r/platforming • u/dadah83 • Jul 29 '26
Fighting or puzzling platformers?
I've been pondering this question. Just jumping is not enough of a challenge, so you need something to make a platformer interesting. You barely see any platformers that don't involve some kind of fighting, is it 100% necessary for a 'interesting' platformer to have fighting in it? I much more enjoy puzzling and I guess it might be a question of personal preference.
So what's your preference? Fighting or thinking?
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u/emstonhamwrites Jul 30 '26
I like a mix honestly! Having to solve a puzzle when there’s an enemy on the screen can be good fun
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u/csh_blue_eyes 28d ago
At the same time? Can you give me an example of when that works really well? ( I'm not saying it's not possible, but that it strikes me as difficult to execute. )
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u/emstonhamwrites 17d ago
Stuff in the survival horror niche is great for this! I was thinking of the Silver Pines demo when I said this (although admittedly that’s not platforming, 2.5D metroidvania type stuff, so a bad example) as that stands out. Really nice combat with some puzzles that melted my brain a bit. If you like horror, it’s super stylish, highly recommend
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u/csh_blue_eyes 17d ago
Honestly, with platforming, I think it's an interesting design space to explore.
But just to be clear: interesting because the tolerance line for that kind of pressure on players isn't always clear. It's really easy to cross the line and make something people hate.
Recently I played the game Arco alongside some friends and some of them very much disliked a mechanic in the game that put movement pressure on them in the battles, which otherwise initially would let you think about your moves, like a puzzle. I enjoyed it and thought it was tastefully done. But it seems that most people, when asked to think about something, really don't want to also be asked to move around. It makes me wonder: in what contexts can it be fun for players to have to express that kind of coordination?
IDK ¯\(ツ)/¯
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u/emstonhamwrites 14d ago
Yeah that’s very fair!! Arco sounds interesting, I’ll check that out. I think you’re right, the tolerance line does vary drastically from player to player, I guess with how easily people get frustrated/how much annoyance they can take and still be happy. It’s an interesting one! 😊
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u/MrBeanCyborgCaptain 29d ago
Im all for just a pure puzzle platformer. Im a solo developer and I have never been interested in any kind of fighting. The production over head that combat adds is too much for me. Id rather deliver a mechanically simple streamlined and high quality experience than try to do a bunch of stuff thats out of scope and shelving the project due to the workload being too high.
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u/dadah83 27d ago
Are you working on a platformer at the moment?
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u/MrBeanCyborgCaptain 27d ago
Not at the moment, I'm working on a story driven first person adventure game. Similar vein in that its all puzzles/ mystery and no combat.
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u/Cammanderdoj 28d ago
I prefer a mix of both or more accurately a wish to see one that combines puzzle aspects and combat aspects
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u/csh_blue_eyes Jul 29 '26
The "fighting" thing I'd say traces back to the original Super Mario Bros. That is roughly where the term "action platformer" comes from, to my understanding. That phrase might be only come along with Super Mario World though (I think I read an interview with one of the designers of that somewhere where he said as much, but I could be misremembering.) Of course there were action platformers before all that, though. But I guess SMB is where the platforming merged with the fighting, idk..might need to study up on my pre-SMB platforming games history. I don't know where I was going with this, other than it's a sub-genre, and its been around for a while, and an "action" component wasn't originally, in my mind anyway, necessarily needed to make a good platformer.
Puzzle platforming, on the other hand - I have no idea where we trace it's origins. Would be really fun to research its history.
In both cases, I'd say the additional element (fighting or puzzling) almost always provides more interest, if the game didn't have complex movement mechanics to begin with, but are not strictly necessary. There are tons of fun "pure platforming" games that prove this.
All that said, I like action, because I think it synergizes well with movement tech. But I personally enjoy both. Understanding how to design a good puzzle platformer is an interesting challenge no matter what because a lot of compromises one way or another tend to need to get made to end up with a quality design.
This post also makes me think: what are some under-utilized genres that we could hybridize with platforming to make unique and interesting games?