Platformers get featured a lot on Scratch and many platformers that get featured are very similar to each other with almost the same level design but different aesthetics.

They usually have some of the following features:

• The first level has no obstacles, just move right
  

• The second and third levels have a wall to jump over and a pool of lava respectively
  

• The obstacles are just lava and bouncy surfaces
  

• The character is a square
  

• The levels include tight landing spaces between lava or obstacles
  

I like platformers a lot but nearly all the platformers that get featured are like this and are very generic and similar to other platformers.

There are so many projects getting suggested to be featured, these cannot be the only platformers that get suggested. There are lots of other complex platformers with different level design and unique gameplay mechanics that don't get featured.

My suggestion is that the ST should feature more different types of platformers and not all the same-type generic platformers.

Bump. Any replies?

I absolutely agree. Where are the scrolling platformers at in the feature tab? They generally just… aren't there. Apart from the pen platformer every so often, it doesn't happen much

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So much support. I get very annoyed when any platformer like this gets onto the front page(really pretty much any platformer those story is only get from part a to B). I think it should be based on the platformer's story whether it is featured or not. Most platformers are the same, even if there is a new mechanic the only thing that I feel change is the artwork. Platformers with stories are much more memorable.

I'm all for this. In general, people need to realize that it's important to stand out with platformers.

muellly wrote:

So much support. I get very annoyed when any platformer like this gets onto the front page(really pretty much any platformer those story is only get from part a to B). I think it should be based on the platformer's story whether it is featured or not. Most platformers are the same, even if there is a new mechanic the only thing that I feel change is the artwork. Platformers with stories are much more memorable.

I think new level design would be good as well. It's just that it's constantly the same types of platformers that get featured.

I'd say so. I think that the main parts of a good platformer are:
- good level design
- varied obstacles (spikes, pits, springs, water etc)
- enemies (not obstacles, actual enemies that are able to be defeated)
- potentially a story
- potentially boss fights

If all you're doing is jumping on platforms, it's only a platformer in the most basic and literal sense.
Support!

I agree with this. An example of one of the very good platformers that haven't been featured (as far as I know) is @JamesOuO's platformer Gravity 2. It has unique design and unique mechanics. It is a great game, so good that I even replay it sometimes. I think more varied platformers should be featured too.

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DaEpikDude wrote:

I'd say so. I think that the main parts of a good platformer are:
- good level design
- varied obstacles (spikes, pits, springs, water etc)
- enemies (not obstacles, actual enemies that are able to be defeated)
- potentially a story
- potentially boss fights

If all you're doing is jumping on platforms, it's only a platformer in the most basic and literal sense.
Support!

Platformers are really about jumping on platforms though. Boss fights and stuff are just additional.

Games can have great levels and still only have running and jumping.

I agree with this. I never noticed how these games were all so similar, but now I see.

Yeah. The front page is really bland and I don't actually ever look on it. Only part I look at is the curated section.

braxbroscratcher wrote:

Yeah. The front page is really bland and I don't actually ever look on it. Only part I look at is the curated section.

I have noticed generic platformers do seem to get curated quite a lot though.

Bump

SUPPORT!!! Platformers are my favorite type of games, and the type of platformers I like best are the ones where you have special abilities. (Gravity, Stick to walls, etc.)

No support, what if it's someone's first platformer and it was like that? The ST would discriminate against those because of this feature.

I-Iz-A-Litten wrote:

No support, what if it's someone's first platformer and it was like that? The ST would discriminate against those because of this feature.

I don't see how it would be “discrimination” to not feature a project though. There are thousands of remixes of the Pong Starter game and you probably wouldn't say it's unfair to not keep regularly featuring more and more Pong remixes.

Cub56 wrote:

I-Iz-A-Litten wrote:

No support, what if it's someone's first platformer and it was like that? The ST would discriminate against those because of this feature.

I don't see how it would be “discrimination” to not feature a project though. There are thousands of remixes of the Pong Starter game and you probably wouldn't say it's unfair to not keep regularly featuring more and more Pong remixes.

but still, this won't really benefit Scratch much, no support

I-Iz-A-Litten wrote:

but still, this won't really benefit Scratch much, no support

It would provide a more varied playing experience and show people that there's so much more that they can do with their platformers.

Support! I noticed that lots of these platformers are bland and the same as almost every other. There should be platformers with scrolling, platformers with detailed art (or even detailed pixel art, ooh), and even more. Also, is it just me, or do almost all platformers use the same code? I've noticed that I can usually jump the same height as everything, all platforms are the same usually (for example, you can't go through any, when in good platformers such as Mario, you can jump up through some and not through others, change the collision on some, etc.). They even all have that feature where you can wall jump up the same platform repeatedly (which is in, like, no commercially sold platformers), which I consider a bug myself. I think that all the featured platformers with the same code and level design doesn't encourage people to stray too far from the norm much at ALL, and this should be changed.

WolfCat67 wrote:

I-Iz-A-Litten wrote:

but still, this won't really benefit Scratch much, no support

It would provide a more varied playing experience and show people that there's so much more that they can do with their platformers.

-snip-

well, Scratch can live without it, and it can't really benefit Scratch itself, that's why I don't support

I-Iz-A-Litten wrote:

Cub56 wrote:

I-Iz-A-Litten wrote:

No support, what if it's someone's first platformer and it was like that? The ST would discriminate against those because of this feature.

I don't see how it would be “discrimination” to not feature a project though. There are thousands of remixes of the Pong Starter game and you probably wouldn't say it's unfair to not keep regularly featuring more and more Pong remixes.

but still, this won't really benefit Scratch much, no support

Yes it would. People would get to see more diverse platformers which would make the featured section more interesting. It gets really boring playing the same platformer over and over with only a few changes to levels and different graphics.

Also the people who work hard and are creative deserve to be featured more than a new scratcher who makes another platformer. It can feel discriminating to have some of your first projects to not get famous. It feels even more heartbreaking when you work months on a project that you poured your heart into not get famous, but in the end it's up to the other person whether or not you get famous, and new Scratchers should not get featured for less work just because your new.