Movement - The Structure of Games and how to do it RIGHT

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Movement - The Structure of Games and how to do it RIGHT Movement is essential in every video game, building up how the player sees and experiences the world. But having effective movement is everything when it comes to the structure of a game. There are multiple times where people have done it well and multiple times when people… haven’t. What makes movement good? I love feeling like I’m flying in a game, achieving high speeds and soaring through the air always amplifies gameplay, and our best example of using this to its full advantage is Arsi Patala’s Ultrakill. Ultrakill starts out with us descending through the layers of hell as an agile robot. Armed with a gun our player can double jump, dash, ground slam, and absolutely fly around the map. The game combines immersive storytelling and movement physics to create a masterpiece. So, is that it? Let the player double jump you have a good game? Not exactly. If your game is puzzle themed or you are trying to get somewhere then dashing ruins the point. Valves Portal is a perfect example of this Portal is a puzzle game where you have to navigate various test chambers to appease a dangerous A.I, the way Valve achieved captivating gameplay through this was by having some chambers require you to build up momentum to get to places. Among other beautiful aspects of the game soaring majestically through the air like an eagle piloting a blimp was incredibly fun. You didn’t need movement enhancing abilities to create a good game, you just needed to create good maps. Another great example of Valves genius when it came to movement is Half-life. If we kindly ignore the part in Half-life one when we get a dash mechanic, we can look at the gravity gun. Instead of making the player move we use the world to our advantage. We can fling explosive barrels, saws, and even at one-point other NPCs. This gave the same feeling of fun as other movement mechanics and was done very well. What makes all the aforementioned games good is combining movement and strategy, if you run out of stamina above an abyss, you die. This makes you think while feeling the rush of joy when you pull of a cool fast-paced move. We’ve gone through some of the best of best examples of amazing movement in games. There are a few smaller ones I’d like to cover, the elytra combined with a riptide trident in Minecraft is very fun, the firewall and abomination chase in Pressure is amazing, and I love rocket leagues boost mechanic. But what are times when movement hasn’t been done well? I remember when Poppy Playtime chapter 5 came out. Being a broke ass I wasn’t playing it but remembering what a disaster chapter 4 had been I didn’t have high hopes. We all recall where we were when we saw Jor Bart’s and Markiplier’s crash out regarding the game. One of the things Mark pointed out was how in the high stakes chase scenes the grabpack was slow, unorganized, and annoying. One of the good things about the grabpack was how it encouraged movement, with the purple hand letting you fly up and blue and green hand allowing you to grapple on to things. Personally, I don’t care for the story advancing ones like the pressure hand, as the mechanic it introduced fell flat. Poppy started with amazing building blocks, and it was a shame how it fell down like that. Movement is essential in every video game, and while it builds up how a player experiences the world it isn’t everything. All good games require story and design. The movement falls down with the soundtrack, while they are essential for the enjoyment and immersion of the game, as well as the structure you still need to have it building around an amazing story. Because in the end, movement alone can’t just carry a game. But if it is made well? It will make a game unforgettable. This is Thodra ending transcript. Stick to the script and follow the story!