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Platforming tips/help.


tonkie18

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So I don’t know whether there will be any advice other than practise, but thought I’d try because I’d love to make my life easier.

 

Turns out I absolutely suck at platforming. As an example - 36 Fragments of Midnight took me maybe a thousand attempts over the course of 12-18 months. I’ve just managed to complete Duck Souls after 17 months. Some levels I would try a hundred times, give up and then try another 100 times give up. They have caused me way more frustration than they should have and there’s something seriously amiss if I’m prouder of Ratalaika plats than I am Akumu mode on Evil Within! ?

 

I’ve loved playing Guacamelee, but the combos are just impossible for me and it’s prolonged the game way more than it should. I’ve watched others play these platformers and they’ll struggle on a couple of sections but get it after a few tries, whereas I can be there for a year on one section. 
 

I’m not new to gaming, I was stealing my sisters gameboy from 2 years old and it’s always been a part of my life in one form or another. And there are some games I’m quite good at.. not many like but some ?

 

I’m a pianist and a saxophonist so I wouldn’t have thought it’s a dexterity issue. And I wouldn’t say it’s practise as I’ve hammered some of these games and it just won’t click. It’s as if my brain can’t compute quick enough and I end up just button mashing and hoping for the best. It’s really ruining some decent games for me and it’s also so time consuming.

 

Do I need to accept platforming isn’t for me? At this point I wouldn’t be putting myself through anymore - it’s only because these things were on my backlog. When I started certain games I didn’t realise how awful I was. Is there any tips/tricks to get better? On my instruments there are exercises I can do to help is there any gaming exercises ? I need a masterclass in every possible button combo ? I just don’t understand why I struggle so much on easy games. And is there anyone else out there that struggles this much? Or is it just me? ?

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The best advice I can give isn’t applicable to every game, but it is applicable to far more than you might expect:

 

Try to view the levels as a “flow”

 

What I mean is - most platformers are designed so that, when played at a high level, a good player can sprint through them like the awesome parkour-god that most of aren’t, without stopping or slowing down, and without breaking their “flow”.

 

That might seem like it makes seeing videos of them doing that, or thinking like they do wouldn’t be helpful for us mere mortals… but it actually is!

 

The reason?

Because it gives a clue as to what the game expects you to do. 
 

If you try to view each level / area / screen and think “what would the path be if I was holding the sprint button the whole time, and never stopping?” 
 

Even if you aren’t at the level where actually doing that is feasible, it can still be really useful in figuring out a path, or seeing which spots the game designer expects you to take out enemies, or which jumps are possible/ impossible etc.

Edited by DrBloodmoney
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Thanks @DrBloodmoney ive had to look at videos for most of the platformers I play to understand what the game needs me to do. The issue I have is implementing it and end up just button mashing and hoping for the best. 
 

The combos in Guacamelee just evade me entirely, having to press so many buttons in quick succession. I don’t think it’s the speed of my fingers but more so the speed of my brain? ? I just can’t get these combos down. I figure out what I have to do beforehand by watching the videos but when I actually do it my head goes blank and the button mashing starts.
 

Each section of a platformer can take me so long I just don’t think it’s worth it. But I really don’t want to miss out on good games like Guacamelee.

 

@LukeTheGooner I think I might just have to accept it ? going to try and finish the ones I already have started but may think twice about doing anymore. I’m guilty of not researching what a game actually is before I start it. It causes a lot of issues!

 

 

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I think it's mostly a matter of building up the necessary muscle memory through repetition, like anything else. As a child mashing buttons on my NES controller in futility, I couldn't even advance beyond the second levels of Ghosts 'n Goblins or Ninja Gaiden, but I can finish pretty much any action-platformer now. The difference is that I've had thousands of hours of practice since then.

 

Fighting games are another question, however. At my age, I doubt I could become good at those if my life depended on it, having never built the foundational skills as a kid. It's probably too late for my rigid brain to change that much.

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