Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
1. The majority of respondents prefer 2D platformers over other types, with 3D platformers
following closely behind.
2. Most respondents did not consider difficulty important, but the majority of the ones that
did leaned towards harder games; however, many of the latter category also had an upper
limit and considered many harder games too unfair or frustrating for their liking. Only a
few respondents said they prefer easier games.
3. Most respondents said that whether plot is beneficial to platformers depends on how it’s
done. Many of them said that plot is a nice bonus but not required, while others said that
it’s only good when there are no cutscenes involved. Many other respondents felt that
plot is not important to platformers and that gameplay matters most, but some others also
stated that they felt that plot makes games feel like they have a purpose.
4. Many favorite platformers people listed all shared a few common traits, most notably a
strong sense of progression, good controls, and freedom to choose different playstyles.
5. Likewise, many least favorite platformers shared a few common traits, most notably bad
controls and unfair or boring level design.
Based on these results, it was concluded that in the minds of video game players, the
fundamental aspects of a game (ex. its controls and level design) take precedence over more
secondary aspects like plot or difficulty. Many of the responses to each question mentioned
controls in particular, saying things such as the following quote:
“I consider difficulty a little bit, but it's not the most important thing for me when playing a
platformer. I usually prefer good controls because those are what make platformers enjoyable for
me.”
I ultimately recommended that Sony creates a 2D platformer and that they focus on nailing down
the fundamental aspects of the game before anything else. I also added several notes and
secondary research citations about making sure to include accessibility options and touched on
four-step level design, which are both very important parts of modern games that are starting to
become more common.
1
Introduction
Sony specializes in various types of games, but last year we decided to try our luck and create
our own platformer. Unfortunately, it was unsuccessful in terms of sales and received only
mediocre reviews from critics. I have decided to look into which platformers people play and
what people enjoy about them in the hopes that Sony can understand where this game went
wrong and what to fix about it for the future, and I have compiled all of this information into this
report.
I mainly went about conducting research for this report by sending out a survey to people of
various Discord communities, ranging from casual to competitive gamers. I received a total of 43
responses to various questions about platformers. To briefly summarize my findings, I found that
the fundamental aspects of a game (ex. controls, how well mechanics are conveyed) will leave
more of an impression on players than more secondary features like the difficulty and the plot.
Based on these findings, I recommended that the primary focus of the team should be making
sure that the game controls and functions well, as well as making the game as accessible as
possible to as many players as possible.
This report delves into my primary research methods, results, conclusions, and
recommendations. The results and conclusions of my primary research are categorized based on
the survey questions. The recommendations section also contains some secondary research to
help support my findings, as well as to add a bit more insight into them.
Methods
For my primary research, I sent out a survey about platformers and what people look for when
playing them. The survey was sent out to multiple Discord servers (some of which being small
community servers and some being large public servers) and elicited a total of 43 responses; the
respondents consisted of people from several different gaming communities, ranging from casual
players to semi-professional eSports athletes, and since the survey was a Google Form, all of the
responses were anonymous. This survey contained a total of five questions, one “choose all that
apply” and four that allowed for paragraph responses. The full questions are available in
Appendix A on page 13.
The first question simply asked what types of platformers people prefer to play. The options
were
- Single-screen (ex. Donkey Kong, Bubble Bobble)
- 2D side-scroller (ex. Super Mario Bros., Mega Man)
- 2.5D side-scroller (ex. Klonoa, Kirby 64)
- 3D (ex. Super Mario 64, Crash Bandicoot)
- Other (Please specify).
The second question asked if the respondents typically considered difficulty important while
looking for platformers to play, and if so, what difficulty they preferred and why. The third
2
question asked if plot was important to them while looking for platformers and why or why not.
The fourth and fifth questions asked respondents to name some of their favorite and least favorite
platformers respectively, and to list their reasons why they picked them. All of the last four
questions allowed for paragraph-length responses and were asked with the goal of getting
respondents to elaborate on what they want out of a platformer instead of just saying “it’s good”
or “I like it”. All of their responses were read in full and categorized according to their content.
