Bwaha, April Fools! World 4 won’t be a stupid one button runner after all!
Hope I wasn’t really fooling anyone with that one. I mean, I don’t automatically hate all one button runners (Tiny Wings is pretty fantastic, for instance), but I think that genre’s been beaten into the ground already. Just pains me to see what is almost literally an interface straight of out science fiction being used one giant button.
I just don’t see a point, anything that can be done with only a jump button can be done better with full controls. Come on, guys, respect your players! I’d like to think that mobile gamers aren’t all complete idiots solely there to squeeze money out of.
With World 4 I want to prove that a ‘mobile’ platformer doesn’t need to be riddled with compromises. No barely animated ball characters, no loss of control, no waiting, no paying your way around game content. World 4 will be more pick-up-and-play friendly, more accessible, more fast-paced, and hopefully more compelling than ever, without stripping the controls or wasting your time.
Guess that fulfills my daily rant about mobile gaming!
Anyways, as you’ve seen in the previous joke video, I’ve been working on some new features to make platforming in World 4 the most interesting yet. The goal is to capture the flow and fast-paced nature of one button runners, without compromise.
First up: Grind rails! World 4 will focus more on parkour in general, and grind rails somehow make sense to me (Though Soaps + parkour doesn’t seem to really be a thing? Baffling.) Would have uploaded something yesterday, but I figured I could finish the new wall jump and show that off too.
Tune in tomorrow to check out ink boarding! (some good guesses on what that is so far)
– Brad
One-touch gaming can be awesome when done right like Jupiter Jump, Canabalt or even (yup) Crush the Castle did, but the problem is that it’s both inherently easy to pick up as a player AND easy to make, and we humans like easy, when ‘Easy Job + Easy Game = Easy Money’ you gotta expect an overabundance of “Single-Touch” clones. I myself prefer the console quality mobile games (like Asphalt 8, Galaxy on Fire HD and Dream League Soccer) but even I as a “Hardcore” gamer like simple once in a while. Until the next casual gaming fad comes along (remember when every other game was some variance of Temple Run?), we’re gonna be stuck with a new chart-topping one-toucher every week.
Also, the new stuff looks awesome, can’t wait for World 4.
As a developer I think I have a problem enjoying games that are TOO simple (there’s a Canabalt style mini game in the Wolverine game I did, I feel that only works as a supplement to the main running / clawing gameplay that I feel turned out pretty well, and literally made a Flappy Bird clone in about an hour), or maybe I should say ‘simplistic’, since I would consider Super Crate Box about as simple as it gets.
There’s simple because a game is clever (Super Crate Box’s hook is genius), and simple because the game is shallow. Don’t get me wrong, making a simple game that’s compelling is VERY VERY difficult. Like, way more difficult than making a complex game, especially for me. Streamlining is super difficult, accessibility is WAY more difficult than complexity.
Deep and simple is the holy grail of gaming. Like, no one with a nail would mock a hammer as being simple. It’s perfect.
What I have a problem with is making something simple by making needless compromising. Shallow simplicity and paint by numbers complexity can both be easily churned out by assembly line dev studios, and the last thing I want to do is become expendable, heh.
(and ugh what was up with Temple Run that was awful)
Asphalt 8 is actually a pleasant surprise, the last one I played was practically on rails, it was so bad. If you want to check out what I consider to be an absolutely amazing example of ‘deep simplicity’, check out Tilt to Live, especially the iPad version (makes gourmet chef approval motion).
There’s definitely a sweet spot between simple and complex, you gotta be engaging and challenging without overwhelming and confusing the player. Scarlett and the Spark of Life is a good example of what to do, it’s a point-and-click adventure game specifically made with the iPhone in mind and it works incredibly well. (It’s older now and looks a little stretched out on my 6 but it’s still great, I recommend it beyond highly. Make sure to turn the commentary on after the first time through.)
This is why we (in the general sense here) as gamers need to put our money where our mouths are (within reason obviously). I’m not gonna lie, I love the big franchises like Battlefield, GTA and Assassin’s Creed but when I can I also support the smaller games and dev’s I like too.
I hate to say it but crappy casual and Facebook clones and Zynga games will probably continue to dominate the market for a while as long as gaming is relevant (which will hopefully be forever) but it’s not entirely a bad thing, for all the shameless cash-grabs like Madden and COD we get other games approved from the publishers that would not otherwise exist without those cash-cows, at least in wide availability or a more polished form. It’s like the film industry in that way, as much as we hate to admit it we need forgettable crap like Transformers 2, Iron Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 to exist to generate cash for more experimental stuff like Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Back to the Future or even STAR WARS. It’s a sad statement on how publishing works (in both industries) but at least we’ve still got Valve and Rooster Teeth going for us.
MatPat actually talked about this in a two part Game Theory he did, here’s a link to the first one: https://youtu.be/FS1p7W5dmBE
As for the Asphalt series, it’s weird, I love some of them (like 8 obviously) and utterly despise other ones. They probably have different teams working on different ones so the final product is inconsistent from game to game.
EDIT: I just searched for Tilt to Live on the App Store and one of the results is “Flappy Quacky: A Flying Bird Game – Tilt and Shift to Live”, according to the reviews it’s terrible but it somehow still has 4 stars. Ugh.
Brad, are you gonna make pegs and walls for wall-running like in ME2D for World 4?
😡 👿 how can I make my profile?
Video? You mean post/gif? *checks subscribe feed* *checks DrNeroCF on YT just in case* Yep, only thing that’s changed on your channel is the name.
Anyways, I like the idea of W4 focusing more on parkour and gameplay. I loved the story in W3, but this just seems more… FPA-esque. Brings back the things we loved about W1 and W2, but with smoother gameplay. Don’t get me wrong, W3 was awesmazing.
I suppose the idea of grind rails came from Sonic games? You did introduce it already in Fancy Snowboarding… Will there be curved ones in W4 too? Just curious.
New walljump looks great and fits with the flow-and-fast-paced-nature-of-one-button-runners idea. Got my hype on for the next update! Ink boarding! WAS I RIGHT ABOUT THE PLOT?
Haha, yes, just the gif, I’ll get the video train rolling pretty soon once I have more to talk about!
I think you’ll like the direction W4’s taking then, I’m really happy with it so far.
Yeah either Sonic Adventure 2 or Jet Set Radio… Though I always thought Soap shoes were kinda awesome (not sure if they really worked though). Right now the grind property is built into the moving platforms which are all flat, but I’ll probably have curved ones too.
What’d you say about the plot? It’s gonna be pretty nuts 😀 (though much less in the way as W3).
I was just joking about the plot, haha.
Also I was wrong. But I was the first one to figure out what inkboarding is:
:er_neutral: Why?
Damn Brad, you really got me with the one-button FPM.. I’m excited though, it’s been a while since I’ve been following up with my forum/blog check-up duties haha.
:fpm:
:woot:
:pants:
huh?
I can bareley wait for more :fpm:
Hey brad ever think of making episodes of :fpm: on youtube or something ?
How to go to level 2 in World 4 ❓
😉 😐 😡 :woot: 😈 🙂 😯 🙁 🙄 :red: 😛 :pants: 😳 😮
😆 😀 :fpm: 👿 :er_neutral: :er: 😥 😎 :cat: ➡ :angerz: ❓ ❓ ❗ Hey, wanna see again? So here it goes. 😉 😐 😡 :woot: 😈 🙂 😯 🙁 🙄 :red: 😛 :pants: 😳 😮 
😆 💡 😀 :fpm: 👿 :er_neutral: :er: 😥 😎 :cat: ➡ :angerz: ❓ 😕 ❗