Platfomring in a RPG... Yes or No?

[That Bread]

What would you think if there was Platforming in a RPG game?

Is it a good idea or a bad idea? Would it be enjoyable?

What do I think? I think if I could figure out a proper jump height fix the quirks that I have encountered. It could be a fun/challenging new way of representing puzzles. Although I must admit so far it has not been enjoyable, maybe its because I have not gotten the correct formula for the jump yet.

Heres an example I uploaded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtB012Gu1IY

 As you can see, I didn't do so great... and I doubt the player would do any better. I am using victors platform movement.

So is this a big yes or a big no... and please do tell me why.

 

[Tai_MT]

I think it could be a lot of fun if implemented well.  Though, you'd definitely have to make sure it's not frustrating as it appears to be in the video you provided.

If you're looking for ways to NOT do platforming in an RPG, one need only look up "The Spoony Experiment" and then look up "Ultima 8:  Pagan" review.

I wish I could figure out how to put a hyperlink in here to link you to it, but I cannot.  My boxes have been broken for a while and nothing on them seems to work, including "quote", ha ha.

Still, Platforming in an RPG can be done really well and be made quite enjoyable.  It's just a matter of making sure your mechanics work properly and things don't get "too frustrating" for a normal player.

 

[Andar]

there are a lot of platformer-RPGs, usually with emphasis on action - but also others that are focusing on RPG while using platformer maps.


It's for a different audience than the ragular RPG's - sometimes I play them, but most of the time I prefer regular RPGs. But I know there are players who prefer it otherwise.

 

[Mouser]

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines had a few platform levels. A lot of gunshots flying around too, just to keep it interesting.

With the 3D engines available now, there's no real reason it wouldn't work, as long as the area is designed well.

 

[C-C-C-Cashmere (old)]

The problem with making platform movement in RPGs is that it's so dam hard to control the dude and make him not fall in the lava. Even if it's done so well (You Are Not The Hero) it's still incredibly challenging and kind of frustrating. It's because in the "pokemon" view of top-down, it's very difficult to get precision jumping right, especially if the jumps are small and there's not much room for error.

I do like platforming where there is no chance of falling though, e.g. pressing spacebar on a gap and jumping over it. But in that sense, you'd have to make either all gaps jumpable, or put a "sparkly effect" over gaps that you can jump over. Otherwise players won't know which gaps you can jump over and which ones you can't, and that's annoying.

Making mazes using jump events like this is fun. Also jumping all over cliffs makes you feel like a badass. Especially if you have to dodge boulders while you do it.

 

[Sharm]

I always thought of Kingdom Hearts as a platformer RPG.  I like it when game designers are willing to borrow from other genres to make a better game.  As long as it's designed well and incorporated into the game properly you should be good.  I think I've seen platforming done just like this in another game but I can't remember what it is right now.  You video does make it look a bit unwieldy though, you may want to take out the precision element.

 

[C-C-C-Cashmere (old)]

I always thought of Kingdom Hearts as a platformer RPG.  I like it when game designers are willing to borrow from other genres to make a better game.  As long as it's designed well and incorporated into the game properly you should be good.  I think I've seen platforming done just like this in another game but I can't remember what it is right now.  You video does make it look a bit unwieldy though, you may want to take out the precision element.

It's the script I think. It does small jumps, so you have to get the timing just right in order to scale the gap. In my opinion, you should have really large jumps like Mario, but a lot of gaps that you can fall into so you have to have high precision. It's not fun having small jumps, tbh. Jumps should be as small or as large as you feel it should be. Making jumping feel good is hard. Whole platformer games focus on the jump feature being as natural as possible. It's almost like a make-or-break mechanic in platformers.

 

[Shaz]

Moving to General Discussion (if it has to do with game development, it's not Off-Topic)