Results
This section goes into detail about the results of the survey.
Survey Question 1 – Platformer Type
Respondents were allowed to choose all that applied for Question 1. Refer to Figure 1 for the
results.
3
Plot is… Number of Responses
Important 9 (20.9%)
Not Important 14 (32.6%)
Depends 20 (46.5%)
Figure 3 Survey results for Question 3.
Conclusions
Much like the Results section, this section will be divided based on the survey questions.
Survey Question 1 – Platformer Type
The first thing to note here is that out of 43 people, only 14% of them selected single-screen as a
type of platformer they enjoy. This is not very surprising, because single-screen platformers such
as Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, Bubble Bobble, and Ice Climbers are generally outdated and you
don’t see many games like them made anymore.
The vast majority of respondents selected 2D as one of their options, which is also not surprising
given the amount of successful 2D platformers; this includes both classics like Super Mario
4
World, Mega Man, and Castlevania, and more recent games like Shovel Knight, Hollow Knight,
and Celeste. These are all among the first games you would think of when you think
“platformer”.
Just under half of the respondents selected 2.5D as one of their options; these are 2D in terms of
their side-scroller gameplay, but have a 3D look to their graphics. There are a lot of popular 2.5D
games like New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Kirby Star Allies, and Donkey Kong Country Returns,
but most of these are not quite as iconic as their classic 2D counterparts. Still, it is a bit
surprising to me that these games were not picked more.
3D games were picked by almost exactly two thirds of the respondents; just recently, Nintendo
released Super Mario 3D All-Stars, which contains three of their most successful titles. Said
titles are Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy, the first of which has
especially seen a resurgence due to speedrunners and popular videos about the game such as
Watch for Rolling Rocks – 0.5x A Presses and The Super Mario 64 Iceberg: Explained, as well
as memes like the Wario Apparition. There are also many popular 3D platforming titles, such as
Banjo-Kazooie, Crash Bandicoot, and Sonic Adventure that are all iconic in their own ways, and
as such it makes sense that so many people picked this option.
Finally, a few people picked Other. Three of the four “Other” selections were for Metroidvania-
styled games, which are very open platformers with a heavy focus on exploration; the term is a
portmanteau of Metroid and Castlevania, which are both series that are well-known for this style
of platformer design.
The last of the “Other” selections was for first-person platformers, which is fairly niche
considering that there aren’t many first-person games that are specifically about platforming (the
majority of games like that are primarily first-person shooters).
5
As one respondent put it, “too many platformers play into sadistic difficulty that turn into boring
repetition…I used to like harder but as I've aged I've lost my patience and can't dump hours into
repeating one task in a game to clear one poorly made section so it'll cause me to stop playing.”
11 people stated that they prefer harder games, and these are the aspects of harder difficulty that
consistently appeared within their responses:
- High difficulty increases total playtime
- Hard games give the player something to work towards and feel good to beat
- Feel that most games are too easy for them
- Easier games tend to be boring
Unlike the previous category, these are people who don’t mind spending a long time on a game,
because they see stumbling blocks more as obstacles to overcome. Even if they are frustrated,
they’re ultimately satisfied when they are able to beat that one hard level or that one hard boss.
As one response said, “I enjoy harder games more because I find the extra challenge keeps me
engaged more and helps increase total playtime. While there are easy games I enjoy a lot of the
time I find easier games to just be boring.” Another had similar sentiments, saying “I tend to
prefer platformers that are at least moderately difficult, or failing that, that I appreciate the
aesthetic of. I enjoy my skills as a player being challenged.”
10 more people leaned towards harder games, but also specifically mentioned that there was an
upper limit to the amount of difficulty they could tolerate. Their main points were
Essentially, these people are okay with difficulty, but they also don’t want to become frustrated
or have to repeat multiple sections of a level due to simple mistakes. As one response said, “I
enjoy harder games more because I like having to actually put effort into beating stuff sometimes
for that satisfaction. Needs to be good difficulty though and not obnoxious and making you redo
lots of stuff over and over.” Another said “I don't particularly try and look for difficulty, but I do
make a point to try and stray away from platformers that are too 'punishing' (e.g. Game Overs are
too punishing, or their punishing is alright in theory, but the difficulty of the game makes it too
difficult to make it past the threshold it sets you back towards).”
