but this is the first time I've gotten my ideas out, and I wanna see if I sound like a crazy person or not...
Kills:
One common stereotype in RPGs is when a character dies in a cutscene and you're like "Why not just use a phoenix down?!?". And the thing with SDS is that this happens quite often. Make the wrong choices, and potentially 7/9 of your characters could be dead by the end of the game. So in order to prevent the potential 7 groans that could arise during the course of my story, I came up with a much different system. Firstly, if a character is killed outside a cutscene, it's Game Over, plain and simple. To balance this, characters can be both KO'd OR killed. When a character's HP drops to a certain level, they're KO'd and will slowly heal outside of battle. If all characters are KO'd or a character's invincibility flash ends before their turn does, then they will be open for attacks.
Levelling:
In SDS, there are no levels. You have points in about 8 different stats that range from 0-1000. There is no exp, but instead each of your individual stats raises independently. For example, if you are fighting an opponent and you attack a lot, then your attack stat will slowly rise. Likewise, doing things like defending, dodging or taking hits will slowly raise those stats. With this system, there is more specialization and options for character development. You could make an offensive character either all-attack oriented or very balanced, simply by affecting how you play as them.
Controls
I think Smash Bros. is a good example of this one (with tap jumping turned off, that is). What made Smash Bros. work was something I like to call "Button Piling". Whenever you try a move, it always does exactly what you want despite your character having far more moves than buttons. And why? Button combinations, duh! I think a big problem many modern game developers have is that they want to map one thing to one button to keep things "simple", but in the process they just overcomplicate their games. I can't give any specific examples of this, but ooooohhh it's defenitely out there...A good way to pull off controls is to be less binary about things and work with button combinations that make sense.
Physics
For controls, a game I think that pulled it off perfectly would be Kirby Super Star. The physics are very...organic, unlike Megaman's. You have a short acceleration time and slide a little bit at the end of your walks, but it never feels annoying. Your jumps are a little floaty, but some of the heavier characters don't suffer from this, so even if you don't like the physics, you could always try out different characters like Plasma Wisp that throw out the physics system entirely.
When it comes to physics, I'll say the best way to pull them off is to give lots of choice!Rules
Rules, rules, rules. This is something that's always come up for me, so I think a great way I can address this is my own little paracosm, Super Dragonsin Saga (SDS). And to be specific, I'm going to address RPG-specific rules. RPGs IMO always have quite the lazy gameplay design...they recycle too many rules from other RPGs. Things like "Get exp to level up and spontaneously grow stronger". The reason many RPGs go for systems like this is because being realistic wouldn't be "fun" so they just want to stick to tried and true systems. But I've put a lot of thought into it, and here are some ways I broke the boring-bland RPG sterotypes I've come to hate by introducing a little more realism. I'm kind of rambling here, but this is the first time I've gotten my ideas out, and I wanna see if I sound like a crazy person or not...
Kills:
One common stereotype in RPGs is when a character dies in a cutscene and you're like "Why not just use a phoenix down?!?". And the thing with SDS is that this happens quite often. Make the wrong choices, and potentially 7/9 of your characters could be dead by the end of the game. So in order to prevent the potential 7 groans that could arise during the course of my story, I came up with a much different system. Firstly, if a character is killed outside a cutscene, it's Game Over, plain and simple. To balance this, characters can be both KO'd OR killed. When a character's HP drops to a certain level, they're KO'd and will slowly heal outside of battle. If all characters are KO'd or a character's invincibility flash ends before their turn does, then they will be open for attacks.
Levelling:
In SDS, there are no levels. You have points in about 8 different stats that range from 0-1000. There is no exp, but instead each of your individual stats raises independently. For example, if you are fighting an opponent and you attack a lot, then your attack stat will slowly rise. Likewise, doing things like defending, dodging or taking hits will slowly raise those stats. With this system, there is more specialization and options for character development. You could make an offensive character either all-attack oriented or very balanced, simply by affecting how you play as them.