Source Metadata
- Type: Textbook / Game design analysis
- Author: Joshua Bycer
- Year: 2020
- Publisher: CRC Press / Taylor & Francis Group
- ISBN: 9780367211387 (paperback)
Key Takeaways
- Jumping is a skill-based mechanic with deep design complexity beneath its apparent simplicity. Bycer argues that the platformer genre is one of the easiest to mess up at the design level, precisely because it looks simple.
- Two fundamental philosophies of jumping: committed jumping (fixed trajectory, player has no air control) and variable jumping (player can make micro-adjustments mid-air). Both have legitimate use cases, but variable is the modern standard for challenge-focused platformers.
- Eleven variables define every jump (see Notable Claims). Adjusting any one has cascading effects on level design and player challenge.
- Camera is not a neutral tool. In 2D, the camera position relative to the character directly determines how much time the player has to react. In 3D, camera mishandling is the single largest failure mode in platform design.
- Level flow depends on three principles: having a theme, internal progression (growing harder), and knowing when to end. Repeating the same obstacle in a single level is padding and is considered bad design.
- Obstacle design has three axes of difficulty: where the player jumps from, what happens in the air, and where they must land.
- Teaching the player organically — using level design itself rather than explicit tutorials — is the preferred approach in the platformer genre.
- Challenging vs. frustrating is a critical distinction. The player should always be the reason for their own failure or success; cheap design punishes players for things outside their control.
- 3D platformers introduced subjective difficulty — the same stage can be played differently based on skill — which Mario 64 pioneered.
- Physics-driven platforming (Sonic, Super Meat Boy, Celeste, N++) gives near-infinite jump variety, but requires shorter stages and more checkpoints to remain fair.
- Kaizo design is mechanical gameplay — there is exactly one correct sequence to beat a stage. It does not have a transferable progression curve and has extremely limited commercial appeal.
- Celeste is presented as the exemplary modern platformer: accessibility options kept separate from the core design, organic teaching of advanced moves, and momentum-based physics that reward mastery.
- The indie scene revived 2D platforming after AAA studios abandoned it in the mid-2000s in favour of open-world and cinematic experiences.
Notable Claims
“Even though this is not a programming book, it’s still important to understand the basic principle of implementing a jump. At the simplest level, the character has two states they can be in – a ‘ground’ state and an ‘aerial’ state.” (Ch. 6)
“The following variables are the DNA of every jump in every platformer ever made: Jump Delay; Jump Max Height; Jump Minimum Height; Jump Cancelling; Jumping Ascending Speed; Jumping Descending Speed; Committed or Variable; Momentum; Horizontal Movement Speed; Number of Additional Jumps; Jump Distance.” (Ch. 6)
“Movement is the hardest enemy in committed jumping designs. When you’re trying to engage a moving target or leaping onto a moving platform, the player must make multiple mental calculations.” (Ch. 3)
“Good 2D design will keep the character model at about a quarter of the screen’s length and on the opposite side of where they’re moving.” (Ch. 6)
“Subjective difficulty is a case where the game’s challenge is dependent on the player’s skill level, and will rise or fall depending on how well the player has mastered the systems.” (Ch. 12)
“The player’s control over their character is a delicate thing, and if they feel like they’ve lost control – or the character is not behaving how they expect them to – the game experience will suffer as a result.” (Ch. 7)
“Ultimately, it should always be the player that’s the reason why they succeeded or failed at any challenge in your game.” (Ch. 17)
“The important element of Celeste in terms of difficulty balance was that the accessibility options were not factored into the design of the stages. Celeste was balanced around expert players, but became open for anyone to enjoy.” (Ch. 14)
“In a Kaizo game, while each level has the same platforming foundation, they feature sections and obstacles unique to the individual level. Learning the best way through one stage means nothing when you are playing a different stage. It’s all about execution and memorisation, which aren’t transferable elements.” (Ch. 16)
“You should never repeat the same exact challenges in a single level. This is viewed as ‘padding’ your game out and is frowned upon by gamers.” (Ch. 17)
Relevance
This source is the primary grounding for platformer-design and informs:
- game-feel — the feel of jumping as a skill-based, tactile mechanic
- game-loops — jumping as the core gameplay loop of the platformer genre
- challenge-types — taxonomy of hard jumps (blind, pixel-perfect, bouncy, icy, moving, trick, aborted)
- level-design — organic tutorials, checkpointing philosophy, themed levels, progression within levels
- interest-curves — level difficulty that rises across a stage and across a game
- game-balance — subjective difficulty, accessible difficulty options, playtesting
Open Questions Raised
- Bycer does not discuss coyote time (allowing a brief jump window after walking off a ledge) or jump buffering (queuing a jump input before landing) by those names — these are well-established modern techniques omitted from the text. Worth investigating separately.
- The book acknowledges Sonic’s physics-driven design but does not reconcile it with the claim that momentum-based play reduces player control; is there a design solution that preserves speed without sacrificing legibility?
- Bycer’s definition of “subjective difficulty” may overlap with what other designers call “emergent difficulty” or “player-skill-driven difficulty curves.” Worth cross-checking with other sources.
- The accessibility discussion (Celeste, Galaxy 2 assist mode) raises the question of where the line is between accessibility and undermining the game’s design challenge — left unresolved in the text.