Finally, the most popular category consisted of those that either don’t consider difficulty at all or
care far more about other aspects of the game than difficulty alone. Their main points were
- Difficulty doesn't matter as long as the game is engaging
- Look at IP or game series instead of difficulty
- Controls and/or quality of level design are more important
- Depends on the lives system and frequency of checkpoints
6
These people are more concerned about the game’s mechanics than difficulty, and many of their
responses were quite clear about this:
“I enjoy difficulties across the board, as long as the game is compelling enough to keep you
playing, difficulty won't turn me away one way or the other.”
“No I do not consider difficulty but rather the content of the game, i.e. characters story or end
goal.”
“I look for the quality of the story, the appeal of the environments, and the overall gameplay,
more than I care about the difficulty.”
“I consider difficulty a little bit, but it's not the most important thing for me when playing a
platformer. I usually prefer good controls because those are what make platformers enjoyable for
me.”
All of that said, there were also 14 people who stated that they do not consider plot in
platformers, and their arguments were as follows:
- Level design and gameplay are more important
- Many classic platformers are good despite not having much of a story
- Other genres (ex. RPG, visual novel) are better for a good story
These responses are understandable; after all, the Mario games are the most successful
platformers of all time despite almost all of them having the same plot of “Bowser stole the
princess, now go save her!” Classic Mega Man games are similarly formulaic and tend to have
the same structure of “beat eight bosses and get their weapons so you can defeat Dr. Wily!”, but
people still love those games too. Regarding plot, one person said “I play games for the
gameplay, so I don't think plot is inherently important to any genre unless the gameplay
completely falls apart without it (eg, visual novels, interactive fiction)”. Another stated “it
doesn’t really change how fun the game itself will be, nor would it be an incentive for me to
continue playing a game with bad gameplay.”
7
Finally, once again the most popular group was those who were somewhat in the middle and said
plot importance depends on the game. Their main points were as follows:
- Plot isn’t necessary, but it can boost a game's quality if done well
- Need for plot depends on the amount of content within the game
- Plot is good unless it involves tons of cutscenes
- Lack of a story is better than a bad story
These are all interesting points, but that first one is especially worth considering because almost
everyone in this category said something along those lines. These are just a few quotes:
“Story isn't integral but I do enjoy when a game has a good story as well.”
“Not important, but a good story is always welcome.”
“Games that do it well are fine, but games can live without it.”
“I feel that they greatly benefit the game when done well but it's more of a nice bonus to me if
anything. However, a bad story is more offensive to me than a nonexistent story.”
“I see platformers more for gameplay than a story, I can enjoy platformers with little to no story
like Megaman. However, I prefer no story over a bad one. A good story is simply a plus for me.”
8
“I didn’t like the original prince of Persia from 1989. I couldn’t seem to figure out the controls,
I felt like there was a lot of input lag and the combat was poor.”
“I really don't like platformers with very rough (or rigid I forget the word) movement (ex.
jumping in classic Castlevania games).”
“Anything that seems to be made with a lack of heart, or understanding of what makes a
platformer good, poor level design, or poor controls.”
“Aside from the aforementioned games that are punishing, if a game has lousy controls or obtuse
mechanics, that is a major detriment.”
“Anything with bad controls.”
Not only that, but many of the answers for Question #4 also mentioned controls:
“celeste - incredible controls, music, levels design, plot, themes, everything
mega man - the run n' gun elements are simple yet effective, and the super controllable
movement feels great.”
“Rocket Knight Adventures, Mega Man X, Super Mario Galaxy, and Sonic 3 & Knuckles. All 4
games offer solid level design combined with excellent controls.”
