Level Up.pdf

Might as Well Jump 101
1. The player is at rest: this is when the player is walking, running, and
so on.
2. The player presses the action button. The jump has to happen
immediately, as so many jumps are the player ’ s response to danger.
In some cases, the jump may need a brief animation to sell the
anticipation of the leap, but this animation should be kept as short
as possible.
3. Make sure the jump rises to the maximum height quickly.
A. Should the player be given the opportunity to do a double jump,
allow them to do so before reaching the apex (top height) of the
jump. Any time after the apex feels weird.
4. Falling is like jumping in reverse. Don ’ t make the fall last too long or
it will feel “ fl oaty ” , which is a negative sensation to the player and
screws with the player ’ s sense of metrics — unless the player has
some sort of power- up or ability that allows them to glide or float
down to safety.
5. The landing can take a little longer than the jump, but it needs to
“ stick ” to make it feel good and solid. I am not a fan of jumps that
end in skids or slides as it is easy for a player to make a jump
and still slide off the edge of a platform. This is one instance
where I have found that “ game physics ” works better than
“ real world physics. ”
Let ’ s take a second to talk about physics. Should you model your game
physics on the real world or use “ game ” physics? Or should you abandon
the laws of physics entirely? Good questions! And you better know the
answer!
Since Sir Isaac Newton did all of the hard work back in 1687, one would
assume this would be easy, right? Real world physics are based on the
laws of physics we live with every day. But a certain fidelity to real life is
necessary to sell real world physics, and trying to create something that
precisely emulates real world physics usually ends up inferior to something
tweaked. For example, gravity in games is not 9.8 m/s 2 no matter what the
real world says. In fact, some games even use different gravitational
constants on different objects!
This is where game physics come into play. The programmers “ tweak ”
the real - world values to fit the gameplay needs. Running speeds, jumping
heights and distances, and collision bounciness always feel better when
adjusted. Most people in the real world can ’ t jump higher than their own
waist, while the average platform game character can easily double their
own height in a single bound.