Of course, that does not even acknowledge some other mentions of controls from previously in
the report.
What this ultimately means is that, not taking a single other thing into account, controls and
overall functionality can make or break a game. If a character’s movement is difficult to get used
to, people will not enjoy the game regardless of its level design. This is why so many people still
struggle with the original Castlevania (myself included). You cannot change your movement at
all in the air, which makes it much harder to traverse sketchy platforming areas because you’re
forced to commit to every jump. The original Super Mario Bros. has a similar issue, combined
with the fact that you are not allowed to scroll the screen to the left. This makes platforming
tough, especially in Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that none of the game’s other elements are important. The
aforementioned sense of progression, level design, characters, graphics, music…these are all
important parts of a great platformer. However, it’s important to have priorities. If too much time
is spent on any one of these elements, the rest will suffer.
9
Recommendations
Based on the above data, it seems as though we should aim to make a medium-hard difficulty 2D
platformer. For the plot, I would recommend that the game has an effective story but also to
make sure that the story does not drag down the flow of the game on repeat playthroughs; this
can be achieved by allowing players to skip cutscenes on repeat playthroughs, or just having a
mode without any cutscenes at all. This way, both players that care about the plot and players
that don’t can be accommodated.
Good controls are a must, no matter the game’s difficulty. Also be sure to include tutorials and
customizable control options to allow for maximum ease of playing; however, don’t be too
heavy-handed with said tutorials. The School of Game Design has a good tutorial about 4-Step
Level Design, a process that is used throughout many Mario games. It consists of:
10
“Playing video games can boost creativity, improve problem-solving skills, and cultivate
teamwork. People with disabilities, however, have limited opportunities to enjoy video games:
those with visual challenges may not be able to participate in games that are rich in graphics,
and those with mobility challenges may not be able to use a standard game controller”
(Corrigan 2017).
Essentially, those with disabilities simply cannot enjoy a lot of video games because they’re
quite literally unable to play them, and a lot of that is due to a lack of accessibility options.
Modern games have gotten a lot better about this, and that brings me to my main point; if you
want to not only expand your market, but also treat your audience with respect, then you must
make your game accessible no matter how easy or difficult it is.
One of the resources mentioned in the Library of Congress’s page, aptly named
“Accessible.Games”, has created a simple ruleset to illustrate how to go about this: first access,
then challenge, then APX. Simply put, to play a game, its audience must be able to access it by
being able to sense its environment, whether it be through visuals or sounds. From there, they
must be able to complete the challenges the game lays in front of them, even if they are difficult
or take a long time to master. Once both of those requirements are met, then the game has
achieved its APX, or Accessible Player Experience (Accessible.Games 2020).
11
References
"Accessible Player Experiences (APX)." Accessible.Games. Accessed 28 Nov 2020.
https://accessible.games/accessible-player-experiences/
Corrigan, Christopher. “Video Gaming Accessibility.” The National Library Service for the
Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress, Jan. 2017.
https://www.loc.gov/nls/resources/general-resources-on-disabilities/video-gaming-
accessibility/
Minor, Jordan. “The Best Platformers for 2020.” PCMag. 26 Jun. 2020.
https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-platformers
“The 4 Steps of Level Design in Super Mario’s 3D World!” School of Game Design. Accessed
28 Nov 2020.
https://schoolofgamedesign.com/project/super-mario-4-step-level-design/
12
Appendices
This section contains supplementary information that was a part of my report.
Appendix A
These are the survey questions that were distributed to each of the respondents. Responses were
broken up into categories, which can be found in the tables within the body of the report.
1. What types of platformers do you tend to enjoy most? (Check all that apply).
a. Single-screen (Donkey Kong, Bubble Bobble)
b. 2D side-scroller (Super Mario Bros., Mega Man)
c. 2.5D side-scroller (Klonoa, Kirby 64)
d. 3D (Super Mario 64, Crash Bandicoot)
2. When looking into platformers to play, do you consider difficulty? Why or why not? Do
you tend to enjoy easier or harder games?
13